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"If you don't care about science enough to be interested in it on its own, you shouldn't try to write hard science fiction."
- Frederik Pohl
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| Wearable White-Noise Generator | ||
| A device worn when the wearer preferred not to be the subject of audio recordings. |
Normal means paranoid, in Gibson's works; always assume that the other guy has better tech than you, but use what you've got just in case. Just hope your lawyer doesn't advise you to get one, as Laney had on his last day at work.
| It had been a weeknight, a Wednesday, when Laney had last seen Kathy... She'd stood there in the Cage, screaming as he cleared out his locker... He knew that she was screaming because her mouth was open, but the syllables of her rage couldn't penetrate the seamless hissing surf of the white-noise generator provided by his lawyers. He'd been advised to wear the generator at all times, during this last visit to the Slitscan offices. He'd been instructed to make no statement. Certainly he could hear none. |
| Technovelgy from Idoru,
by William Gibson. Published by Putnam in 1996 Additional resources -
|
As far as I know, this is the only mention in the book; certainly, it infuriates those who have choice words for him. Gibson is an expert at urban nomadics. He knows what today's city dweller needs. And can you get a personal white noise generator? Yes you can; see the AI-680 Active White Noise Generator at EnsurePrivacy. This device gives you the added bonus of protecting yourself from laser transmitters aimed at your windows. As they say at EnsurePrivacy:
Speaking with confidence and knowing your private conversations are private has never been easier when you are equipped with our White Noise Generator.
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Science Fiction
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'And he had been sent with troops, supplies and bombs to command Russia's most trusted post, the Moonbase.'
'What is your population', I asked. 'About eighty millions.'
'THE autobus turned silently down the wide street of Hydropole. Robot-guided, insulated from noise and cold...'
'The car had no steering wheel, and no one drove!'
Now that's power walking that Hugo Gernsback would have approved.
'It was disturbing to think of the Flatline as a construct...'
'...he rewired the delivery robot so that it would serve him midnight snacks.'
'On went the electric-yacht faster and still faster.'
'...the huge vessel had spun, with a sickening lurch, through a complete half-circle, the instant the power was reversed.'
'...he realized that it was not quite a clear lens. Speckles of colored brightness swirled and gathered in it.'
