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"...there's a great affinity between writing poetry and SF."
- Dan Simmons

Probability Time Wave Tube  
  A device that allows the user to see every possible event.  

True genius is rare - but maybe it's better to have a great many minor tinkerers, than just one genius.

"They had the tube then. They called it the PTW tube - Probability Time Wave. They'd been trying to make a television set that would see through walls..."

"Their PTW tube caught and displayed every possibility that was ever to exist. And somewhere in that vast sweep of probability, every possible thing existed. Somewhere, the wildest dream of the wildest optimist was, and became fact."

Technovelgy from Elimination, by John W. Campbell.
Published by Astounding Science Fiction in 1936
Additional resources -

The short story Elimination appears in the collection Who Goes There, published in 1948. These stories were published under the pseudonym Don A. Stuart.

See also the infinite improbability drive from Douglas Adams' 1979 novel The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Universe.

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Additional resources:
  More Ideas and Technology from Elimination
  More Ideas and Technology by John W. Campbell
  Tech news articles related to Elimination
  Tech news articles related to works by John W. Campbell

Probability Time Wave Tube-related news articles:
  - LEXID Sees Through Walls To Next Apartment
  - See People Through Walls

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Science Fiction in the News

The New Habitable Zones Include Asimov's Ribbon Worlds
'...there's a narrow belt where the climate is moderate.'

3D Printing A 12-Meter Boat Hull
'It makes drawings in the air...'

China Still Working On Rescue Robot That Eats People
Firefighter Rescue Robot Eats Humans - again!

Lawyer AIs Create Chaos In Our Legal System
'I want my lawyer program.'

Chinese Hospital Tries Vonnegut's 'Harrison Bergeron' Cosplay
'He wore spectacles with thick wavy lenses. The spectacles were intended to make him not only half blind, but to give him whanging headaches besides.'

Robot Clerks Become A Reality In China
'The robot clerk in the waiting-room checked her number...'

Can One Robot Do Many Tasks?
'... with the Master-operator all you have to do is push one! A remarkable achievement!'

Atlas Robot Makes Uncomfortable Movements
'Not like me. A T-1000, advanced prototype. A mimetic poly-alloy. Liquid metal.'

Boring Company Drills Asimov's Single Vehicle Tunnels
'It was riddled with holes that were the mouths of tunnels.'

Humanoid Robots Tickle The Ivories
'The massive feet working the pedals, arms and hands flashing and glinting...'

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