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"The germinal societies like Singapore and communist Hong Kong may give us a mutant capitalism that is both virulent and efficient. This is a significant cultural danger."
- Gregory Benford
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| Lasgun | ||
| A continuous-wave laser projector; can be used as a weapon or as a cutting tool. |
The lasgun is another in a series of laser-based weapons; the descendant of the "blasters" of the science fiction of the 1920's.
| Kynes took a deep breath, said: "This door should hold for at least twenty minutes against all but a lasgun." "They'll not use a lasgun for fear we've shields on this side," Paul said. |
| From Dune,
by Frank Herbert. Published by Putnam in 1965 Additional resources -
|
Its use as a weapon is limited by subatomic fusion that occurs when the beam of a lasgun (offensive weapon) intersects that of a shield using the Holtzman field (defensive weapon). See the blaster (1925) from When the Green Star Waned by Nictzin Dyalhis, the neutron blaster (1951), from The Complete Paratime, by H. Beam Piper and the heat ray from The War of the Worlds (1898), by H.G. Wells.
Compare to nuclear shears from Foundation (1951) by Isaac Asimov, the
toaster from Accidental Flight (1952) by WF Wallace, the
Slaver disintegrator from Ringworld (1970) by Larry Niven and the
atomic torch from One Against the Legion (1939) by Jack Williamson.
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'The pokkecon rang again. *The coffee’s for him?* Tsuyoshi said.'
The Jetsons imagined so much future.
'Rod placed the brain inside the panel... the horse raised its head, wiggled its ears, blinked twice, gave a tentative whinny.'
'Pina2bo would have to operate full blast for many years to put as much SO2 into the stratosphere as its namesake had done in a few minutes.'
'Chain of hotels that specialized in non-human service.'
'But then... not every bulldozer operator works on the Moon.'
'Griff found the white and pink map distracting and switched it off using his tongue mouse.'
