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"At its best, SF is the medium in which our miserable certainty that tomorrow will be different from today in ways we can't predict, can be transmuted to a sense of excitement and anticipation, occasionally evolving into awe."
- John Brunner
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| Neuronic Whip | ||
| A weapon that stimulated the nerve endings to cause extreme discomfort. |
This is the reference that most (older!) science fiction fans will remember, but see below for an earlier reference.
| And then the guard's gurgle dissolved into words. He yelled, 'I'll get you all!' and the very pale, almost invisible shimmer of the ionized air in the path of the whip's energy beam made its appearance. It swept wide through the air, and the path of the beam intersected Biron's foot. It was as though he had stepped into a bath of boiling lead. Or as if a granite block had toppled upon it. Or as if it had been crunched off by a shark. Actually, nothing had happened to it physically. It was only that the nerve endings that governed the sensation of pain had been universally and maximally stimulated. Boiling lead could have done no more. |
| Technovelgy from The Stars, Like Dust,
by Isaac Asimov. Published by Doubleday in 1951 Additional resources -
|
An earlier use of "neuronic" is the neuronic control apparatus from Masson's Secret, by Raymond Z. Gallun, published by Astounding Science-Fiction in 1939.
In The Green Girl, a 1930 story by Jack Williamson, we find a very early, maybe the earliest, use of the term "neuronic" in science fiction:
And now that I think about it, the first use of neuronic whip is still by Asimov, but a decade earlier, in The Hazing (1942):
Williams grinned savagely. “Try and make me.”
There was no answer, but the flash beam shifted slightly and fell upon the shadow’s other hand. It held a “neuronic whip,” that pleasant little weapon that paralyzes the vocal cords and twists nerves into so many knots of agony. Williams swallowed hard, and got out of bed.
Readers might also be reminded of the pain box from Frank Herbert's 1965 novel Dune; it also caused pain by nerve induction.
This item was contributed by Winchell Chung.
I think the radium had somehow set up neuronic circuits between the cells, like the circuits between the neurone cells in our brains.
“You are going to get out of bed,” replied the apparition stolidly. “Dress, and come with me.”
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Additional
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More Ideas
and Technology from The Stars, Like Dust
More Ideas
and Technology by Isaac Asimov
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Tech news articles related to works by Isaac Asimov
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'...Anything was possible in my imaginary environment.'
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'That explains how it was so easy for me to remain motionless in midair...'
'We had discovered that metal was relatively impervious to the telepathic effect.'
'Detailed plans for the construction of the Gundstetter-Halone warp drive were flowing.'
'Do not waste your priceless company on the unappreciative folds of a sleep pod...'
'...so we've promised him a generous pension from the royalties.'
'Hocus-pocus religions and archaic weapons are no substitute for a good blaster at your side.'
