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"I believe in limited government, and the 20th century has been the century of government. The data is uniform. The government has failed at every single task it has set out to do, with the exception of waging war."
- Bart Kosko

Viewplate  
  A flat panel viewing display.  

This is a very early reference to this idea; as far as I know, this is the first.

"The relay instruments of the LK-745 indicated the destruction by an explosion of the rear rep ray generator, and that the ship hung stern down for a short space, swinging like a pendulum. The forward viewplates and indicators did not cease functioning, but their records are chaotic, except for one projectoscope still, which shows the bowl of the valley, and the GK-981 falling, but no visible evidence of tribesmen.


(Viewplate of 'Rocket Gun' from Armageddon: 2419 AD)

The control-room viewplate is also a chaotic record of the ship's crew tumbling and falling to the rear wall. Then the forward rep ray generator exploded, and all signals went dead...

Technovelgy from Armageddon: 2419 A.D., by Philip Frances Nowlan.
Published by Amazing Stories in 1928
Additional resources -

For similar ideas, see the Visiplate from Skylark Three (1930), the Vision Plate from First Contact (1945) and the Reading Plate from The Star Beast (1954).

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Additional resources:
  More Ideas and Technology from Armageddon: 2419 A.D.
  More Ideas and Technology by Philip Frances Nowlan
  Tech news articles related to Armageddon: 2419 A.D.
  Tech news articles related to works by Philip Frances Nowlan

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