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"But the problem with reincarnation is that it's hard to imagine what the storage medium for past lives would be. Not to mention the input-output device. I hesitate to rule it out completely, but I'd need pretty definite proof."
- Arthur C. Clarke
 |
| Defuser | ||
| Electroshock cellphones to keep unruly individuals under control. |
| "Oh, and this is your private... sponsorbaby security force?", Tendeka says, whirling on the cop, who is already aiming his scanner at him."
"[The police dog] barks in warning, echoed by a bleep from Ten's cellphone as the cop isolates his SIM from all the others in the room with the scanner. "Yeah.. You don't.. log a warning on me. I have the constitutional right to express my f***ing opinion. Ever heard of freedom of expres--" The cop doesn't bother to register a second warning. He goes straight for the defuser. Higher voltage than necessary, but when did cops ever play nice? Tendeka drops straight away, jerking epileptic and setting off the damn dog with excited yipping. I'm reckoning there's 170 to 180 volts right there. Anything over 200 requires extra paperwork. Some wasters I know set off their own phone's defuser, on low settings for those dark and hectic beats. Even rhythm can be induced kids. But, it's not easy. You have to hack the hardware, and if you don't know what you're doing it will crisp you KFC. Or worse. It's a disconnect offense to tamper with a defuser. You can't play nice by society's rules? Then you don't get to play at all. No phone. No service. No life. |
| Technovelgy from Moxyland,
by Lauren Beukes. Published by Jacana Media in 2008 Additional resources -
|
Compare this device with Frederik Pohl's joymaker from his 1965 novel The Age of the Pussyfoot, and in particular the tranquilizing spray feature that could sedate the user, if, in the judgement of the network, the user was becoming violent or overwrought.
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'I don't have to tell you about the seven two-mile-diameter orbital mirrors that circulate around the satellite, making it habitable.'
'The steel tortoise gave MacKinnon a feeling of Crusoe- like independence.'
'...then back to their work, though little enough it was on these automatic cultivators.'
't came out into plain view. Darkington glimpsed a slim body and six short legs of articulated dull metal.'
'The suit stands up and starts walking, gripping me round the calves and waist, taking the bulk of my weight off my throbbing feet.'
'Internally it’s made up of millions of components, but the most important ones are the thinking and memory parts of the Mind proper.'
'I could look down at that face of carefully molded synthetic rubber, tinted the exact shade of the doctor's living flesh.'
