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"To get anywhere, or even live a long time, a man has to guess, and guess right, over and over again, without enough data for a logical answer."
- Robert Heinlein
 |
| Bloodhound Machine | ||
| Could positively identify a person using their scent alone. |
| 2XZ4 —the man wanted for a score of crimes,
from murder up to treasonable plotting.
2XZ4 had never been arrested, never
been typed. But we had his olfactory
classification; the Bloodhound Machine,
as the newscasters luridly call it, had
contacted his trail several times, so that
the scent of him was mathematically
known. Much good that did us! No one knew where he was now; nor what was his name, his nationality, nor what he looked like. Indeed we knew nothing about him at all, except his scent, which gave him the index-symbol 2XZ4. |
| Technovelgy from Crimes of the Year 2000,
by Ray Cummings. Published by Fantastic Mysteries in 1935 Additional resources -
|
Here's how it works:
I thought that Green was not watching
me, but at once he gasped:
"What—you doing?"
I did not answer, but jumped suddenly
and pressed the vacuum cup of the
classifier against his shoulder. The dial
indicators swung wildly, and instantly
settled.
2XZ4!
Compare to the scentoscope from The Mechanical Bloodhound (1930) by Frank Bridge and the olfactory system of the Mechanical Hound from Fahrenheit 451.
I turned swiftly and whipped out the
little classified—the Bloodhound Machine.
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More Ideas
and Technology from Crimes of the Year 2000
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Tech news articles related to Crimes of the Year 2000
Tech news articles related to works by Ray Cummings
Bloodhound Machine-related
news articles:
- Your 'Odortype' Is Unique!
| Flock Stymied By 'Adversarial Fashion' |
| China's 'Magpie Drone' Ornithopter |
| FTC: Says Ring Employees Illegally Surveilled Customers |
| Perching Ambush Drones |
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'He had travelled the space-lanes of the solar system for the greater part of his life...'
'The dinner was excellent. It was completely vegetarian — grown in specially prepared gardens in this Moon base...'
'Telepaths had their sensitiveness enlarged to an immense range by the pin-sets, which were telepathic amplifiers adapted to the mammal mind.'
'It was a relief to enter one of the comfortable autos, whisper a direction down the tube, and just know that you would be taken to your destination in the quickest, safest, and cheapest manner.'
'But he didn't get very far with it before another noise in his ear radio scattered his thoughts. George winced...'
'The vast spinning sphere of Factory in the Sky loomed above and ahead of us, gleaming white against the unfathomable jet depths of surrounding space.'
'And if it doesn’t work,' inquired Lazarus, 'what does that make us? Sunspots?'
'The Dillard people had performed a miracle and put all the works in a girl-modeled case.'
'Our study of your race has convinced us that you are not fitted to leave your planet in the present state of your civilization.'
