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"The world is really so surreal these days that it's necessary for us to blunt it somehow in order to stay sane. The artist functions to short-circuit the buffering mechanism, so that people can occasionally perceive the weirdness of things as they are."
- William Gibson
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| Voicecorder | ||
| A device that records verbal output and determines truth or falsehood. |
| "I'm recording this conversation," McKie said. "I'm going to call your United Phyla Council presently, play the recording for them, and suggest they deal with you."
"They will laugh at you! What evidence could you . . ." "I've your own guilty voice," McKie said. "We'll get a voicecorder analysis of everything you've said and submit it with the recording to your council." "Voicecorder? What is this?" "It's a device which analyzes the subtle pitch and intonation of the voice to determine which statements are true and which are false." "I've never heard of such a device!" "Damn few sentients know all the devices BuSab agents use," McKie said. |
| Technovelgy from Whipping Star,
by Brian Herbert. Published by Galaxy Publishing in 1969 Additional resources -
|
Does the voicecorder work on everyone?
"There's no such thing as a voicecorder for your species," McKie said.
The Palenki stared at him a moment, then, "May your eggs rot!"
Compare to the veridicator from Little Fuzzy (1962) by H. Beam Piper and to the truth meter from Robert Heinlein's The Star Beast (1954).
"I swear not," the Palenki said. "Bring your voicecorder. It will prove I speak the truth."
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'Across the ground something small and metallic came, flashing in the dull sunlight of midday.'
