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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
 |
| Life Detector Shield | ||
| An electronic field that is intended to shield living tissue from a Life Detector. |
In this short story, there are sensors that will detect the presence of living beings. And as is always the case in the history of warfare, there is also a counter-weapon.
| Hulser was back in the chill present, a deadly suspicion gnawing at him: The enemy has a new type of shield, not as good as ours. It merely reduces image size!
...another corner of his mind began to think about the shields, the complex flicker-lattice that made human flesh transparent... |
| Technovelgy from Cease Fire,
by Frank Herbert. Published by Conde Nast in 1958 Additional resources -
|
In the real world, there are various ways to detect the presence of living beings (most of them don't differentiate that well between animals and people). For example, there are sensors that will detect the presence of carbon dioxide, which we all give off when breathing. And there are infrared sensors, which detect our body heat.
Compare to the life-shield blanket from Heretics of Dune (1984) by Frank Herbert, the
radiant shield from The Houses of Iszm (1954) by Jack Vance, the
protective shield from Triplanetary (1934) by 'Doc' Smith and the
personal force-shield from Foundation (1951) by Isaac Asimov and the geofractor shield from One Against the Legion (1939) by Jack Williamson.
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Additional
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More Ideas
and Technology from Cease Fire
More Ideas
and Technology by Frank Herbert
Tech news articles related to Cease Fire
Tech news articles related to works by Frank Herbert
Life Detector Shield-related
news articles:
- Can 'Tactical Umbrellas' Shield One From Drones
| MIT Computerized Bionic Leg Is Part Of The User |
| Bone-Building Drug Evenity Approved |
| BrainBridge Concept Transplant Of Human Head Proposed |
| Natural Gait With Prosthetic Connected To Nervous System |
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'Drake was the young spatial engineer he employed to terraform the little rock...'
'It diverts integers of the data, the fundamental message-units, so that they no longer agree.'
'Clothes are no longer made from dead fibers of fixed color and texture that can approximate only crudely to the vagrant human figure...'
'Books were just a commodity that had to be produced, like jam or bootlaces.'
'...it rears and spreads its fan. It can pick one man out of a crowd.'
