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"The SF approach: an awareness that things could have been different, that this is one of many possible worlds, that if you came to this world from some other planet, this would be a science fiction world."
- Neal Stephenson
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| Hypnosis Ray | ||
| Eases the words of dictators into the minds of the credulous. |
| The Director’s eyes were dangerous. But I plunged on recklessly.
“Yes, mass hypnotism — that has
been your secret weapon. You may
have deluded most of the world, but
you forget I studied psycho-history
in what you are pleased to call the
Barbaric Era. Earlier dictators than
you fumbled around with the idea of
mass hypnosis. There was a man
named Hitler back in the 1930s and
’40s who used it with some crude
success. But he didn’t know anything about the scientific end of it.
He employed no hypnosis rays or
skillful projections to break into the
unconscious and the subliminal
thresholds. He relied on a raucous
voice and emotional reiterations.
You have been far cleverer. Your
Sunday Assemblies renew your contacts with all the earth, rebathing
the poor dupes in hypnosis rays and
sliding afresh the projectional sug-
gestions of your voice and mind into
theirs.”
I attended the Sunday Assemblies wherever I happened to be, as was indeed compulsory. The Director, three-dimensional, spoke softly, soothingly. The hypnosis rays pervaded the auditoriums. His eyes were serene, and persuasive. The drugged words slid into the minds of the people. |
| Technovelgy from Beyond All Weapons,
by Eric Frank Russell. Published by Astounding Science Fiction in 1941 Additional resources -
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'Our study of your race has convinced us that you are not fitted to leave your planet in the present state of your civilization.'
'...the spreading beam of the deranging ray struck them, and Then one toppled and fell. Then another.'
'Within seconds the material was spread out over fifty yards, in a matter of hours it might occupy several cubic miles of space...'
'The men are dead, but their acquired wisdom lives on and I am the beneficiary.'
'Young people found the driverless car admirable for petting.'
'After twenty generations of shillyshallying...'
