Science Fiction
Dictionary
A B C D E F G H I J K L M N O P Q R S T U V W X Y Z
Latest By
Category:
Armor
Artificial
Intelligence
Biology
Clothing
Communication
Computers
Culture
Data Storage
Displays
Engineering
Entertainment
Food
Input Devices
Lifestyle
Living Space
Manufacturing
Material
Media
Medical
Miscellaneous
Robotics
Security
Space Tech
Spacecraft
Surveillance
Transportation
Travel
Vehicle
Virtual
Person
Warfare
Weapon
Work
"Cyberspace is a metaphor that allows us to grasp this place where since about the time of the second world war we've increasingly done so many of the things that we think of as civilization."
- William Gibson
 |
| Black Bag | ||
| A medical kit from the future. |
| His eyes rested on a little black bag in the center of the room, and he forgot about the kid. “I could have sworn,” said Dr. Full, “I hocked that two years ago!” He hitched over and reached the bag, and then realized it was some stranger’s kit, arriving here he did not know how. He tentatively touched the lock and it snapped open and lay flat, rows and rows of instruments and medications tucked into loops in its four walls. It seemed vastly larger open than closed. He didn’t see how it could possibly fold up into that compact size again, but decided it was some stunt of the instrument makers...
 ('The Little Black Bag' by CM Kornbluth) He put down the little black bag and forgetfully fumbled for his key, then remembered and touched the lock. It flew open, and he selected a bandage shears, with a blunt wafer for the lower jaw. He fitted the lower jaw under the bandage, trying not to hurt the kid by its pressure on the infection, and began to cut. It was amazing how easily and swiftly the shining shears snipped through the crusty rag around the wound. He hardly seemed to be driving the shears with fingers at all. It almost seemed as though the shears were driving his fingers instead as they scissored a clean, light line through the bandage. Certainly have forged ahead since my time, he thought — sharper than a microtome knife. He replaced the shears in their loop on the extraordinarily big board that the little black bag turned into when it unfolded... |
| Technovelgy from The Little Black Bag,
by C.M. Kornbluth. Published by Astounding Science Fiction in 1950 Additional resources -
|
Medical advances were (will be?) made over the next five centuries:
It was like being struck by a thunderbolt.
Dr. Full had so long lacked any sense of well-being except the brief glow of alcohol that he had forgotten its very nature. Fie was panic stricken for a long moment at the sensation that spread through him slowly, finally tingling in his fingertips. Fie straightened up, his pains gone and his leg tremor stilled.
Compare to the instrument case from Time Pawn (1954) (which Philip K. Dick later expanded into the novel Dr. Futurity [1960]):
[Dr.] Parsons recognized the object instantly. His gray-metal instrument case.
“We examined them,” Loris said, “but their functions are beyond us. We have no comprehension of medical work. We can’t grasp the basic principles! With the time dredge we’ve brought back endless spools of information, but we can’t do anything with them. Our orientation — lack of tradition, our whole training makes it impossible to apply the knowledge.”
Compare also to the surgical homeostatic unit from Now Wait For Last Year (1966) by Philip K. Dick.
He snapped the bag open again on his kitchen table, and pored through the medication tubes. “Anything to sock the autonomic nervous system good and hard,” he mumbled. The tubes were numbered, and there was a plastic card which seemed to list them. The left margin of the card was, a run-down of the sytsems— vascular, muscular, nervous. He followed the last entry across to the right. There were columns for “stimulant,” “depressant,” and so on. Under “nervous system” and “depressant” he found the number 17, and shakily located the little glass tube which bore it. It was full of pretty blue pills and he took one.
Loris signalled and an armed guard quickly entered the room. He laid something carefully down on the luxurious carpet and moved back a pace.
('Dr. Futurity' by Philip K. Dick)
Comment/Join this discussion ( 0 ) | RSS/XML | Blog This |
Additional
resources:
More Ideas
and Technology from The Little Black Bag
More Ideas
and Technology by C.M. Kornbluth
Tech news articles related to The Little Black Bag
Tech news articles related to works by C.M. Kornbluth
| Health Kiosk Has No Human Doctor |
| NEO Brain Computer Interface (BCI) |
| MIT Computerized Bionic Leg Is Part Of The User |
| Bone-Building Drug Evenity Approved |
Want to Contribute an
Item?
It's easy:
Get the name of the item, a
quote, the book's name and the author's name, and Add
it here.
| <Previous | Next> |
|
|
|
Technovelgy (that's tech-novel-gee!) is devoted to the creative science inventions and ideas of sf authors. Look for the Invention Category that interests you, the Glossary, the Science Fiction Invention Timeline, or see what's New.
|
Science Fiction
Timeline
1600-1899
1900-1939
1940's 1950's
1960's 1970's
1980's 1990's
2000's 2010's
'...a hemispherical force field enclosing his head.'
'Then he became aware of a gentle pressure pushing him away from the ship.'
'And now they wre busily transforming all their companions, and so on, and so on...'
'Why, a clockwork dancer, or, better still, one that would go by electricity and never run down...'
'Maybe the individual intelligence of each Cubic pools into a group intelligence...'
'Looks like she has bought the Avatar Construction Set and put together her own...'
'Across the ground something small and metallic came, flashing in the dull sunlight of midday.'
