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"At its best, SF is the medium in which our miserable certainty that tomorrow will be different from today in ways we can't predict, can be transmuted to a sense of excitement and anticipation, occasionally evolving into awe."
- John Brunner
 |
| Smart Bullet | ||
| Really a tiny missile capable of identifying and following a person. |
In the film, Jack Ramsay of the Runaway squad chases after malfunctioning robots. However, evil mastermind Charles Luther has an advanced weapon prototype - a gun that shoots smart bullets.
(Smart bullet dissected)
| "Jack, look at this. The back half is all solid propellant. Valves for directional control ... look, it's all electronic."
"You've heard of a bullet that has your name on it. Well, this one really does. And you can program it to go after a specific person." "What's the signature?" "I don't know, man. I've tried everything..." "It's a heat seeking missile... Everyone's body has a unique heat pattern...This is your body's heat pattern and this is mine." |
| Technovelgy from Runaway,
by Michael Crichton. Published by Tri-Star Pictures in 1985 Additional resources -
|
Here's the oversized gun that fires the smart bullet.
(The gun that shoots the smart bullet)
The final feature of the device is that it targets individual people by looking at their body heat signature.
(Targeting system uses your personal heat signature)
Compare to the magnetic shell from The Great Stone of Shardis (1897) by Frank Stockton, the atomic bomb from The World Set Free (1914) by HG Wells, the atomic shell from Buck Rogers: 2430 AD (1929) by Nowlan and Calkin, the roving bomb from Lost Rocket (1941) by Manly Wade Wellman, the Wabbler from The Wabbler (1942) by Murray Leinster and the planet-busting bomb from Testing (1956) by JJ Ferat.
See also the micro-missiles from Invader on my Back by Phillip High.
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Additional
resources:
More Ideas
and Technology from Runaway
More Ideas
and Technology by Michael Crichton
Tech news articles related to Runaway
Tech news articles related to works by Michael Crichton
Smart Bullet-related
news articles:
- Cylogic Smart Avenger Runaway Project
- SPIKE Fire-And-Forget Missile World's Smallest
- Switchblade Surveillance Missile
- Self-Guided Bullet Accurate Over One Mile
- Laser-Guided Smart Bullet Prototype
- EXACTO Smart Bullet From DARPA
- Bullet Steers Itself! The Advanced Low-Cost Munitions Ordnance ALaMO
| Worm Disrupts Physics Simulations Undetected For A Decade |
| Moscow Attacked By Hundreds Of Drones |
| China's Handheld Electromagnetic Gun |
| Is The Seattle Ultrasonics C-200 A Heinlein Vibroblade? |
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'...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.'
