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
"Evolutionary success ... is going to absolutely require mobility on, at a minimum, an interplanetary scale. We either go or we die out."
- Richard Morgan
 |
| Mindwipe | ||
| A process that selectively and effectively erases human memory. |
| "My first mindwipe technique was a very clumsy and primitive thing. I could not erase a memory pattern, but I could, in a sense, erase its retrieval code. The memory remained in the skull, but the mind could not access it. I redoubled my efforts, because I wanted direct access to the memory itself..."
"I could remove twenty-four hours from your mind, and put your memory on hold... To dub off a copy of those twenty-four hours' worth of memories would require much more equipment, power and time. To play my memories into your skull would take nearly twice as much as all three..." "...I would have to wait several hours, until the information has had time to soak into long-term storage. And any information that your mind's metaprogramming elected not to store would be lost." |
| Technovelgy from Mindkiller,
by Spider Robinson. Published by Holt, Rhinehart and Winston in 1982 Additional resources -
|
I like the method detailed in the first paragraph; Robinson had obviously been reading the microcomputer magazines of the day. When you erase a computer file using the interface provided with your computer software, you don't erase the file itself. You erase the reference to the file in the directory track; the file is still there, but your computer cannot find it.
The final references to having to wait shows a nice appreciation on Robinson's part for needing to wait for organic processes (information storage in the human brain) to complete, as opposed to the far quicker process used in electronic storage systems.
Compare to the mind destroyer from Cordwainer Smith's 1961 story A Planet Named Shayol.
Comment/Join this discussion ( 0 ) | RSS/XML | Blog This |
Additional
resources:
More Ideas
and Technology from Mindkiller
More Ideas
and Technology by Spider Robinson
Tech news articles related to Mindkiller
Tech news articles related to works by Spider Robinson
Mindwipe-related
news articles:
- Headband Telepathy And Robinson's Mindkiller
| Heart Patches Grown In The Lab Repair Hearts |
| Pixel Watch 'Loss of Pulse Detection' And Philip K. Dick |
| ErythroMer Artificial Blood |
| MouthPad Supports Head And Tongue Tracking |
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
'He found a barber shop which, he thought, would be good for an idle hour.'
'Thirty rounds of fighting is tough work. Even for machines.'
'...the excavations were already in progress, for he saw gray slopes of rubble.'
'...the walking mills of Puffy Products began to tread delicately on their centipede legs across the wheat fields of Kansas.'
'Here is a Clerk that would work incessantly, and neither eat, sleep, want payment, or grumble.'
'ZARNAK, YOU'RE TO COMMAND A SCOUTING EXPEDITION --- FIND OUT WHAT THIS IS ALL ABOUT!'
'These are your rudimentary seed packages... Some will combine in place to form more complicated structures.'
