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"It's hard to tell stories about critters that are not human. John W. Campbell tried it, in "Twilight," and everybody says it's a wonderful story, and nobody ever reads it twice."
- Jerry Pournelle

Death-rattle File  
  A cache of information set to destroy itself upon the death of its owner.  

"I note everything, Lars. Yes, it's in my death-rattle file." Death-rattle ... the fireproof, Third-World-War proof, Titanian bolecricket-proof, well-hidden file-cases which were rigged to detonate in the event of Morris' death. He carried on his person a triggering mechanism sensitive to his heartbeat. Even Lars did not know where the files currently existed...
From The Zap Gun, by Philip K. Dick.
Published by Galaxy Publishing in 1965
Additional resources -

One of the reasons I included this item is that it is a very early reference to the idea of a tag or medallion that performed a medical monitoring function, and then communicated particular events wirelessly to another location.

For us today, this is an old idea; we've all seen the commercials for medic-alert medallions worn by people who say "I've fallen, and I can't get up..."

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Additional resources:
  More Ideas and Technology from The Zap Gun
  More Ideas and Technology by Philip K. Dick
  Tech news articles related to The Zap Gun
  Tech news articles related to works by Philip K. Dick

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