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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

Sobriety Ray  
  A ray of a particular wavelength and intensity, that conferred instant sobriety on those it shone upon.  

Two hours later a taxi let Kerry out at his door. He was remarkably drunk...

The radio came forward to meet him. Tentacles, thin, but strong as metal, coiled gently around his body, holding him motionless...

From the radio panel a beam of yellow light shot out, blinding the man. It swung down, aimed at his chest. Abruptly a queer taste was perceptible under Kerry's tongue.

He was sober.

Technovelgy from The Twonky, by Lewis Padgett.
Published by Street and Smith in 1942
Additional resources -

Padgett offers an interesting bit of pseudoscience for how it works, based on a false analogy to the manner in which the body manufactures vitamin D.

"The vibrationary equivalent of thiamin chloride... There's vitamin content in sunlight, you know."
Patients with chronic alcoholism or experiencing alcohol withdrawal are at risk of thiamin deficiency and its associated complications, and are given thiamin prior to rehydrating them.

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Additional resources:
  More Ideas and Technology from The Twonky
  More Ideas and Technology by Lewis Padgett
  Tech news articles related to The Twonky
  Tech news articles related to works by Lewis Padgett

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