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
"I've come across more and more people who've actually tried reading science fiction and can't make it make sense."
- Samuel R. Delany
 |
| Metamen | ||
| A human brain placed in a purely mechanical, robotic body. |
This is a very early description of this concept; I thnk that those who are looking forward to uploading to a mechanical body should pay careful attention to the feature list.
| It was tall, ten feet from the soles of its metal feet to the top of its cone-shaped head. It moved with a mechanical precision and it looked like a demented parody of a man. It thudded to a halt, and from its twin scanning-lenses ruby lights flickered and pulsed.
"Doctor Lasser?" Its voice was cold, inhuman, like the sounds made by vibrating plastic and electrical current... "Decision of Comain." The thing raised its articulated arm and held out a thin sheaf of papers. "Take them." Lasser took the papers from the metal hand and stood waiting while the thing turned and thudded from the room. "That was a metamen," Lasser said grimly. "The Matriarch probably sent it as a reminder to obey the predictions of Comain..." "Those things," whispered Curt sickly, "men?" "The brains of men in mechanical bodies. Mostly those who have died by accident, or those who deliberately chose the potential immortality of a robot-like life to inevitable death. They are the guards of Comain, the servants of the Matriarch, emotionless, unfeeling perfect servants and police. |
| From The Mechanical Monarch,
by E.C. Tubb. Published by Ace Books in 1958 Additional resources -
|
Metamen could also be cool fighting 'bots:
Tall, with articulated limbs and a cone-shaped head... the para-beam seemed to emit from an orifice in their chest and the ruby light of their scanning eyes flared like the fires of hell.
What would it be like to be a metamen?
They could probably communicate between themselves by radio, They could see by means of the scanning eyes, hear via their diaphragms, even speak by transmitted electrical impulses, but they could never feel. They would never know true emotion, because emotion is controlled by the glands and they had no glands. They were prisoners, trapped in their mobile hells, a few pounds of protoplasm served by machinery instead of living flesh.
Comment/Join this discussion ( 0 ) | RSS/XML | Blog This |
Additional
resources:
More Ideas
and Technology from The Mechanical Monarch
More Ideas
and Technology by E.C. Tubb
Tech news articles related to The Mechanical Monarch
Tech news articles related to works by E.C. Tubb
| PR2 Fencing Robot Perfect For Kwisatz Haderach-in-training |
| 3rd Century BC Gold Bee Is Just The Start |
| Flatcat Robot Recalls Both Heinlein And Simak |
| Solar Powered Robot Cleans Up Solar Panels For Free |
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 Invention Timeline, or see what's New.
|
'... sweating, heat-blistered engineers at every interplanetary radiograph station on three planets.'
'The huge plow... seemed to shake itself - and began to move back southward.'
'... he went to the hall closet to get his pith helmet and his mandatory cooling-unit.'
'We still use people at the main gates, but here it's an automated sentry.'
'The single sheet he held, and even the words and signatures upon it, were all integral parts of a single giant molecule...'
