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"To go out on January day and run around on the beach under a golden sun makes a very great change in your outlook on the universe."
- Robert Silverberg
 |
| Government Lethal Chamber | ||
| A legal suicide booth. |
A very early reference to the idea of an automated suicide booth.
| "The Government has seen fit to acknowledge the right of man to end an existence which may have become intolerable to him, through physical suffering or mental despair."
(...) He paused, and turned to the white Lethal Chamber. The silence in the street was absolute. "There a painless death awaits him who can no longer bear the sorrows of this life." |
| Technovelgy from The Repairer of Reputations,
by Robert W. Chambers. Published by Not known in 1895 Additional resources -
|
The same phrase is used in The Man Who Knew Too Much, by John D. Swain, in The Black Mask, a popular fiction magazine, in 1921.
"This is my lethal chamber," he explained. "One who enters this steel chest and throws this switch, ceases to exist. He disappears. More scientifically, since in our universe nothing can be destroyed, he is transmuted into material not identifiable by our imperfect senses. Simply open the door five minutes after I enter, and you will see. Or rather, you will not see!"
Compare to the government lethal chamber from The Repairer of Reputations (1895) by Robert W. Chambers, the Ethical Suicide Parlor from Welcome to the Monkey House (1958) by Kurt Vonnegut, the Sleepshop from Logan's Run (1967) by Nolan and Johnson.
Slade crossed over to where, apparently, a huge steel safe was set in the wall, and opened the thick door. It swung easily and noiselessly upon its oiled pinions, revealing a closet the height of a tall man, with a perforated disc upon the floor, and a grill of shining rods extending to the top. Overhead was an oblong box thickly wound with heavy copper wire. A number of dials, indicators and gauges were attached to a heavy plate screwed to the inside of the door. Slade turned to the silent physician.
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Additional
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More Ideas
and Technology from The Repairer of Reputations
More Ideas
and Technology by Robert W. Chambers
Tech news articles related to The Repairer of Reputations
Tech news articles related to works by Robert W. Chambers
Government Lethal Chamber-related
news articles:
- Soulaje Self-Administered Euthanasia Wearable Prototype
| 'Spikeless' Brand Swizzle Stick Detects Spiked Drinks |
| Musk Proposes Sites For Martian Cities |
| Who First Thought Of A Tin Foil Hat? |
| Robot Baristas Learn Their Trade Without Paying Royalties |
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'The crawling... object was V-Stephen's surgeon-hand...'
'Joe got out the gravity-simulator harnesses...'
'You couldn't have the capstone without the pyramid to hold it up.'
'the unobtrusive inspections with tiny remote-cast snoopers...'
I'm hoping that this procedure becomes a normal part of medical practice!
'... nothing was perfected until M. Pantalon announced the completion of his automatic valet.'
'...its streets were of remarkable width, with few or no buildings so high as mosques, churches, State-offices, or palaces in Tellurian cities.'
