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
"If we're going to be consistent and advocate freedom of speech we have to advocate freedom of encrypted speech too. The genie is out of the bottle, cryptologically."
- Neal Stephenson
 |
| Display-Induced Epileptic Seizure | ||
| A computer program that flashes a computer display to induce an epileptic seizure in the user. |
Victor Apfel, epileptic, and Lisa Foo, computer hacker, get a little bit too close to Things We Are Not Meant To Know, with a near-tragic result.
| We were almost through when her monitor screen began to malfunction. It actually gave off a few hisses and pops, so Lisa stood back from it for a moment, then the screen started to flicker. I stared at it for a while. It seemed to me that there was an image trying to form on the screen. Something three-dimensional. Just as I was starting to get a picture of it I happened to glance at Lisa, and she was looking at me. Her face was flickering. She came to me and put her hands over my eyes.
"Victor, you shouldn't look at that." "It's okay," I told her. And when I said it, it was, but as soon as I had the words out, I knew that it wasn't. And that is the last thing I remembered for a long time. |
| Technovelgy from Press Enter,
by John Varley. Published by Davis Publications in 1984 Additional resources -
|
Something like this actually happened in Japan in 1997:
TOKYO (CNN) -- The bright flashing lights of a popular TV cartoon became a serious matter Tuesday evening, when they triggered seizures in hundreds of Japanese children.
In a national survey, the Tokyo fire department found that at least 618 children had suffered convulsions, vomiting, irritated eyes, and other symptoms after watching "Pokemon."
Japanese television network NHK reported that 111 people were still hospitalized Wednesday morning.
Compare to the the LOOKER (Light Ocular-Oriented Kinetic Emotive Responses) gun from the 1981 film LOOKER written and directed by Michael Crichton. The device is a light pulse device that gives the illusion of invisibility by instantly mesmerizing its victims into losing all sense of time.
Japanese cartoon triggers seizures in hundreds of children
(LOOKER gun)
Compare to the nerve control lines from The Rull by AE van Vogt, Van Goom's Gambit from Van Goom's Gambit (1966) by Victor Contoski, BLIT from Blit (1988) by David Langford and the ugly T-shirt from Zero History (2010) by William Gibson.
Comment/Join this discussion ( 0 ) | RSS/XML | Blog This |
Additional
resources:
More Ideas
and Technology from Press Enter
More Ideas
and Technology by John Varley
Tech news articles related to Press Enter
Tech news articles related to works by John Varley
Display-Induced Epileptic Seizure-related
news articles:
- Hackers Induce Epileptic Seizure Like 'Press Enter'
- Army Seizure Ray Inspired By Pikachu (Updated)
- Rise Of Skywalker Could Trigger Epileptic Seizures
| Can A Swarm Of Deadly Drones Take Out An Aircraft Carrier? |
| Has Turkey Been Stealing Rain From Iran? |
| We Need To Build Anti-Drone Systems For Civilian Spaces |
| Bullet Steers Itself! The Advanced Low-Cost Munitions Ordnance ALaMO |
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
'What would you do,' Eric asked the robot cabdriver, 'if your wife had turned to stone, your best friend were a toad, and you had lost your job?'
'those suits they wear -- call them 'stillsuits' -- that reclaim the body's own water...'
'Now, except for weight and heat, the same conditions prevail in this chamber as in space.'
'there were so many worms and counterworms loose in the data-net...'
'Now, look, let's start with the three fundamental Rules of Robotics...'
'..the synthetic intellects at the Place of Knowledge had far outstripped the minds of men.'
'But after washing and drying clothes had to be smooth - free from fine lines and wrinkles ...'
