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"Bureaucracies hide their mistakes, because people's careers are tied to those mistakes. Therefore, bureaucracies are a perfect mechanism for perpetuating mistakes."
- Frank Herbert
 |
| Probe Screen Hood | ||
| A device that blocks attempts to see into the contents of the brain mind. |
When some humans gain telepathic abilities, they try to subjugate the normals. Should people with the power to determine with certainty the contents of your mind also have the political power to control you and control society?
| He had done nothing disloyal. Nothing, except open the morning mail, find the hood, deliberate about it, and finally put it on. He remembered the small instruction tag:
GREETINGS! This probe screen is sent to you with compliments of the maker and the earnest hope that it will be of some value to you. Thank you. ...Should he wear it? He had never done anything. He had nothing to hide - nothing disloyal to the Union. But the thought fascinated him. If he wore the hood his mind would be his own. Nobody could look into it. His mind would be long to him again, private, secret, to think as he wished, endless thoughts for no one else's consumption but his own... There was some sort of an Anti-Immunity bill up in Congress to make wearing of a probe screen a felony, but it hadn't been passed yet- |
| Technovelgy from The Hood Maker ('Immunity'),
by Philip K. Dick. Published by Imagination in 1955 Additional resources -
|
Here's another bit:
"The teeps can't file a framed report on a man whose mind is opaque to probes... The teeps have to get the hoods off... If a man is innocent why shouldn't he want his mind probed? The bill makes wearing a probe shield a felony."
"Teeps" are telepathic humans.
I can find quotes for the opposite idea - see the entry for the Control Helmet from a 1938 story by Edmund Hamilton.
Compare to the Tin Foil Hat (Tin Pulpit) from The Tissue-Culture King (1927) by Julian Huxley, which is apparently the original story from which the "tin foil hat" idea is taken. See also the thought screen helmet from Gray Lensman (1942) by E.E. 'Doc' Smith
He tapped his hood. "This alloy - opaque to probes. Discovered by accident, by one of these men. Teeps came after him instantly, but he escaped.
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Additional
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More Ideas
and Technology from The Hood Maker ('Immunity')
More Ideas
and Technology by Philip K. Dick
Tech news articles related to The Hood Maker ('Immunity')
Tech news articles related to works by Philip K. Dick
Probe Screen Hood-related
news articles:
- 'Brain Breathalyzer' For Astronauts
| Chameleon Personalized Privacy Protection Mask |
| Spherical Police Robot Rolls In China |
| Vietnam To Have Full Biometric Transparency |
| Simple Way To Defeat AI Face Recognition |
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'...Anything was possible in my imaginary environment.'
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'That explains how it was so easy for me to remain motionless in midair...'
'We had discovered that metal was relatively impervious to the telepathic effect.'
'Detailed plans for the construction of the Gundstetter-Halone warp drive were flowing.'
'Do not waste your priceless company on the unappreciative folds of a sleep pod...'
'...so we've promised him a generous pension from the royalties.'
'Hocus-pocus religions and archaic weapons are no substitute for a good blaster at your side.'
