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"Cyberspace is a metaphor that allows us to grasp this place where since about the time of the second world war we've increasingly done so many of the things that we think of as civilization."
- William Gibson
 |
| Housefly Monitor | ||
| A living fly that is outfitted with sensors for surveillance work. |
| "I'm Bill Behren... Operator of fly 33408. Now, as you may or may not remember fly 33408 is a real winner. I mean it really gets in there and tackles its job and really gathers up the stuff, the real hot stuff. I've personally been operator for, say, fifty flies... but in all this time, none has really performed true blue like this little fella. I think he - or it, or whatever they are these days - deserves a vote of thanks from all of us involved in this delicate work we do. Right, Herr von Einem?" operator of Housefly 33048 Bill Behren paused hopefully.
"There are just plain virtually no houseflies as intelligent as this..." |
| Technovelgy from Lies, Inc.,
by Philip K. Dick. Published by Fantastic in 1964 Additional resources -
|
Behren's supervisor is somewhat unhappy with his work; he has an interesting idea for a replacement:
Followers of this technology know that this sfnal idea has been actively pursued by DARPA; see these articles on the HI-MEMS: Cyborg Beetle Microsystem and Control Circuits Embedded In Pupal Stage Successfully . One reason for the choice of insect for this and other programs is that the size of the insect allows the developer to add more features to embedded electronics.
Time for a replacement of both Behren and his dipterous insect, both of them with one arboreal, American orthopterous katydid; it would carry twice the minned receptors and recording spools of 33048 and probably would possess the brain convolutions of Behren and his housefly put together.
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Additional
resources:
More Ideas
and Technology from Lies, Inc.
More Ideas
and Technology by Philip K. Dick
Tech news articles related to Lies, Inc.
Tech news articles related to works by Philip K. Dick
Housefly Monitor-related
news articles:
- DARPA Cyborg Insects With Nuclear-Powered Transponders
- Is Noam Chomsky As Paranoid As Philip K. Dick?
- Bee Narcs To Perform Drug 'Stings'
| Amazon One Is Frank Herbert's Palm Lock |
| Who Needs Dogs? Trained Bees Detect Explosives |
| Government In-Home Surveillance - Yes! Say Third Of Under-30 Adults |
| New Train Station Offers Minority Report-Style Signs |
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'What is your population', I asked. 'About eighty millions.'
'THE autobus turned silently down the wide street of Hydropole. Robot-guided, insulated from noise and cold...'
'The car had no steering wheel, and no one drove!'
Now that's power walking that Hugo Gernsback would have approved.
'It was disturbing to think of the Flatline as a construct...'
'...he rewired the delivery robot so that it would serve him midnight snacks.'
'On went the electric-yacht faster and still faster.'
'...the huge vessel had spun, with a sickening lurch, through a complete half-circle, the instant the power was reversed.'
'...he realized that it was not quite a clear lens. Speckles of colored brightness swirled and gathered in it.'
'...a universal cryptogram — yet it is one which can be interpreted by any intelligent creature on any planet in the Solar System!'
