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"did I had an extremely expensive wife - she would see a new car that she liked and just buy it... under California law I was bound to buy her debts. I think I turned out 16 novels in five years."
- Philip K. Dick
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| Data-Retrieval Mode | ||
| A system for getting the thoughts and images out of a person's mind; recovering the data from a brain storage device. |
This is a relatively early reference I for the idea of being able to directly observe another person's mental images through the use of some sort of electronic device.
| ... a man in the bare steel chair ... Tiny adhesive pads held sensors in position at a dozen places on his scalp...throat..heart...solar plexus...From each sensor a lead, fine as gossamer, ran to the ... data-analysis console .. with display screens and signal lights on its slanted top. "...It's done with induced current in the motor senses. I'm going to regress him to the appropriate date and key in the same image... and we'll see what develops. |
| Technovelgy from The Shockwave Rider,
by John Brunner. Published by Harper and Row in 1975 Additional resources -
|
This device precedes others like it in sf, like stimsim in the works of William Gibson and others.
See the comments for earlier references; I also think that Cordwainer Smith used this idea in the mid 1950's.
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Additional
resources:
More Ideas
and Technology from The Shockwave Rider
More Ideas
and Technology by John Brunner
Tech news articles related to The Shockwave Rider
Tech news articles related to works by John Brunner
Data-Retrieval Mode-related
news articles:
- EEGLAB: Independent Component Analysis Reads Your Thoughts
- An 'OFF' Switch For The Brain
- The Claustrum - The Brain's On Off Switch?
| MouthPad Supports Head And Tongue Tracking |
| Drug Induces Hibernation-Like State In Humans |
| Drug To Regenerate Teeth In Humans |
| Illustrating Classic Heinlein With AI |
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'... the expressionless face before me was therefore that of the golem-wrestler, Rolem, a creature that could be set for five times the strength of a human being.'
'Waldo put his arms into the primary pair before him; all three pairs, including the secondary pair mounted before the machine, came to life.'
'... the glittering little rocket bolted to the black iron behind him.'
'The slender stalks of a sunshade-photocell collector...'
'The operation that had transformed half his body... had located the control switchboard in his teeth.'
