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"For the sciences, the way to change science's perception of things is to wait until all the old farts have died off."
- Larry Niven
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| Invisible Watchmen | ||
| Automated 'home security' sentry system that targets and eliminates intruders. |
This is a very early reference to this idea. They're diabolically ingenious!
| He reached up with the little oval instrument he held.
It was a recorder which registered the presence anywhere nearby of "invisible watchmen," those diabolically ingenious combinations of electric eyes and atomic beams, effective alarms that blasted down intruders without warning. |
| Technovelgy from Murder in the Void,
by Edmond Hamilton. Published by Thrilling Wonder Stories in 1938 Additional resources -
|
Compare to the automatic gun from The Andromeda Strain (1969) by Michael Crichton and the
robot gun from Aliens (1986) by Alan Dean Foster.
This idea is under development (using bullets instead of lasers), with some success: see the article on the DoDAMM Autonomous Robot Sentry Gun.
(Super aEgis 2 autonomous robot sentry gun )
As far as I know, automatically targeted guns didn't exist until WWII when anti-aircraft fire could be targeted using radar.
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Additional
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More Ideas
and Technology from Murder in the Void
More Ideas
and Technology by Edmond Hamilton
Tech news articles related to Murder in the Void
Tech news articles related to works by Edmond Hamilton
| LingYuan Vehicle Roof Drones Now Available, ala Blade Runner 2049 |
| Chameleon Personalized Privacy Protection Mask |
| Spherical Police Robot Rolls In China |
| Vietnam To Have Full Biometric Transparency |
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'This was their world, their planet — this swift-traveling, yet seemingly moveless vessel.'
'Gaines and Harvey mounted tumblebugs, and kept abreast of the Cadet Captain...'
Accompanied by a small selection of similar ideas from science fiction.
'...war-balloons, or, as it would be more correct to call them, navigable aerostats.'
