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" I think that computers today allow us one last opportunity to provide something like a level playingfield in America."
- William Gibson

Electric Brain Stimulator  
  A device that coordinated the waves of the brain with an external device to improve performance.  

Once the King of Speed himself, Ben Gleed has been fired for pushing people too far. Now, Ben is just employee SX333; he's determined to prove himself.

Lunch hour and midday check-up. "SX333, come into the wave room," said a supervisor. "You need more stimulant than coffee." In the designated room an absent-minded laboratory official made a test of Ben's brain waves under concentration, explaining, "This is one of the Speed King's Efficio devices for converting electrical energy into brain power."

He fitted an instrument over SX333's head. "Plug it in and work the rheostat to suit yourself. The electrical waves will synchronize with your own brain waves and reinforce them."

The King of Speed clamped the electric stimulator over his head, turned the rheostat on full, and poured forth words and sweat. He choked down black coffee, did not stop for lunch, tried not to hear the whisper of "Faster! Faster!" But late in the afternoon when the speed-up whisper bore down and one of the women workers screamed out, "For God's sakes, turn that thing off!" and then slumped over her desk in tears, he wasted five good minutes getting his mind back on his work. "Damn weaklings," he muttered to himself. "They can't take the pace! I'll show them."

Technovelgy from Ben Gleed, King of Speed, by Don Wilcox.
Published by Amazing Stories in 1939
Additional resources -

Compare to the control helmet from Easy Money (1938) by Edmond Hamilton and the cogitator from The Consolidator (1705) by Daniel Defoe.

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Additional resources:
  More Ideas and Technology from Ben Gleed, King of Speed
  More Ideas and Technology by Don Wilcox
  Tech news articles related to Ben Gleed, King of Speed
  Tech news articles related to works by Don Wilcox

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