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"I realized there was a heavy-duty change coming in biology, and I could write a really compelling novel about catastrophic evolution, punctuated equilibrium."
- Greg Bear
 |
| Bloodhound Machine | ||
| Could positively identify a person using their scent alone. |
| 2XZ4 —the man wanted for a score of crimes,
from murder up to treasonable plotting.
2XZ4 had never been arrested, never
been typed. But we had his olfactory
classification; the Bloodhound Machine,
as the newscasters luridly call it, had
contacted his trail several times, so that
the scent of him was mathematically
known. Much good that did us! No one knew where he was now; nor what was his name, his nationality, nor what he looked like. Indeed we knew nothing about him at all, except his scent, which gave him the index-symbol 2XZ4. |
| Technovelgy from Crimes of the Year 2000,
by Ray Cummings. Published by Fantastic Mysteries in 1935 Additional resources -
|
Here's how it works:
I thought that Green was not watching
me, but at once he gasped:
"What—you doing?"
I did not answer, but jumped suddenly
and pressed the vacuum cup of the
classifier against his shoulder. The dial
indicators swung wildly, and instantly
settled.
2XZ4!
Compare to the olfactory system of the Mechanical Hound from Fahrenheit 451.
I turned swiftly and whipped out the
little classified—the Bloodhound Machine.
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Additional
resources:
More Ideas
and Technology from Crimes of the Year 2000
More Ideas
and Technology by Ray Cummings
Tech news articles related to Crimes of the Year 2000
Tech news articles related to works by Ray Cummings
Bloodhound Machine-related
news articles:
- Your 'Odortype' Is Unique!
| China's 'Magpie Drone' Ornithopter |
| FTC: Says Ring Employees Illegally Surveilled Customers |
| Perching Ambush Drones |
| India Ponders Always-On Smartphone Location Tracking |
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'Looks like she has bought the Avatar Construction Set and put together her own...'
'Across the ground something small and metallic came, flashing in the dull sunlight of midday.'
'A broken circle with arrows pointing to a right-hand flow appeared in the chalf.'
'The object seemed melted together like wax — nothing was distinguishable.'
'Midges have many capabilities. To the untrained eye, they look like sparrows.'
'I made disks of my own voice to the number of five hundred very carefully chosen words.'
'His sensors out and working, and the whirring of the tape that sucked up sight and sound and shape and smell and form...'
