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"Individual science fiction stories may seem as trivial as ever to the blinder critics and philosophers of today -- but the core of science fiction, its essence has become crucial to our salvation if we are to be saved at all."
- Isaac Asimov
 |
| 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 scentoscope from The Mechanical Bloodhound (1930) by Frank Bridge and 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
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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!
| Flock Stymied By 'Adversarial Fashion' |
| China's 'Magpie Drone' Ornithopter |
| FTC: Says Ring Employees Illegally Surveilled Customers |
| Perching Ambush Drones |
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'Space-sickness is one of the most unpleasant sensations that a human being can experience. Not all are subject to it...'
'...I saw a nice black heavy-looking cloud sailing by just now, and I can get the electrical machine out in five minutes to draw it down.'
'From a distance it could resolve the cosmic rays reflected from various substances.'
'The answer to the dumb student's prayer.'
'He had travelled the space-lanes of the solar system for the greater part of his life...'
'The dinner was excellent. It was completely vegetarian — grown in specially prepared gardens in this Moon base...'
'Telepaths had their sensitiveness enlarged to an immense range by the pin-sets, which were telepathic amplifiers adapted to the mammal mind.'
'It was a relief to enter one of the comfortable autos, whisper a direction down the tube, and just know that you would be taken to your destination in the quickest, safest, and cheapest manner.'
'But he didn't get very far with it before another noise in his ear radio scattered his thoughts. George winced...'
