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"I think we could solve our problems more easily through strength of character; but that's always been a commodity in extremely short supply."
- Gregory Benford
 |
| Poldek | ||
| Ability to sense life. |
I mostly interested in this term because it refers to the idea of being able to sense life; the idea of a mechanical life detector or life sensor can be seen later in science fiction.
| “Could you describe a color to a man
blind from birth?”
“No,” she admitted. “Can you explain to a Martian what your nose is for and how it can smell?” “No. I’ve tried, and it’s hopeless. Has a Martian ever succeeded in explaining to you what it means to poldek ?” “A Martian can’t explain it because no Terrestrial has been bom with the ability to poldek. All I’ve been able to gather is that it’s a sort of sense that enables them to perceive life, a faculty by which they can tell, with ease, where life is and whether or not anything contains life. But how they do it beats me completely.” |
| Technovelgy from The Saga of Pelican West,
by Eric Frank Russell. Published by Astounding Science Fiction in 1937 Additional resources -
|
Compare to the life detector from Cease Fire (1958) by Frank Herbert.
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'If you're one of those rarities who haven't attended a rocket-polo "carnage", let me tell you it's a colorful affair.'
'They filed clumsily into the battleroom, like children in a swimming pool for the first time, clinging to the handholds along the side.'
'a walking balloon proceeded with long strides of its aluminum legs...'
'There was nowhere on the planet where science and technology could not provide one with a comfortable home...'
'Most men updated their PIP on New Year's Day...'
'...a misshapen, many-tentacled thing about twice the size of a man.'
