Science Fiction Dictionary
A  B  C  D  E  F  G  H  I  J  K  L  M  N  O  P  Q  R  S  T  U  V  W  X  Y  Z

Latest By
Category:


Armor
Artificial Intelligence
Biology
Clothing
Communication
Computers
Culture
Data Storage
Displays
Engineering
Entertainment
Food
Input Devices
Lifestyle
Living Space
Manufacturing
Material
Media
Medical
Miscellaneous
Robotics
Security
Space Tech
Spacecraft
Surveillance
Transportation
Travel
Vehicle
Virtual Person
Warfare
Weapon
Work

"I wrote many novels which … contained the element of the projected collective unconscious, which made them simply incomprehensible to anyone who read them, because they required the reader to accept my premise that each of us lives in a unique world."
- Philip K. Dick

Emotion Meter  
  A device for empirically determining human emotion.  

You have probably all heard of the lie-detector which is now in use in some police departments in connection with crime. I have greatly improved upon it. My invention takes into consideration many more physical changes in the human body. It measures heartbeat, breathing, body temperature and increase or decrease of gland secretion. All of these are affected by emotion...

Professor Miller helped Sayles adjust the apparatus. One plate clamped on his wrist, one over his heart and then a small object was placed under his tongue. The professor explained that the latter measured both the slight change in temperature and the glandular action, making use of the salivary glands as they were the easiest to reach and also reacted the best to emotion.

Technovelgy from The Emotion Meter, by W. Varick Nevins, III.
Published by Thrilling Wonder Stories in 1935
Additional resources -

Compare to HAL 9000 from 2001: A Space Odyssey (1968) by Arthur C. Clarke. In Star Trek: The Next Generation, Data has an emotion chip. Also, see Emotional Register from The Primal Urge (1961) by Brian Aldiss.

Comment/Join this discussion ( 0 ) | RSS/XML | Blog This |

Additional resources:
  More Ideas and Technology from The Emotion Meter
  More Ideas and Technology by W. Varick Nevins, III
  Tech news articles related to The Emotion Meter
  Tech news articles related to works by W. Varick Nevins, III

Articles related to Culture
Switzerland May Cap Population At Ten Million
California Governor Candidate Calls For Voting By Phone
Chinese Hospital Tries Vonnegut's 'Harrison Bergeron' Cosplay
A Remarkable Coincidence

Want to Contribute an Item? It's easy:
Get the name of the item, a quote, the book's name and the author's name, and Add it here.

<Previous
Next>

Google
  Web TechNovelgy.com   

 

 

Technovelgy (that's tech-novel-gee!) is devoted to the creative science inventions and ideas of sf authors. Look for the Invention Category that interests you, the Glossary, the Science Fiction Invention Timeline, or see what's New.

 

 

 

 

Science Fiction Timeline
1600-1899
1900-1939
1940's   1950's
1960's   1970's
1980's   1990's
2000's   2010's

Science Fiction in the News

'Soft Assembly' Fashions That Fashion Themselves On The Wearer
'Clothes are no longer made from dead fibers of fixed color and texture that can approximate only crudely to the vagrant human figure...'

Orwell's Nightmare Of AI-Written Novels Comes To Pass
'Books were just a commodity that had to be produced, like jam or bootlaces.'

ISS Plagued By Leak - Again!
'There were perhaps a dozen bladder-like objects in the tunnel...'

Ridiculous 'Ghost Murmur' Tech Still Science Fiction
'...it rears and spreads its fan. It can pick one man out of a crowd.'

Infrared Contact Lenses To See In The Dark
'I can see in the dark, Case.'

What'll You Have? Extinct Animals Returned, Or Synthetic Eggshells?
'...a new plastic with the characteristics of an avian eggshell.'

Sunbird Pulsar Fusion Like Leinster's Space Tug
'It was a pushpot, which could not possibly be called a jet plane because it could not possibly fly. Only it did.'

RentAHuman App Lets AI Agents Hire Humans
'She wouldn't stop until Antar had told her everything he knew about whatever it was that she was playing with on her screen.'

Unitree CEO Wang Xingxing Runs With His G1 Robot Army
'Does thinking you're the last sane man on the face of the Earth make you crazy?'

More SF in the News

More Beyond Technovelgy

Home | Glossary | Science Fiction Timeline | Category | New | Contact Us | FAQ | Advertise |
Technovelgy.com - where science meets fiction™

Copyright© Technovelgy LLC; all rights reserved.