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

"For the sciences, the way to change science's perception of things is to wait until all the old farts have died off."
- Larry Niven

Analogue Treatment  
  Hypnotic drug treatment that normalizes behavior in humans.  

I'm immune to analogue treatment. I didn't know it for sure till I was ten, but I think I was born that way. From seven on, I remember the other kids talking about their Guardians, and me pretending I had one, too. You know how kids are — anything to be part of the gang.

"But for a long time, years, I wasn't certain whether everyone else was pretending like me, or whether I really was the only one without an invisible Guardian to talk to. I was pretty sure the kids were lying when they said they could see theirs, but whether they were there at all or not was another question...

"When I was ten, I stole some- thing... Funny, I was halfway out before it struck me that I'd just proved I had no Guardian.

"I had sense enough, thank God, to burn that book after I'd finished reading it. If I hadn't, I don't suppose I would have lived to grow up."

"Should think not" Wolfert said, his eyes fixed on Falk, alert, wary. "One man without any control could turn the whole applecart over. But I thought immunity was theoretically impossible."

"I've thought about that a good deal. According to classic psychology, it is. I'm not unusually resistant to hypnotic drugs; I go under all right. But the censor mechanism just doesn't respond. I've had the notion that I may be a mutation, developed in response to the analogue treatment as an anti-survival factor. But I don't know. As far as I've ever been able to find out, there are no more like me."

Technovelgy from Ticket to Anywhere, by Damon Knight.
Published by Galaxy Magazine in 1952
Additional resources -

This treatment has been applied to everyone:

"There are fewer and fewer people who have to be put away in madhouses — not because of any improvement in therapy, but because the analogue techniques are getting better and better. The guy who would have been hopelessly insane fifty years ago now has a little man inside his head, controlling him, making him act normal. On the outside, he is normal; inside, he's a raving mad- man. Worse still, the guy who would have been just a little bit cracked, fifty years ago — and gotten treatment for it — is now just as mad as the first guy. It doesn't matter any more. We could all be maniacs and the world would go on just as before."

Wolfert grimaced wryly. "Well? It's a peaceful world, anyhow."

"Sure," said Falk. "No war or possibility of war, no murders, no theft, no crime at all. That's because every one of them has a policeman inside his skull.

Compare to the control helmet from Easy Money (1938) by Edmond Hamilton, the Methuen Treatment from The Exalted (1940) by L. Sprague de Camp and CAN-D from The Three Stigmata of Palmer Eldritch (1965) by Philip K. Dick.

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

Additional resources:
  More Ideas and Technology from Ticket to Anywhere
  More Ideas and Technology by Damon Knight
  Tech news articles related to Ticket to Anywhere
  Tech news articles related to works by Damon Knight

Articles related to Medical
Octopus Suckers Inspire Transdermal Patches
'Droplet' Battery Microscale Power Pack
Who Needs Asimov's 'Proteus' When You Can Have Pangolins?
Self-Powered Piezoelectric Nanotattoos

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

Tesla's Optimus Robot Now Sorts Objects (I've Got A Job In Mind)
'Then they press one of these here thirteen buttons...'

CADRE Robots To Work In Teams On Other Planets
'You're a stable, rock-bottom mining robot, except that you're equipped to handle six subsidiaries in direct coordination...'

18 Wheels Mutant Centipede Vehicle
'If a centipede were a dinosaur and made of metal to boot...'

Octopus Suckers Inspire Transdermal Patches
'...a capsule which he placed against his wrist.'

Robotic Hands Have More Than One Use
'The crawling, exploring object was V-Stephen's surgeon-hand...'

Space Weather To Universe Weather
'It radiates outward in a cone which, by the time it has reached our section of space, is many lightyears across.'

That's MOXIE! Terraforming Mars Baby Steps
'Drake was the young spatial engineer he employed to terraform the little rock.'

'No, I'm Not A Robot' - Robot
'... with a weird simulation of life, the ten forked ends of each arm commenced a rattling pressing of the buttons.'

Missing Jet Finally Found
Ah, what could have been - still in the future.

Philippines Coast Guard Cuts Chinese Barrier
'Each of the four areas is enclosed by a sonic wall...'

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.