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
"The permanent government now is the anchorpeople. They don't get elected, and year after year they're responding emotionally to this or that."
- Kurt Vonnegut, Jr.
 |
| Decorative Implant | ||
| Small devices that can be implanted subcutaneously in the body and then controlled consciously. |
Babel-17 has a variety of kinds of body modifications; scales, feathers, walrus-sized incisors - if you want it, you can get it. I chose this item because it shows a marriage between technology and medicine. In our current thinking, we want to have some sort of conscious control over prosthetic devices - to regain something like normal function. In this novel, the characters seek to express themselves or go beyond their normal capabilities.
| "It's listed in your catalog as 5463," the Customs Officer declared. "I want it there." He clapped his left hand to his right shoulder. The surgeon returned ... with a tray full of fragments. The only recognizable one was the front half of a miniature dragon with jeweled eyes, glittering sc ales, and opalescent wings: it was less than two inches long. "When he's connected up to your nervous system, you'll be able to make him whistle, hiss, roar, flap his wings and spit sparks..." |
| From Babel 17,
by Samuel R. Delany. Published by Not Available in 1968 Additional resources -
|
Every time I see someone with a body piercing, I think about how simple these modifications are compared with what you could think of - compared with what Delany already thought about in 1968.
For a look at alternative dentition, take a look at toothbud transplants, from Neuromancer, by William Gibson, written about 15 years later.
Comment/Join this discussion ( 0 ) | RSS/XML | Blog This |
Additional
resources:
More Ideas
and Technology from Babel 17
More Ideas
and Technology by Samuel R. Delany
Tech news articles related to Babel 17
Tech news articles related to works by Samuel R. Delany
Decorative Implant-related
news articles:
- Union Of Driver And Vehicle (and Astronaut And Spacecraft?)
- Useful Body Modifications - The Ruler Tattoo
- Stable Motor Memory For Mastery Of Prosthetics
- Augmented Reality Tattoo Flaps Wings
- Low-Cost, Implantable Electronics Get Closer
| Neural Implant To Treat Memory Loss |
| The Claustrum - The Brain's On Off Switch? |
| Beating Mini-Heart Grown In Lab |
| An 'OFF' Switch For The Brain |
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> |
|
|
|
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 Invention Timeline, or see what's New.
|
'I had a small can of powdered alcohol disguised as tooth powder...'
'The jeweled hands clutching drinks (and the unobtrusive inspections with tiny remote-cast snoopers)...'
'It cut her out of the stream of vehicles and reduced the speed of her car...'
'A planet-wide chain of hotels that specialized in non-human service.'
