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"I do think there is a link in that in both cases, writing fiction or writing a computer program, at any given moment you're focusing on a very specific and particular thing—one word, one line of code, whatever."
- Neal Stephenson
 |
| Tin Foil Hat (Metal Foil Caps) | ||
| A metal device that protects the user from unwanted telepathic intrusions. |
This is apparently the genesis of the "tin foil hat" idea!
| "...we should give our experimental squad the suggestion to broadcast 'sleep for a week.' The telepathic message would be relayed to each of the thousands of minds waiting receptively for it, and would take root in them, until the whole nation became a single super-consciousness, conscious only of the one thought 'sleep' which we had thrown into it."
The reader will perhaps ask how we ourselves expected to escape from the clutches of the superconsciousness we had created. Well, we had discovered that metal was relatively impervious to the telepathic effect, and had prepared for ourselves a sort of tin pulpit, behind which we could stand while conducting experiments. This, combined with caps of metal foil, enormously reduced the effects on ourselves. |
| Technovelgy from The Tissue-Culture King,
by Julian Huxley. Published by Amazing Stories in 1927 Additional resources -
|
In the story, the protagonists develop a remarkable facility for mass hypnosis through telepathy:
Huxley also refers to his tin foil hats as "our metal headgear, or mind-protectors".
Compare to the thought screen helmet from Gray Lensman (1942) by E.E. 'Doc' Smith and the probe screen hood from The Hood Maker ('Immunity') (1955) by Philip K. Dick.
Thanks to @SFFaudio for sending me this reference.
He saw himself, through this mental machinery, planting such ideas as he wished in the brain-cases of his people. He saw himself willing an order; and the whole population rousing itself out of trance to execute it. He dreamt dreams before which those of the proprietor of a newspaper syndicate, even those of a director of propaganda in wartime, would be pale and timid.
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Additional
resources:
More Ideas
and Technology from The Tissue-Culture King
More Ideas
and Technology by Julian Huxley
Tech news articles related to The Tissue-Culture King
Tech news articles related to works by Julian Huxley
Tin Foil Hat (Metal Foil Caps)-related
news articles:
- Thought-Screen Helmets A Classic American Craft
- Who First Thought Of A Tin Foil Hat?
| Who First Thought Of A Tin Foil Hat? |
| Robot Baristas Learn Their Trade Without Paying Royalties |
| Vesuvius Challenge Accepted - Ancient Burnt Scroll Read! |
| Humans Love Helping Other Species |
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'...Anything was possible in my imaginary environment.'
'Somewhere in space, a chrome and blue automobile raced the green light of Earth.'
'That explains how it was so easy for me to remain motionless in midair...'
'We had discovered that metal was relatively impervious to the telepathic effect.'
'Detailed plans for the construction of the Gundstetter-Halone warp drive were flowing.'
'Do not waste your priceless company on the unappreciative folds of a sleep pod...'
'...so we've promised him a generous pension from the royalties.'
'Hocus-pocus religions and archaic weapons are no substitute for a good blaster at your side.'
