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"In science fiction one can say a great many things that are unpalatable, … because it's expressed as science fiction you can slip it past their defenses."
- Frederik Pohl
 |
| Malthusian Belt | ||
| Readily available oral contraceptives. |
As far as I know, the first reference to this idea in science fiction (or anywhere).
| In the end," said Mustapha Mond, "the Controllers realized that force was no good. The slower but infinitely surer methods of ectogenesis, neo-Pavlovian conditioning and hypnopædia …"
And round her waist she wore a silver-mounted green morocco-surrogate cartridge belt, bulging (for Lenina was not a freemartin) with the regulation supply of contraceptives. "The discoveries of Pfitzner and Kawaguchi were at last made use of. An intensive propaganda against viviparous reproduction …" "Perfect!" cried Fanny enthusiastically. She could never resist Lenina's charm for long. "And what a perfectly sweet Malthusian belt!" |
| Technovelgy from Brave New World,
by Aldous Huxley. Published by Unknown in 1932 Additional resources -
|
"Birth control is well documented in
ancient Mesopotamia and Egypt and this
includes the description of contraceptive
pessaries with ingredients that included
acacia gum, a natural spermicidal that is
currently utilised in contraceptive jellies.
"... earliest mention of the equivalent of
an oral contraceptive pill appears to have
been in Brave New World (1932) where
procreation and sex are completely divorced."
For more information, see The pill in the future -
pharmacological contraception
in science fiction.
Compare to contraceptone from Throwback (1952) by Miriam Allen deFord.
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'Drake was the young spatial engineer he employed to terraform the little rock...'
'It diverts integers of the data, the fundamental message-units, so that they no longer agree.'
'Clothes are no longer made from dead fibers of fixed color and texture that can approximate only crudely to the vagrant human figure...'
'Books were just a commodity that had to be produced, like jam or bootlaces.'
'...it rears and spreads its fan. It can pick one man out of a crowd.'
