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"I was wholly addicted to watching Kojack, for as long as it was on television."
- Frederik Pohl
 |
| Automated Sentry | ||
| A biometric device that scans facial features for identification. |
At this point in the novel, many people fear contagion. For this reason, machines that make use of face recognition biometrics are used in place of human beings; the automated sentry is a biometric identification system. Ironically, face recognition is probably the oldest means that humans have of recognizing each other.
| The guard box stood empty. Something small and white moved back and forth behind smoked glass windows. A long steel tube jutted from the side. He used a handkerchief to wipe sweat from his cheeks and for head. The sweat was not just from the heat. He did not like this new role. He did not like secrets. In particular, he did not like stepping into the belly of the beast. Turner followed his gaze. "Nobody home," he said. "We still use people at the main gates, but here it's an automated sentry." Dakin caught a glimpse of a grid of purple beams scooting over Turner's face, then his own. A green light glowed beside the gate. "You are who we say you are, Dr. Dakin," Turner said. |
| Technovelgy from Darwin's Children,
by Greg Bear. Published by Del Rey in 2003 Additional resources -
|
This is one of many places in the book where machines are used to sense danger. In a way, the automated Sentry is an analogy to the biological laboratory devices used in the story. The fact that "normal" people use mechanical devices to sense what other people are, and where danger is, forms an interesting counterpoint to the "virus children", who use their own capabilities to judge others.
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Additional
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More Ideas
and Technology from Darwin's Children
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and Technology by Greg Bear
Tech news articles related to Darwin's Children
Tech news articles related to works by Greg Bear
Automated Sentry-related
news articles:
- Guard Dog Robot Security Check
- Athena Smart Security Guard Robot With Face Recognition
| Flimmer Navy Drone Flies And Swims |
| Indian Court Says Brain Scan Proves Murder |
| Background Draw-a-Secret (BDAS) Makes Graphical Passwords |
| ID-U Biometrics Eye Tracking Signature |
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'It’s smart enough to go wrong in very complicated ways, but not smart enough to help us find out what’s wrong.'
'...like a spray of tulips mounted fanwise.'
'You hate the whole idea that some bored drone pusher in a remote driving centre has got your life... in his hands.'
'My homeland is being threatened by the Replicators. Thus far all attempts to stop them have failed.'
'A robobus had just rolled up to the curb.'
'And there in the next room by the sofa sat a familiar suitcase, that of his psychiatrist Dr. Smile.'
'He found a barber shop which, he thought, would be good for an idle hour.'
'Thirty rounds of fighting is tough work. Even for machines.'
'...the excavations were already in progress, for he saw gray slopes of rubble.'
