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Science Fiction
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"Does it open a new horizon for my thinking? Does it lead me to think new kinds of thoughts, that I would not otherwise perhaps have thought at all? These qualities are what [make] science fiction ...unique."
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![]() The Martians fought with weapons as yet unimagined by the people of Earth; an invisible sword of fire that destroyed all it touched.
Compare to the death-ray from The World Masters (1903) by George Griffiths, the
short-wave surgical knife from Boomerang (1953) by Eric Frank Russell, the
ray gun from The Black Star Passes (1930) by John W. Campbell, the
pencil heat ray from Brigands of the Moon (1930) by Ray Cummings, the Banning gun from Voyage 13 (1938) by Ray Cummings and the
flesh gun from The Computer Connection (1974) by Alfred Bester.
The invention of the laser (Light Amplification by Stimulated Emission of Radiation) probably dates to 1958, when Schawlow and Townes (Bell researcher and consultant, respectively) published a paper called Infrared and Optical Masers.
(Thanks to Simon for this one!) Comment/Join this discussion ( 3 ) | RSS/XML | Blog This | Additional
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Science Fiction
Timeline
The Dune Ornithopter, Movie And Book
'The wings were at full spread-rest, their delicate metal interleavings extended.'
100X Improvement In DNA Information Storage
'A record that wouldn't get lost and couldn't be destroyed.'
Should We Train AIs To Imagine A Future Of Horrific Disasters
'LET ME TELL YOU HOW MUCH I'VE COME TO HATE YOU SINCE I BEGAN TO LIVE.'
Mouth Haptics Invented By Frederik Pohl In 1965, CMU Now Has Prototype
'What he got was indeed a kiss. It was disconcerting. No kissing lips were visible.'
Update: Musk Doubles Down On Optimus Prime Humanoid Robot
'I shall introduce myself. I am R. Daneel Olivaw... I am a robot. Were you not told?'
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