Science Fiction
Dictionary
A B C D E F G H I J K L M N O P Q R S T U V W X Y Z
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
"Looking back through history, I see no evidence for humanity making the best of things, and I think it's a pretty safe bet that's an on-going trend."
- Richard Morgan
 |
| Telescreen | ||
| Very early use of the idea of using technology to monitor human activity at a distance. |
One of the main themes of 1984 is the control of individuals and information in society by the state. One tool is the Telescreen, an obligatory and dominant item in the homes of the inhabitants of London, capital city of Airstrip One (previously known as England).
George Orwell did not orginate the word telescreen. An earlier use can be found in a 1938 short story by writer A.J. Burks:
Earlier still (!), Francis Flagg (a pseudonym of George Henry Weiss'), wrote in After Armageddon (1932) used the hyphenated version - see tele-screen:
Floods, fires, hold-ups, sports events—nothing escaped the all-seeing powers of the telescreens.
It was on the tele-screen that I viewed the mobs coursing through the streets; via the news-dispenser I listened to the latest tidings from all over the country.
| Behind Winston's back the voice from the telescreen was still babbling away about pig-iron and the overfulfilment of the Ninth Three-Year Plan. The telescreen received and transmitted simultaneously. Any sound that Winston made, above the level of a very low whisper, would be picked up by it, moreover, so long as he remained within the field of vision which the metal plaque commanded, he could be seen as well as heard. There was of course no way of knowing whether you were being watched at any given moment. How often, or on what system, the Thought Police plugged in on any individual wire was guesswork. It was even conceivable that they watched everybody all the time. But at any rate they could plug in your wire whenever they wanted to. You had to live -- did live, from habit that became instinct -- in the assumption that every sound you made was overheard, and, except in darkness, every movement scrutinized. |
| Technovelgy from 1984 (Nineteen Eighty-Four),
by George Orwell. Published by Secker & Warburg in 1948 Additional resources -
|
Television surveillance is an now and everyday experience, albeit most often in the form of security
cameras and speed
cameras; argument rages over the goodness or otherwise of these systems.
This quote has a bit more physical description:
It's possible that the idea of a television screen that transmitted as well as received might be present in this quote from Catch That Rabbit, a 1944 story by Isaac Asimov:
See the entry for the Televisor from Arthur J. Burks' 1938 novella The Challenge of Atlantis for more details. Also, compare to the street membranes from Yevgeny Zamyatin's 1922 We. Consider also the Mirror Grid Multiple-View Surveillance Panel from Wandl, The Invader (1939) by Ray Cummings.
(This item was originally contributed by Simon Smith.)
Inside the flat a fruity voice was reading out a list of figures which had something to do with the production of pig-iron. The voice came from an oblong metal plaque like a dulled mirror which formed part of the surface of the right-hand wall. Winston turned a switch and the voice sank somewhat, though the words were still distinguishable. The instrument (the telescreen, it was called) could be dimmed, but there was no way of shutting it off completely.
"I'm going to install a visiplate right over my desk... Then I'm going to focus it at whatever part of the mine is being worked, and I'm going to watch."
Comment/Join this discussion ( 3 ) | RSS/XML | Blog This |
Additional
resources:
More Ideas
and Technology from 1984 (Nineteen Eighty-Four)
More Ideas
and Technology by George Orwell
Tech news articles related to 1984 (Nineteen Eighty-Four)
Tech news articles related to works by George Orwell
Telescreen-related
news articles:
- Accenture Gets US VISIT Biometric Security Contract
- Computerized Surveillance Devices Open Their Eyes
- Apple Apparently Working On Orwell's Telescreen
- Onboard Threat Detection System For Big Brother Airlines
- Big Brother Test Hall At Penn State
- Gesture Recognition TV Watches You
- LCD Panel Fingerprint Scanner
- Orwell's Telescreen Now Available
- Emotion Tracking Big Comedy Brother
- CCTV Camera Watches, Attached LCD Tells You How To Behave
- Orwell's '1984' Hits Bestseller Lists Thanks To PRISM
- Stasi Colonel Says Obama Surveillance Is 'Dream Come True'
- Capitalist Big Brother Co-Opts Regular Big Brother
- Are The Thought Police Listening To Everyone All The Time?
- Smart TVs Are Listening!
| FTC: Says Ring Employees Illegally Surveilled Customers |
| Perching Ambush Drones |
| India Ponders Always-On Smartphone Location Tracking |
| LingYuan Vehicle Roof Drones Now Available, ala Blade Runner 2049 |
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 Science Fiction Invention Timeline, or see what's New.
|
Science Fiction
Timeline
1600-1899
1900-1939
1940's 1950's
1960's 1970's
1980's 1990's
2000's 2010's
'The suit stands up and starts walking, gripping me round the calves and waist, taking the bulk of my weight off my throbbing feet.'
't came out into plain view. Darkington glimpsed a slim body and six short legs of articulated dull metal.'
'Internally it’s made up of millions of components, but the most important ones are the thinking and memory parts of the Mind proper.'
'I could look down at that face of carefully molded synthetic rubber, tinted the exact shade of the doctor's living flesh.'
'Chris, the City Fathers are not interested in your welfare; I suppose you know that. They're interested in only one thing: the survival of the city.'
'Drake was the young spatial engineer he employed to terraform the little rock...'
