In the Ekcolir Reality. |
I like to imagine that scientific advances arrived at a slightly accelerated pace in the Ekcolir Reality. Shown to the right is a patent for radio-assisted telepathy from 1927 in the Ekcolir Reality.
Sadly, in our reality, technologies such as television were just beginning in the 1920s. Reading issues of Gernsback's Amazing Stories reminds me of what it was like to read Byte magazine back in the early days of the personal computer revolution. Here is an ad from the August 1927 issue of Amazing:
global communications in 2025 |
Of course, nobody writing speculative fiction in the 1920s was able to imagine technological details from the coming century such as the invention of semiconductors and integrated circuits.
image source |
Biology in Sci Fi
I've always been more interested in biology than the physical sciences, so it is fun for me to look at old Sci Fi stories that emphasize speculative future biology rather imaginary advances in electronic devices. I went to the August 1927 issue of Amazing to read "The Tissue-Culture King" by Julian Huxley.
interior artwork by Frank R. Paul |
Huxley and his wife (1924) source |
see |
Before the 1940s and the availability of antibiotics, tissue culture work required careful sterile techniques (see the image to the right). It is not clear that Huxley ever actually performed any tissue transplantation or culture techniques himself. The work in the 1925 article was most likely performed by Murray, Huxley's co-author.
The origins of telepathy. |
Telepathy
Eventually readers learn that the scientist is also conducting experiments on telepathy. He has discovered that by hypnotizing the natives, they can synchronize their thoughts and transmit powerful telepathic signals. Luckily, by wearing a metallic hat, the scientist can protect himself from the telepathic signals.
in the Ekcolir Reality |
During the 1920s, Huxley was probably ill with bipolar disorder. It is easy to view his story, "The Tissue-Culture King" as an expression of a manic phase in his illness. As far as I know, Huxley did not write any other fiction.
femtobots |
It is fun to imagine that in the Ekcolir Reality, Huxley was contacted by a scientific collaborator who had discovered the existence of femtobots inside living cells. Those femtobots provided the basis for a type of technology-assisted telepathy.
Next: artificial intelligence jumps the shark
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