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Fantasy Commentator, v. 1, issue 11, Summer 1946
Page 273
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FANTASY COMMENTATOR 273 trogravitic and magneto-gravitic vibrations. 36.8 Atomic Energy: Need I discuss this? 37.1 Mentally Molded Matter: In its purest sense, this is probably impossible; we must wait upon the behaviorists before making a final declaration. But men will ever look for better means to impose the forms of our minds upon matter. Present inventions along this general line include the painter's airbrush, the electric organ, plastic for home furnishings, multitudinous types of steel, woodcarving tools, new duplicators, hybridization of plants, and so on ad infinitum. Obviously, there must be better ways to do the thing that each of these is designed for. 37.2 Duplication of Persons: See the following. 37.3 Matter-Radio: With apologies to George O. Smith, I don't think it can be done. Several pieces of data about each electron in the object must n'est-ce pas, be transmitted from projector to receiver, far beyond the capacity of even very high frequency waves to carry in any reasonable length of time. Perhaps I'm on dangerous ground in asserting that human ingenuity will never find a way of getting around the difficulty, but future authors who yarn about matter-transmission will have to talk fast to be convincing. 37.4 Television, Spy Ray and Image Projector: The latter two are possible subjects for stories until and if, like television, they are accomplished. 37.6 Invisibility: Many of the methods of achieving invisibility in the past are obviously absurd, but I know of no positive bar to this time out of mind favorite concept of the imaginative. 37.7 Time-Rate Differences: Dr. Swisher's discourse in Escape points out some embarrassing by-products of super-speed. I doubt that a very good story can be written which takes care of the objections he raised without getting into the temponautical. 41. Economic, Social and Political Life in the Future: We may suppose that science-fictionists will continue to speculate on the possibilities of their future, now or a thousand years from now. Some of the particular subdivisions of this subject, such as "The Revolt of the Pedestrians" type of world, are out of date now, but others can take their place. 42. Catastrophes to Civilization: Assuming, as I have done in this article, that our civilization will survive, speculations about its possible downfall should continue to interest our own descendants. The spread of man to several planets would profoundly affect the range of causes and results. A couple of subdivisions here are already out of date: Loss of a strategic material, whether iron or petroleum, which in the case of iron has never been explained plausibly and in either case would not be fatal; and glacializations and sun-dimmings such as Gernsback worried about before it was generally known that we live in an ice age and old Sol is good for quite a while yet. 43. Extraordinary Astronomical Phenomena: We are not likely to have the moon falling into the Pacific Ocean (as it naively did in a Science Fiction Series pamphlet), but many of the imaginable occurrences are likely to remain in the realm of possibility. Imaginations may be somewhat more strained when the average reader realizes how little statistical chance of collisions there is. Planetary engineering is a concept that should challenge the minds of 2200 A.D. 44. Extra-Terrestrial Life and Adventures on Other Planets: Assuming that we are on the eve of interplanetary flight, our distant descendants will look upon this type of fantasy somewhat as we look upon stroies of lost lands in South America. And if the planets and moons are as forbidding to human life as they seem to be, the type of adventures that may take place will be severely limited (no Flutonian princesses, intrigues in the Tritonian court, etc.). As for interstellar travel, a modest advance of science should provide such confir- (continued on page 275)
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FANTASY COMMENTATOR 273 trogravitic and magneto-gravitic vibrations. 36.8 Atomic Energy: Need I discuss this? 37.1 Mentally Molded Matter: In its purest sense, this is probably impossible; we must wait upon the behaviorists before making a final declaration. But men will ever look for better means to impose the forms of our minds upon matter. Present inventions along this general line include the painter's airbrush, the electric organ, plastic for home furnishings, multitudinous types of steel, woodcarving tools, new duplicators, hybridization of plants, and so on ad infinitum. Obviously, there must be better ways to do the thing that each of these is designed for. 37.2 Duplication of Persons: See the following. 37.3 Matter-Radio: With apologies to George O. Smith, I don't think it can be done. Several pieces of data about each electron in the object must n'est-ce pas, be transmitted from projector to receiver, far beyond the capacity of even very high frequency waves to carry in any reasonable length of time. Perhaps I'm on dangerous ground in asserting that human ingenuity will never find a way of getting around the difficulty, but future authors who yarn about matter-transmission will have to talk fast to be convincing. 37.4 Television, Spy Ray and Image Projector: The latter two are possible subjects for stories until and if, like television, they are accomplished. 37.6 Invisibility: Many of the methods of achieving invisibility in the past are obviously absurd, but I know of no positive bar to this time out of mind favorite concept of the imaginative. 37.7 Time-Rate Differences: Dr. Swisher's discourse in Escape points out some embarrassing by-products of super-speed. I doubt that a very good story can be written which takes care of the objections he raised without getting into the temponautical. 41. Economic, Social and Political Life in the Future: We may suppose that science-fictionists will continue to speculate on the possibilities of their future, now or a thousand years from now. Some of the particular subdivisions of this subject, such as "The Revolt of the Pedestrians" type of world, are out of date now, but others can take their place. 42. Catastrophes to Civilization: Assuming, as I have done in this article, that our civilization will survive, speculations about its possible downfall should continue to interest our own descendants. The spread of man to several planets would profoundly affect the range of causes and results. A couple of subdivisions here are already out of date: Loss of a strategic material, whether iron or petroleum, which in the case of iron has never been explained plausibly and in either case would not be fatal; and glacializations and sun-dimmings such as Gernsback worried about before it was generally known that we live in an ice age and old Sol is good for quite a while yet. 43. Extraordinary Astronomical Phenomena: We are not likely to have the moon falling into the Pacific Ocean (as it naively did in a Science Fiction Series pamphlet), but many of the imaginable occurrences are likely to remain in the realm of possibility. Imaginations may be somewhat more strained when the average reader realizes how little statistical chance of collisions there is. Planetary engineering is a concept that should challenge the minds of 2200 A.D. 44. Extra-Terrestrial Life and Adventures on Other Planets: Assuming that we are on the eve of interplanetary flight, our distant descendants will look upon this type of fantasy somewhat as we look upon stroies of lost lands in South America. And if the planets and moons are as forbidding to human life as they seem to be, the type of adventures that may take place will be severely limited (no Flutonian princesses, intrigues in the Tritonian court, etc.). As for interstellar travel, a modest advance of science should provide such confir- (continued on page 275)
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