Author Topic: Do you consider yourself superior to people in the old days? (Read 3733 times)

Kazimierz · « **Reply #5 on:** March 02, 2019, 01:43:07 PM »

Quote from: Matthew on March 02, 2019, 12:32:05 PM

One of my favorite sci-fi short stories, I would I could remember the title & author --

A man invents a machine that can grab a man from the future and bring him back to the present. He uses the machine, and it works!

He speaks with the man, and sure enough, the society he comes from is far more advanced. We didn't destroy ourselves or go back to the Stone Age. All right! So far so good.

He asks how far Medicine has progressed. "Well, we've cured all disease" the man from the future explained. "When someone is ill, we just hold this little shiny cube up to them, and it heals them!"

"Tell me about this device. How is it made? What principles does it make use of?"

"I don't know. That's something only specialists understand. I just know that it's shiny, a bit warm, and 3x3x3 inches.

And the conversation goes on like this, in other areas of science and technology: computers, communication, food production, warfare, etc.

Long story short, the man from the future is totally useless, he doesn't understand any of the technology his society uses every day, and is personally less advanced in the present time than the average "native" living in the 21st century, because Future Man is dependent on all those things (like the shiny cube) so he won't know anything about how to Do-It-Yourself when it comes to avoiding germs, avoiding illness, or treating illness.

Being also a science fiction and fantasy buff, I have started to look for this story. Would you know even roughly when this was written?

In many ways, we are indeed inferior to peoples of ages past. Heavens, technology has become an opiate of the masses on their assorted asses.

A snippet of a pop song from the late nineties; rather prescient

"See, it's a crazy world we're living in
And I just can't see that half of us immersed in sin
Is all we have to give these -

Futures made of virtual insanity now
Always seem to, be govern'd by this love we have
For useless, twisting, our new technology"

Matthew · « **Reply #6 on:** March 02, 2019, 02:12:32 PM »

Quote from: Jaynek on March 02, 2019, 12:54:44 PM

CM Kornbluth wrote two stories on this theme but neither quite matches the story you describe: The Little Black Bag and The Marching Morons.

Thanks for reminding me of that one -- it isn't the one, but it's another good story that I read years ago.
It wasn't until the end of the plot summary that I remembered that YES, I had definitely read this short story. Maybe it's because those other plot elements are more common in other stories. But I specifically remember the scalpel, how it would go in between cells, removing any impurities but not causing any damage to cells, and at the end a woman slits her own throat because the scalpel was "deactivated".

Quote

In the future, humanity has split into a small minority of supergeniuses and those of normal intelligence, and a much larger group of dimwits, as described in "The Marching Morons". The geniuses masquerade as assistants to the morons, the better to covertly manage them and keep them out of trouble.
A "physicist" goads his minder into giving him specifications for a time machine. The faux physicist builds it, and uses it to send a "doctor" friend's highly automated medical kit into the past (our present), where it is found by Dr. Full, a physician who has succuмbed to alcoholism and fallen to the bottom level of society. At first attributing its advanced properties and unfamiliar components to medical advances made since he last practiced, he uses it to heal a seriously injured young child. The patient's cynical eighteen-year-old sister, Angie, discovers the patent application date on one of the instruments (2450) and is quick to grasp the financial opportunities. She blackmails Full into taking her on as a partner.
The responsibility helps Full recover from his alcoholism, and he is soon running a respectable clinic curing mankind's ills with amazing success, although Angie wants to specialize in the more lucrative plastic surgery. When Angie learns that Full intends to turn the bag over to the medical establishment for the good of humanity, she grabs it and tries to leave. In the ensuing scuffle, the instruments spill out. Without thinking, Angie stabs Full with a scalpel, killing him. Initially shocked, she quickly recovers and disposes of the body using a small incinerating device used for tumors. Full had taught her how to use the kit, so she sees no obstacle to continuing to treat rich patients.
Her first patient sees the sharp instruments and balks at another treatment. To reassure her, Angie demonstrates their safety by running a scalpel through her arm without harm. Still unconvinced, the client requests another test. Back in the future, a technician notes the bag has been used for murder and deactivates its advanced functions. Angie runs what has just become an ordinary scalpel across her own throat, with fatal results.

Kazimierz · « **Reply #7 on:** March 03, 2019, 03:53:20 PM »

We are attempting to locate that short story you cannot recall Matthew. Do you have any information as to its publication date, and if it appeared in an anthology?

Matthew · « **Reply #8 on:** March 03, 2019, 04:08:35 PM »

It was in one of those anthologies.

100 Great Science Fiction Short Short Stories
50 Short Science Fiction Tales
Golden Age Science Fiction Vol 1-5
etc.

Kazimierz · « **Reply #9 on:** March 03, 2019, 06:58:10 PM »

Quote from: Matthew on March 03, 2019, 04:08:35 PM

It was in one of those anthologies.

100 Great Science Fiction Short Short Stories
50 Short Science Fiction Tales
Golden Age Science Fiction Vol 1-5
etc.

Thanks. This gives this old bear a little more to go on. :@)

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Author Topic: Do you consider yourself superior to people in the old days? (Read 3733 times)

Kazimierz

Re: Do you consider yourself superior to people in the old days?

Matthew

Re: Do you consider yourself superior to people in the old days?

Kazimierz

Re: Do you consider yourself superior to people in the old days?

Matthew

Re: Do you consider yourself superior to people in the old days?

Kazimierz

Re: Do you consider yourself superior to people in the old days?