"A man in the field, who might have to work hundreds of kilometers from camp, couldn't pack twenty different meters and detectors. He needed a single device, which could be adjusted to perform twenty different functions."
-Poul Anderson, The Snows Of Ganymede (New York, 1958), Chapter 7, p. 69.
Davenant connects the thermopile to the galvanometer, blinkers the lens for directionality, and thus has an infrared spotter with which he detects two "Outlaws."
"General unit" explained.
3 comments:
Kaor, Paul!
I wonder how PLAUSIBLE it would be to have a compact, easily carried device able to do 20 things. Possible, I suppose, given technological advances. But just a bit of a strain when you think about it.
THE SNOWS OF GANYMEDE was still a relatively early work of Anderson, set in a time line he would abandon as unsatisfactory for varied reasons. By and large I get the impression PA preferred to avoid, in his later works, having small devices able to do so many things. Probably for the reason I suggested above.
Sean
How far can the 'Swiss Army Knife' principle be extended?
I will note that Mobile Phones generally have many functions in addition to allowing conversations between people separated by large distances.
Text messages.
Playing stored audio files of music or speech such as lectures & interviews
Taking & displaying photographs.
portable clock/calendar
calculator
GPS receiver.....
Kaor, Jim!
Yes, but in THE SNOWS OF GANYMEDE I don't think Anderson had things like cell phones in mind. The impression I got from the text Paul quoted being that Davenant had a device that could be physically useful to him in multiple ways in the field. An idea Anderson apparently came to think was implausible. Not for all the items you listed.
Ad astra! Sean
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