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Old 01-17-2023, 06:20 PM   #1
the-red-scare
 
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Default An Ultra-Tech Thesaurus

I was doing some casual adaptations of some science fiction universes and thought it might be fun to compile a sort of thesaurus or glossary of the names various Ultra-Tech concepts go by in other works. In some cases, this is just “restoring the serial numbers” that GURPS has filed off because those works are the source of the concept! In others, there are many names that have been used through the years.

I’ve picked a representative sample below, please add more as you think of them in the same format. One suggestion: don’t be 100% literal; if the idea is the same even if the details vary, it’s safe to include. Feel free to include items from Bio-Tech or Spaceships as well.

automed (UT196): autodoc (Known Space)

bioroid (BIO26): replicant (Blade Runner), fabricant (Cloud Atlas), doll (Fairyland), azi (Cyteen)

cyborg, total (UT27): full-body prosthetic (Ghost in the Shell)

disintegrator (UT130): phaser (Star Trek)

euphoria machine (UT40): droud (Known Space)

force sword (UT166): lightsaber (Star Wars)

heavy exoskeleton (UT181): power loader (Aliens)

neural interface implant (UT216): cyberbrain (Ghost in the Shell), neural nanonics (The Reality Dysfunction)

sensie (UT57): braindance (Cyberpunk), simstim (Neuromancer)

vertol (UT229): aerodyne or AV (Cyberpunk)
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Old 01-17-2023, 07:33 PM   #2
David L Pulver
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Default Re: An Ultra-Tech Thesaurus

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Originally Posted by the-red-scare View Post
automed (UT196): autodoc (Known Space)

bioroid (BIO26): replicant (Blade Runner), fabricant (Cloud Atlas), doll (Fairyland), azi (Cyteen)
Azi are human clones with some genetic engineering and psychological conditioning, rather than true bioroids, but they have the same role.

The Ultra-Tech bibliography is the best source for spotting original inspirations, as I generally tried to credit most there. You can find, for example, the earliest identifiable "gauss" guns by that name in the Stainless Steel Rat series. (Travellers' meson gun, here in UT a "ghost particle beam," first appears in Blish's Cities in Flight books, though the C-Plus Gun of the Berserker series is also quite similar in function if not tech; Cities in Flight is also the first time I recall antimatter beams being used for direct attack.)

A great deal of GURPS terminology owes itself to GURPS Space, and the author of that equipment list (SJ or William A. Barton) drew heavily on the many novels of Andre Norton for terminology. At the time, SJ Games also had an Andre Norton license, so it was not entirely uncredited! But in her over 50 young-adult novels, which were widely available from the 50s through 70s in libraries everywhere Norton popularized (if not invented) many of the terms common to SF: blaster, stunner, force blade, and so on were all common parlance in her books, and for generations of kids and teens who grew up reading them (my parents read them as bedtime stories)
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Old 01-17-2023, 08:30 PM   #3
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Default Re: An Ultra-Tech Thesaurus

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Originally Posted by David L Pulver View Post
A great deal of GURPS terminology owes itself to GURPS Space, and the author of that equipment list (SJ or William A. Barton) drew heavily on the many novels of Andre Norton for terminology. At the time, SJ Games also had an Andre Norton license, so it was not entirely uncredited! But in her over 50 young-adult novels, which were widely available from the 50s through 70s in libraries everywhere Norton popularized (if not invented) many of the terms common to SF: blaster, stunner, force blade, and so on were all common parlance in her books, and for generations of kids and teens who grew up reading them (my parents read them as bedtime stories)
Grew up on Andre Norton and wished Witch World and other works still available in GURPS.
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Old 01-17-2023, 08:35 PM   #4
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A great deal of GURPS terminology owes itself to GURPS Space, and the author of that equipment list (SJ or William A. Barton) drew heavily on the many novels of Andre Norton for terminology.
I came across "blaster" in a Leigh Brackett story not long ago. It was probably "Child of the Sun" first published in 1942. This predates Norton.

This term could derive from the "Atom blast" guns in the Captain Future series from Edmond Hamilton (Leigh's husband) a year or two earlier. Captain Future also had "proton pistols" that could be set to stun or lethal.

Those were the first weapons with such a capability that I can think of. Previous non-lethal ray guns tended to be "paralysis guns" such as seen in E.E. Smith's Triplanetary.
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Old 01-17-2023, 08:40 PM   #5
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Originally Posted by David L Pulver View Post
A great deal of GURPS terminology owes itself to GURPS Space, and the author of that equipment list (SJ or William A. Barton) drew heavily on the many novels of Andre Norton for terminology. At the time, SJ Games also had an Andre Norton license, so it was not entirely uncredited! But in her over 50 young-adult novels, which were widely available from the 50s through 70s in libraries everywhere Norton popularized (if not invented) many of the terms common to SF: blaster, stunner, force blade, and so on were all common parlance in her books, and for generations of kids and teens who grew up reading them (my parents read them as bedtime stories)
I was just reading Storm over Warlock and the enemy was using a "blaster" that was described as producing "chain lightning". I thought about that for a moment and said "Oh yeah. Charged particle beam. Close enough."
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Old 01-17-2023, 08:48 PM   #6
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bioroid (BIO26): replicant (Blade Runner), fabricant (Cloud Atlas), doll (Fairyland), azi (Cyteen)
The titular androids in Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep? are implied to be this - I believe there's a case where Deckard comments on how a bone marrow sample needs to be sent off for analysis to confirm a corpse is that of an android rather than of a human.
In Xenosaga, the Realians - aka Synths - are bioroids.

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sensie (UT57): braindance (Cyberpunk), simstim (Neuromancer)
Brave New World called these "feelies." There was also a really good cyberpunk movie from 1995 called Strange Days that featured such items; there I think they are just referred to as SQUID recordings (referring to the device used to make them, a sort of flexible neural induction helmet).

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Originally Posted by David Johnston2 View Post
I was just reading Storm over Warlock and the enemy was using a "blaster" that was described as producing "chain lightning". I thought about that for a moment and said "Oh yeah. Charged particle beam. Close enough."
While "Tesla guns" tend to electrocute targets in most media where they show up, I'm fond of interpreting Tesla's "teleforce" as a charged particle beam.
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Old 01-17-2023, 08:59 PM   #7
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Azi are human clones with some genetic engineering and psychological conditioning, rather than true bioroids, but they have the same role.
Yeah, that was my thinking!

Quote:
A great deal of GURPS terminology owes itself to GURPS Space, and the author of that equipment list (SJ or William A. Barton) drew heavily on the many novels of Andre Norton for terminology. At the time, SJ Games also had an Andre Norton license, so it was not entirely uncredited! But in her over 50 young-adult novels, which were widely available from the 50s through 70s in libraries everywhere Norton popularized (if not invented) many of the terms common to SF: blaster, stunner, force blade, and so on were all common parlance in her books, and for generations of kids and teens who grew up reading them (my parents read them as bedtime stories)
That’s interesting, I didn’t realize so much of it ultimately came from Norton! I do recognize most of the Traveller references.
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Old 01-17-2023, 09:02 PM   #8
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Default Re: An Ultra-Tech Thesaurus

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Originally Posted by Varyon View Post
Brave New World called these "feelies." There was also a really good cyberpunk movie from 1995 called Strange Days that featured such items; there I think they are just referred to as SQUID recordings (referring to the device used to make them, a sort of flexible neural induction helmet).
No joke, I thought of both of these, but wasn’t sure feelies were full-blown sensies or just movies with a tactile element? And then I couldn’t find any concrete term for the recordings in Strange Days. I even skimmed the script online to see if there was anything better than SQUID recordings!
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Old 01-17-2023, 09:40 PM   #9
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robot (UT26 and elsewhere) droids (Star Wars and the In Death novels)

communicator (UT43) pocketphone or phone (Heinlein)

computer (UT22) logic (A Logic Named Joe) desk (Ender's Game, actually a tablet/laptop type of computer)

night vision contact lenses (UT 60) eyecaps (Starfish, Peter Watts)
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Old 01-17-2023, 09:50 PM   #10
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[

night vision contact lenses (UT 60) eyecaps (Starfish, Peter Watts)
They had these (without a catchy name) in James H. Schmitz' The Demon Breed. I think they were probably the equivalent of bioplastic too.
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