>----------
>From: Technotranscendence[SMTP:neptune@mars.superlink.net]
>Reply To: extropians@extropy.com
>Sent: Thursday, 27 May 1999 8:36
>To: extropians@extropy.com
>Subject: Re: Keeping up with the Joneses
>
>At 12:56 PM 5/26/99 -0700, Eugene Leitl <eugene.leitl@lrz.uni-muenchen.de>
>wrote:
>> > notarized and I'm set. Folks at the office were joking about getting
>> > me a special spacesuit with a built-in guillotine and a liquid
>> > nitrogen bottle. Nice to know they care...
>>
>>Stanislav Lem covered that ground with built-in guillotine
>>vitrificators in his diglators (crawl-in walking machine)
>>in Fiasko.
>
>Actually, there was no guillotine in them. It was whole body.
>At least, this was how it was in the English translation.
>
>But the concept should not be taken as a joke. The point
>in the novel was to have a last chance at life if the pilot of
>the walker (diglator) was in grave danger.
>
>Cheers!
>
>Daniel Ust
I'd like to see someone come up with the instructions about what constitutes "grave danger" here. It reminds me of Zaphod Beeblebrox's sunglasses in Hitch Hiker's Guide (although it is a bit more positive).
Emlyn