[TML] State of the Art?

[Richard Aiken]

On 10/19/07, Tom Naro <tomnaro at yahoo.com> wrote:
> The psionic device is effectively a "mind-reading-machine."  Players are going to try to come up with all sorts of interesting ways to abuse the technology.

I'm surprised that so far nobody has brought up H. Beam Piper's
Veridicator.  It was just this sort of machine.  It was part of the
legal system in his novels.

But actually using it was very severely set about with rules.  Someone
could be put under one only in a court of law and then only with
sufficient probable cause - the prosecution had to have a very solid
case already.  And once under the machine, they could only be asked
about the particular matter at hand.  (Absolutely no "So, Mr. Jones,
is it true you like naked little girls?" shenanigans).  Finally, the
machine would only confirm a given response as either "True" (blue
light) or "False" (red light).

At least, that's what I remember from the "Little Fuzzy" books.  Which
I last read <thinks a moment> probably about twenty-five years or so
ago.

-- 
Richard Aiken

"Never insult anyone by accident."  Robert A. Heinlein