The vidiot: Classic Book Guide and Free Edition
The vidiot: author and translator credits, catalogue synopsis, subjects and links to the Gutenberg reading formats.
The vidiot is catalogued by Project Gutenberg with author credits for Melchior, Ib (1917–2015).
Catalogue synopsis
Project Gutenberg supplies this automated synopsis of the opening text:
The vidiot by Ib Melchior is a science fiction short story written in the mid-20th century. It centers on a television technician who accidentally discovers a way to see through walls, raising questions about surveillance, power, and moral responsibility. An ambitious TV “vidiot,” Don Hartley, is testing special-effects gear during a space-opera rehearsal when a shorted circuit turns a matte into a window that peers through the studio’s backdrop, walls, and out to the street. Mapping the effect, he realizes he can build a single camera—the “Hartleycam”—that could penetrate any barrier. Tempted by fame and fortune, he also envisions a nightmare world of total, inescapable observation and authoritarian control. After a troubled day, he chooses restraint: he visits his executive to confess only the equipment damage, accepts a second chance at work, and keeps his blueprints to himself, concluding that the world is not yet ready for his invention.
Book and edition facts
- Title: The vidiot
- Author credits: Melchior, Ib (1917–2015)
- Catalogue language: English
Catalogue subjects
- Cameras -- Fiction
- Inventions -- Fiction
- Science fiction
- Short stories
- Television programs -- Fiction
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Source notes
Catalogue metadata is public domain and is supplied through Gutendex, which imports Gutenberg's machine-readable catalogue. The automated synopsis is source-supplied, not an independently verified review. Author dates above describe the credited people; no ebook release date is presented as the book's original publication date.
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