SF 68: Watch Bird (adapted from a story by Robert Sheckley)

[james_davis_nicoll]

Watch Bird

Following the discovery that most people about to kill have distinctive brain patterns, the police launch a nation-wide (and possibly world-wide) program, trusting brainwave-detecting drones to tell potential killers from regular people; for added security no small scale pilot program was, the drones can reprogram themselves and nobody seems to have given a moment's thought about what they would do if it turned out they were in a typical Sheckley plot and everything was about to horribly wrong.

I actually enjoyed some of the earlier bits of this - the revelation that the killer's brainwaves are not unique to murders - but it is a nice example of an idiot plot. Also, Sheckley introduces something early on but does not consider how it could affect his plot: not all murderers have the distinctive mental pattern and so their intentions would be invisible to the War Birds.

Comments

[tool-of-satan.livejournal.com]

How did Chandler get into this?

I agree, not one of Sheckley's best, although it's one of the ones a lot of people remember.

[james-nicoll.livejournal.com]

autofill mishap.