Question - in Blade Runner MRI / xRay machine & images

[MillieDynamite]

So, way before mine, LOL.

Think the earliest machines were in the 1970s and probably not widely available until the 1980s. Both a little before my time…

 

[EmilyMiller]

microprocessors to perform the functions of said organs down to the cellular level.

Yeah - some SciFi is more believable than other SciFi.

 

[MillieDynamite]

Well, I love Star Trek, but Dick's books are pretty good. God, we're saying Dick a lot in this thread.

Yeah - some SciFi is more believable than other SciFi.

 

[YmaOHyd]

Well, I love Star Trek, but Dick's books are pretty good. God, we're saying Dick a lot in this thread.

Yeah, seriously. Decorum, please!

 

[KittyOfSteele]

Oh, gee, it's sci-fi... 20th century sci-fi. Kindred Dick was pretty much in cahoots with Asimov and Clarke, so I wouldn't be surprised that one of those sci-fi authors (mentioned or not) came up with the idea of an MRI-like machine at some point. X-rays were all the rage though.

This is fun, I really want to read old sci-fi again.

Were their MRIs in 1968 when the book was written?

 

[iwatchus]

Were their MRIs in 1968 when the book was written?

No. The basic technology was developed through the 70's. Full imaging required the development of VLSI technology only available in the 70's as well.

And @EmilyMiller Many MRI do not require contrast agents in many cases. And I don't think it's eve a dye like it is for some forms of imaging. MRI are based on the magnetic field interactions at the nuclear level (The base physics principle is called NMR nuclear magnetic resonance). When they use injections, it's to modify the local magnetic field, using things like manganese.

 

[MillieDynamite]

H.G. Wells is one of my favorites. Mary Wollstonecraft Shelly wrote Frankenstein: The Modern Prometheus (the first sci fiction book) and The Last Man. Robert Louis Stevens wrote The Strange Case of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde. Margaret Atwood has half a dozen Sci-Fi stories (or more). Raymond E. Banks, L. Frank Baum (yeah, the Wizard guy), and I've gone blank and lots of good sci-fi from 1873 forward.

 

[EmilyMiller]

No. The basic technology was developed through the 70's. Full imaging required the development of VLSI technology only available in the 70's as well.

And @EmilyMiller Many MRI do not require contrast agents in many cases. And I don't think it's eve a dye like it is for some forms of imaging. MRI are based on the magnetic field interactions at the nuclear level (The base physics principle is called NMR nuclear magnetic resonance). When they use injections, it's to modify the local magnetic field, using things like manganese.

Yeah - only talking from my own experience, I’m not a medical imaging expert.

 

[Britva415]

P.K. Dick could have something to add to that "tech anachronism" thread.

 

[KittyOfSteele]

P.K. Dick could have something to add to that "tech anachronism" thread.

When you write his name like that and say this, now I'm thinking he invented the sex machine. Funny thing is that it kinda goes along the themes he usually wrote about.

This thread has more Dicks than a dick pic thread, and I am not helping at all.

 

[Candy_Kane54]

One of the deleted scenes was Rachel saying "You know what I think? You and I were made for each other," as they were heading out of the city.

 

[EmilyMiller]

One of the deleted scenes was Rachel saying "We were made for each other," as they were heading out of the city.

One word: unicorn.

 

[TheWritingGroup]

No. The basic technology was developed through the 70's. Full imaging required the development of VLSI technology only available in the 70's as well.

And @EmilyMiller Many MRI do not require contrast agents in many cases. And I don't think it's eve a dye like it is for some forms of imaging. MRI are based on the magnetic field interactions at the nuclear level (The base physics principle is called NMR nuclear magnetic resonance). When they use injections, it's to modify the local magnetic field, using things like manganese.

MRI works by having an oscillating magnetic field literally shake hydrogen atoms, which causes them to emit radio waves. The grid thing they put near your body pics up the radio waves and can measure the density of hydrogen atoms in different loci of your body. Since fatty or bony tissue has less water than muscle (or blood or brain), you can end up with a 3D scan of your anatomy.

Inevitably, I am oversimplifying. That gets it across, I hope.

I had two this year. I read science books for fun. Of course, I looked it up.

--Annie "Turns out the MRI scan of my brain found nothing"

 

[EmilyMiller]

MRI works by having an oscillating magnetic field literally shake hydrogen atoms, which causes them to emit radio waves. The grid thing they put near your body pics up the radio waves and can measure the density of hydrogen atoms in different loci of your body. Since fatty or bony tissue has less water than muscle (or blood or brain), you can end up with a 3D scan of your anatomy.

Inevitably, I am oversimplifying. That gets it across, I hope.

I had two this year. I read science books for fun. Of course, I looked it up.

--Annie "Turns out the MRI scan of my brain found nothing"

As far as I understand it (biologist not a physicist) the contrast agent is used where they want greater resolution. I.e. investigating a specific injury’s extent / nature or looking for tumors.

 

[lovecraft68]

No. The basic technology was developed through the 70's. Full imaging required the development of VLSI technology only available in the 70's as well.

And @EmilyMiller Many MRI do not require contrast agents in many cases. And I don't think it's eve a dye like it is for some forms of imaging. MRI are based on the magnetic field interactions at the nuclear level (The base physics principle is called NMR nuclear magnetic resonance). When they use injections, it's to modify the local magnetic field, using things like manganese.

You're right on contrast, due to the fact my wife only has one kidney at this point, they always give her these without contrast because over time it can have an effect on a kidney, its minimal but once one is gone they take no chances.

 

[ElectricBlue]

One of the deleted scenes was Rachel saying "You know what I think? You and I were made for each other," as they were heading out of the city.

That scene was cut from the Directors Cut, and Ridley Scott' later 25th anniversary cut, both of which end with the close up of the little paper unicorn by the lift door.

Fun fact: Kubrick was filming The Shining at the same time, and Scott said, "I don't know how to end my film, the producers wants a happy ending." A week or so later 40,000 feet of helicopter shot film arrived on in his cutting room, with a note from Kubrick saying, "Here you go, use some of this, it's the off takes from the opening sequence of my film."

Similar generosity when John Glen couldn't light a huge hangar scene from one of the Bond movies (Moonraker, maybe, not sure), so Kubrick came in and did it for him.