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From: cramer@kontron.UUCP (Clayton Cramer)
Newsgroups: net.movies,net.sf-lovers
Subject: Re: BRAZIL (fresnel lens)
Message-ID: <597@kontron.UUCP>
Date: Tue, 11-Mar-86 13:07:35 EST
Article-I.D.: kontron.597
Posted: Tue Mar 11 13:07:35 1986
Date-Received: Tue, 11-Mar-86 23:06:57 EST
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> It appears that the Fresnal lens has been around longer than I
> realized.  I should have thought that it was used in lighthouses for
> many years.  I was thinking of Fresnel lenses as being only the plastic
> ones we started seeing in overhead projectors in the 60's.  Thanks for
> all who corrected me in e-mail and on the net.  I guess my point that
> the society in BRAZIL had stagnated is made even stronger by this.
> 
> 				Mark Leeper
> 				...ihnp4!mtgzz!leeper

Those of you who saw the most recent (and best) remake of _1984_
will recall that all the devices in that film are minor innovations
on 1940s technology -- the use of pneumatic tubes, for example.  It's
tempting to see this as the art director's attempt to portray the world
of _1984_ in terms that Orwell would be familiar with, but in fact, if
you read the book, you will recall that he makes the point that the
system stifles innovation and creativity, and that the only real
improvements in technology are the implements of war.  Advances in the
sciences have to be connected to implements of war, or they were
discouraged by the repressive atmosphere.