# What horrible atrocity of science would you like to own? **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [August 28, 2006, 5:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-horrible-atrocity-of-science-would-you-like-to-own/370551 "2006-08-28T17:33:57Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 12\ **Page:** 3
**Author:** ![Ranchoth](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ranchoth/32/1066_2.png) [@Ranchoth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ranchoth)\ **Post date:** [September 1, 2006, 6:10am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-horrible-atrocity-of-science-would-you-like-to-own/370551/41 "2006-09-01T06:10:30Z")
[QUOTE=Mangetout] We could cash in here if we can predict what comes after nanites. Also, I think you may have missed out _Artificial intelligence_ and _Virtual Reality_ - they’re not major players like radiation, but have still been used to gloss over a whole bunch of stuff. [/QUOTE] Are we still on “nanites” right now, or have we moved into “memes” or “quantum physics” already? (Unless we’re on Star Trek, in which case “Quantum Isometric” somethings would probably work.) ---
**Author:** ![Der\_Trihs](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/der_trihs/32/233_2.png) [@Der\_Trihs](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Der_Trihs)\ **Post date:** [September 1, 2006, 6:23am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-horrible-atrocity-of-science-would-you-like-to-own/370551/42 "2006-09-01T06:23:31Z")
[QUOTE=Ranchoth] Are we still on “nanites” right now, or have we moved into “memes” or “quantum physics” already? (Unless we’re on Star Trek, in which case “Quantum Isometric” somethings would probably work.) [/QUOTE] Or the Discworld; “It’s probably because of quantum.” ---
**Author:** ![Cartooniverse](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/cartooniverse/32/3084_2.png) [@Cartooniverse](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Cartooniverse)\ **Post date:** [September 2, 2006, 12:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-horrible-atrocity-of-science-would-you-like-to-own/370551/43 "2006-09-02T12:40:03Z")
[QUOTE=BrainGlutton] Can it do anything a Hammond organ can’t? [/QUOTE] Yes. Dial Pennsylvania 6- 5000. 😃 I want a DeLorean outfitted with a diesel engine. That way, I can indeed fashion a Mr. Fusion, dump in used veggie cooking oil and zoom on down the street. I want a time machine rather badly, but only for witnessing purposes. Adore time travel stories and I suspect that while the butterfly effect may not make me wink out suddenly in the middle of a trip, why risk interaction with the “natives” ? It isn’t so much the significant events in world history ( The Crucifixion, The signing of the Declaration of Independence, An Inca ball game, the first time “Yes” played in public, etc. ) so much as it is the ability to witness slices of humankind’s development. Oh, to travel back 30,000 years and witness live in Arizona. Or, 300,000 years in Africa, as our species was working things out. How dark **were** the Dark Ages? Watching a day in the life of 10th century Gaul might be great. ( Then again, it might be galling. ) Going ahead it time would likely be a mental undoing for me. Who truly wants to know the date and method of their own death? Who wants to know what humankind will do to itself in a hundred years? I am guessing that if I zoomed ahead 10,000 years the planet would be mostly wild once again, humankind having demolished itself. Except for the Morlocs, as **Kunilou** has so astutely pointed out. 😉 Love to see a lot of this. If you want to know where the telharmonium went to, to to the New York City Burea of Records. It was housed in a building in Manhattan. Search the ownership of the building back to the year it was installed. If the building is still standing ( and in Hell’s Kitchen this is possible but not likely ), you might be able to trace down who it was the deconstructed it and trucked the metal away. Or, you can accept the fact that in the 6th sub-level of Grand Central Terminal stands a leviathan majestic instrument from days gone by… Cartooniverse ---
**Author:** ![BrainGlutton](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/82dd89/32.png) [@BrainGlutton](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BrainGlutton)\ **Post date:** [September 2, 2006, 2:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-horrible-atrocity-of-science-would-you-like-to-own/370551/44 "2006-09-02T14:05:39Z")
According to [this:](http://www.synthmuseum.com/magazine/0102jw.html) > [@](#): > > In 1950 Arthur T. Cahill, Thaddeus’s brother, tried to find a home for the only remaining instrument, the first prototype. But nobody was interested so he sold it for scrap. And [here:](http://csunix1.lvc.edu/~snyder/em/dyna.html) > [@](#): > > Three units were actually built (one in DC, one in NY). Not a part of any of the machines exist today. > > There is a story that a NY businessman became so outraged with the interference with the phone service that he burst in, broke it up, and threw it into the Hudson river. > > Radio, which had been around for five years, would soon be strong enough to cause the Dynamophones demise anyway. > > To win backing from Washington Westinghouse, Cahill first sent Telharmonium music into his house. > > The monstrous instrument occupied the entire floor of “Telharmonic Hall” on 39th Street and Broadway New York City for 20 years. ---
**Author:** ![Terrifel](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/c68b51/32.png) [@Terrifel](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Terrifel)\ **Post date:** [September 2, 2006, 2:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-horrible-atrocity-of-science-would-you-like-to-own/370551/45 "2006-09-02T14:43:13Z")
**BrainGlutton** : The Telharmonium hates a killjoy, did you know that? Watch your back. > [@](#): > > There is a story that a NY businessman became so outraged with the interference with the phone service that he burst in, broke it up, and threw it into the Hudson river. That’s some kind of outrage, all right. Just burst in, broke up a 200-ton machine and threw it into the Hudson river, eh? How many Kryptonian businessmen were there in New York during the '5os, anyway? ---
**Author:** ![Skald\_the\_Rhymer](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/ecccb3/32.png) [@Skald\_the\_Rhymer](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Skald_the_Rhymer)\ **Post date:** [September 2, 2006, 3:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-horrible-atrocity-of-science-would-you-like-to-own/370551/46 "2006-09-02T15:31:59Z")
[QUOTE=silenus] I want the Mirror Universe Kirk’s magic People Eliminator. One push and Poof! Off to somewhere else. [/quote] The Tantalus device, I think, was the name of it. ---
**Author:** ![Guinastasia](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/guinastasia/32/5751_2.png) [@Guinastasia](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Guinastasia)\ **Post date:** [September 2, 2006, 4:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-horrible-atrocity-of-science-would-you-like-to-own/370551/47 "2006-09-02T16:42:10Z")
A thermal detonator. ---
**Author:** ![Lamb\_Chop](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/da6949/32.png) [@Lamb\_Chop](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lamb_Chop)\ **Post date:** [September 2, 2006, 6:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-horrible-atrocity-of-science-would-you-like-to-own/370551/48 "2006-09-02T18:08:26Z")
[A Thanatos device](http://www.theonion.com/content/node/37302) ---
**Author:** ![Number](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/number/32/242_2.png) [@Number](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Number)\ **Post date:** [September 2, 2006, 6:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-horrible-atrocity-of-science-would-you-like-to-own/370551/49 "2006-09-02T18:11:20Z")
Duran Duran’s machine from _Barbarella_. ---
**Author:** ![BrainGlutton](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/82dd89/32.png) [@BrainGlutton](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BrainGlutton)\ **Post date:** [September 2, 2006, 9:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-horrible-atrocity-of-science-would-you-like-to-own/370551/50 "2006-09-02T21:23:28Z")
[QUOTE=Guinastasia] A thermal detonator. [/QUOTE] Pfft! Kid stuff! Give me an Illudium PU-36 Explosive Space Modulator! ---
**Author:** ![priapus](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/ed655f/32.png) [@priapus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/priapus)\ **Post date:** [September 2, 2006, 11:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-horrible-atrocity-of-science-would-you-like-to-own/370551/51 "2006-09-02T23:07:12Z")
[QUOTE=BMalion] I always wanted a jet-pack but on reflection I’d probubly just decapitate myself on some power lines inside of 5 minutes. [/QUOTE] Adam Strange always looked cool,but I never understood how he didn’t burn his ass off ---
**Author:** ![Cartooniverse](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/cartooniverse/32/3084_2.png) [@Cartooniverse](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Cartooniverse)\ **Post date:** [September 3, 2006, 1:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-horrible-atrocity-of-science-would-you-like-to-own/370551/52 "2006-09-03T13:28:07Z")
[QUOTE=Terrifel] **BrainGlutton** : How many Kryptonian businessmen were there in New York during the '5os, anyway? [/QUOTE] \<---------- quietly counting on fingers… [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-horrible-atrocity-of-science-would-you-like-to-own/370551.md?page=2)