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So... an alien lands on earth and gives a couple of guys this tool. The tool causes metal to soften so that it can be molded like clay or putty. Using it again returns it to its normal hardness.
When the alien comes back not long after (maybe 20 years), all civilization on Earth has collapsed.
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For context, is this a story you are trying but failing to remember the name of or is this a quiz for us to correctly interpret an unusual interpretation of a well-known story? Do you already know the answer?
Posts: 13680 | Registered: Mar 2002
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Does the collapse of all civilization on earth actually have to do with the device in the first place?
Posts: 2489 | Registered: Jan 2002
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Is this a written story or something from TV/the movies like a Twilight Zone or Outer Limits episode?
Posts: 7593 | Registered: Sep 2006
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It's a SF short story that I read once in a collection. I have a vague recollection that it was the last story in the collection (for all the good that does), but I'm dying to find it.
I probably read it in the second half of the 70s, which narrows the field a little bit, I guess.
Posts: 12266 | Registered: Jul 2005
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Oh, I'm pretty sure I'm familiar with something like this -- but are you sure it was an alien? In the story I remember, colonists on another world developed a technology to destroy all metal, and deliberately used it to force themselves to revert to a harsh pastoral existence.
Posts: 37449 | Registered: May 1999
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Someone on rec.arts.sf.written says it's "Technological Retreat" by G. C. Edmondson. Now I have to try and track that down to see if it's right.
Posts: 12266 | Registered: Jul 2005
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