- Source: Life-Line
"Life-Line" is a short story by American author Robert A. Heinlein. Published in the August 1939 edition of Astounding, it was Heinlein's first published short story.
The protagonist, Professor Hugo Pinero, builds a machine that will predict how long a person will live. It does this by sending a signal along the world line of a person and detecting the echo from the far end. Professor Pinero's invention has a powerful impact on the life insurance industry, as well as on his own life.
Pinero is mentioned in passing in the novels Time Enough for Love and Methuselah's Children when the practically immortal Lazarus Long mentions having been examined and being sent away because the machine is "broken".
Writing history
Heinlein was motivated to write the story by an editorial in Thrilling Wonder Stories magazine, in which Hugo Gernsback wrote that he wanted to foster new talent in the field, and that "We shall endeavor to present one amateur writer's story in each forthcoming issue [...] until further notice." Thrilling Wonder Stories's rate at the time was 0.5¢ per word. After Heinlein had written the 7,000-word story, he submitted it first to a rival magazine, Astounding, which paid 1¢ per word. Astounding bought the story, and at their higher rate, Heinlein was paid $70 (equivalent to $1,520 in 2023).
According to Virginia Heinlein's introductory biography of her husband in Grumbles from the Grave, upon receiving the check for the story Heinlein reportedly said, "How long has this racket been going on?" Later, Heinlein's authorized biography included a version of the story in which Thrilling Wonder Stories had advertised a $50 contest. The first known version of this story appeared in a 1985 interview published in Xignals, a science fiction newsletter.
"Life-Line" was later collected in The Worlds of Robert A. Heinlein (1966), Expanded Universe (1980), and in a Baen edition of The Man Who Sold The Moon (1987).
Reception
One particular paragraph from "Life-Line" is often quoted in reference to (and criticism of) modern intellectual property rights:
There has grown in the minds of certain groups in this country the idea that just because a man or corporation has made a profit out of the public for a number of years, the government and the courts are charged with guaranteeing such a profit in the future, even in the face of changing circumstances and contrary to public interest. This strange doctrine is supported by neither statute or common law. Neither corporations or individuals have the right to come into court and ask that the clock of history be stopped, or turned back.
In the realm of science another passage has come to be quoted:
There are but two ways of forming an opinion in science. One is the scientific method; the other, the scholastic. One can judge from experiment, or one can blindly accept authority. To the scientific mind, experimental proof is all important and theory is merely a convenience in description, to be junked when it no longer fits. To the academic mind, authority is everything and facts are junked when they do not fit theory laid down by authority.
A television web series loosely based on the short story began in 2017.
References
External links
"Life-Line" title listing at the Internet Speculative Fiction Database
"Life-Line" on the Internet Archive- Source: Lifeline
Lifeline or Lifelines may refer to:
Support, care, and emergency services
Crisis hotline
Lifeline (crisis support service), Australia-based, now international
National Suicide Prevention Lifeline, United States
LifeLine (medical transport), a medical transport service associated with Indiana University Health system
Lifeline of Ohio, organ procurement organization
Lifeline project, a substance use disorder charity in Manchester
Lifeline (safety), a fall protection safety device in the form of an open wire rope fence
Life Line Screening, a health screening company in the United States
Lifeline utility, in New Zealand, an essential service during major emergencies
Lifeline (FCC program), an FCC program for communications services for low-income consumers
Film
The Life Line, a 1919 American silent drama film
Life Line, a 1935 Hong Kong film
Lifeline (film), a 1997 Hong Kong film by Johnny To
Music
= Albums
=
Life Line (album), by the George Adams-Don Pullen Quartet, 1981
Lifeline (The Answering Machine album) or the title song, 2011
Lifeline (Ben Harper album) or the title song, 2007
Lifeline (Iris DeMent album), 2004
Lifeline (Neal Morse album) or the title song, 2008
Lifeline (Pablo Cruise album) or the title song, 1976
Lifeline (Phillips, Craig and Dean album), 1994
Lifeline (Roy Ayers album) or the title song, 1977
Lifeline (EP), by Jesu, or the title song, 2007
Lifeline, by RJ Thompson, 2020
Lifelines (A-ha album) or the title song (see below), 2002
Lifelines (Andrea Corr album), 2011
Lifelines (Arild Andersen album) or the title song, 1981
Lifelines (I Prevail album) or the title song, 2016
Lifelines, a Peter, Paul and Mary album, 1995
Lifelines: The Jimi Hendrix Story, 1990
= Songs
=
"Lifeline" (Brooke Fraser song), 2003
"Lifeline" (Jamiroquai song), 2011
"Lifeline" (Papa Roach song), 2009
"Lifeline" (Spandau Ballet song), 1982
"Lifelines" (song), by A-ha, 2002
"Life Line", by 10cc from Bloody Tourists, 1978
"Life Line", by Harry Nilsson from The Point!, 1970
"Lifeline", by Anastacia from Resurrection, 2014
"Lifeline", by Angels & Airwaves from I-Empire, 2007
"Lifeline", by CeCe Peniston from Finally, 1992
"Lifeline", by Imogen Heap from Sparks, 2014
"Lifeline", by LeRoux, 1983
"Lifeline", by Justin Jesso which represented Illinois in the American Song Contest
Television
Lifeline (1978 TV series), a 1978–79 American documentary series
Lifeline (2017 TV series), an American science fiction drama series
Lifeline (Spanish TV series) (Pulsaciones), a 2017 thriller series
Lifelines (TV series), a 1993–1996 Irish chat show
"Life Line" (Star Trek Voyager), an episode
"Lifeline" (The L Word), an episode
"Lifeline" (Stargate Atlantis), an episode
Lifeline, a help for answering a question in the game show Who Wants to Be a Millionaire?
Lifeline, a Belgian WWII resistance group in the 1977 TV series Secret Army
Video games
Lifeline (video game), a 2003 action-adventure game
Lifeline (2015 video game), a text-based adventure mobile game
"Lifeline", a 2014 DLC for the video game State of Decay
Lifeline, a playable character in the game Apex Legends
Other arts and entertainment
The Lifeline, a 1946 novel by Phyllis Bottome
Lifeline (G.I. Joe), a fictional character in the G.I. Joe universe
Lifeline Theatre, Chicago, Illinois, United States
"Life-Line", a science fiction short story by Robert A. Heinlein
The Life Line (painting), an 1884 painting by Winslow Homer
Lifelines (literary journal), literary journal of Dartmouth College
Religious and humanitarian missions
Life-Line (mission boat), a Baptist missionary boat in Coos Bay, Oregon, United States, 1914–23
Lifeline (ship), formerly FRV Clupea, a UK small rescue boat and former fisheries research vessel
Lifeline Expedition, a Christian initiative for reconciliation from the Atlantic slave trade
Lifeline 3, from Britain to the Gaza Strip in 2006
Lifeline Energy formerly Freeplay Foundation, a London-based NGO active in Africa
Lifeline Malawi, a Calgary-based charity
Lifeline Center for Child Development, a child psychiatry center in Queens, New York, United States
Other uses
Lifeline program, a telephone financial-assistance program in the United States
Kernmantle rope used for safety in rock climbing
In sailing, ropes or netting around the edge of the sailboat to prevent people from falling off the boat
Fall arrest a form of fall protection to prevent falling
In palmistry, a particular crease in the palm
LifeLines, genealogy freeware
Lifeline (diving), or tether, a line from the diver to a tender at the surface
See also
British Imperial Lifeline, aka All-Red Route, steamship route from Britain to India via the Suez Canal
Chai Lifeline New York illness charity
Lifeline Express, rail-based mobile hospital
Operation Lifeline Sudan, consortium of UN agencies
Southern Evacuation Lifeline, proposed freeway in South Carolina, United States
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