The Truth Machine

Halperin, James. The Truth Machine. UK: The Ivy Press, 1996. USA: Del Rey/Ballantine, 1996. See Internet Speculative Fiction Database for other printings.[1]

From the publisher's blurb:

It is the year 2004. Violent crime is the number one political issue in America. Now, the Swift and Sure Anti-Crime Bill guarantees a previously convicted violent criminal one fair trial, one quick appeal, then immediate execution. To prevent abuse of the law, a machine must be built that detects lies with 100 percent accuracy.

Once perfected, the Truth Machine will change the face of the world. [2]

Discussed in The Lying Brain: Lie Detection in Science and Science Fiction, which see. Reviewed by Nancy Lambert, "A Flat Earth with Heroes and Flying Machines," The New York Review of Science Fiction No. 110, 10.2 (October 1997): 13-14.[3] See Lambert for something of a meditation on "What is truth?" how it might be measured by a machine, and whether it (always? often?) comes in neat "True"/"False" distinctions.

RDE, finishing, 8Jun21, 13Aug23