Title of Science-Fiction book with an alien eyeball always watching in each room

[RoGeorge]

There was an alien eyeball in every room, and it was always watching people. The alien eyeball(s) never interfere, just always watching people.

I remember this alien eyeball idea as a side description in a bigger story. Alien eyeballs were not the main plot. Also, I remember it like these aliens provide free buildings for people, in exchange for having an always watching eyeball in each room. For whatever reason, I picture the idea as an organic eyeball with organic vines on the walls.

I think I read it somewhere in a way bigger story, like e.g. Dune, or The Foundation, but I'm not sure, maybe it was just a small SF novel. I remember reading it from a paper book, long time ago (before Google).

Does anybody remember the title/author for this, please? Already googled a lot, but couldn't find it.

[Richard Crowley]

George Orwell: "Nineteen Eighty-Four"?  "Big Brother is watching."

[RoGeorge]

In "1984" the people knew that surveillance and propaganda was there to control them.

The eyeball I remember was from a non human alien species, was watching for itself, never try to use what it saw, and never try to interfere with the humans.

[MarkS]

"1984" is neither science, nor fiction.

[retrolefty]

Not sure he would qualify for the title alien, but HAL in 2001 kept a pretty close watch on everything. 

[rdl]

Science fiction was almost all I ever read, from when I first started reading in the sixties until twenty years or so later when I finally widened my horizons a bit, but nothing about this rings a bell for me.

[mtdoc]

I haven't seen that but it sounds interesting.  Of course given recent news, as is often the case, science fiction is prescient.  We are quickly moving towards a world with IoT, etc that puts NSA Alien eyes in every room.

[CatalinaWOW]

I am also an avid science fiction reader and don't recall this exact theme.  I can tell you it is not out of the Dune or Foundation series.  The theme of living in a box with watchers (often alien) was commonplace in science fiction for a while.  Seems to have died down at the moment, perhaps because it is too much like current news.  The number of surveillance cameras is truly disconcerting.   

[Johnny10]

Phantasm ?

Except they weren't benign !

[WZOLL]

Childhood's End by Arthur C. Clarke? I don't remember anything about eyeballs but there were alien overlords that watched over humanity and brought peace and prosperity.

[Nusa]

"1984" is neither science, nor fiction.

If you judge it by the standards of 1949, when George Orwell wrote it, it was science fiction! Remember, it was a time when most people still relied on newspapers, radios, and movie reels for information. The fact that many people read it decades later, when nearly everyone had a television in their house, just made it more powerful and prophetic.

[MarkS]

"1984" is neither science, nor fiction.

If you judge it by the standards of 1949, when George Orwell wrote it, it was science fiction! Remember, it was a time when most people still relied on newspapers, radios, and movie reels for information. The fact that many people read it decades later, when nearly everyone had a television in their house, just made it more powerful and prophetic.

You're over thinking my reply. More tongue in cheek than serious reply. Hits too close to home on too many points. But yes, you are correct.

[rrinker]

 Add yet another avid SF reader drawing a blank on this one. Childhood's End would be my next best guess as well.

[maggotronix]

It's not A E Van Vogt's "Children Of Tomorrow" is it? Not "eyeballs" as such, but invisible alien "eyes" watching people & following them around in preparation for an invasion.

[skarecrow]

George Orwell: "Nineteen Eighty-Four"?  "Big Brother is watching."

Funny I run into a post about 1984 right now. Just a couple hours ago the Kindle app on my phone wouldn't let me open the electronics book that Amazon gave me a free digital copy of when I bought the real book until I chose up to 10 of their free books. I couldn't bypass it at all without choosing at least 1, so I chose 1984.

Sent from my XT1565 using Tapatalk

[SeanB]

Not Riverworld by Phillip jose Farmer. Though there it was more of a reliving of life, and an overall watching group doing research.

[vk6zgo]

"1984" is neither science, nor fiction.

If you judge it by the standards of 1949, when George Orwell wrote it, it was science fiction! Remember, it was a time when most people still relied on newspapers, radios, and movie reels for information. The fact that many people read it decades later, when nearly everyone had a television in their house, just made it more powerful and prophetic.

Not really, everybody knew Television existed, & at enormous expense, the system described in "1984" could have been implemented using 1949 Technology.
Not Broadcast standard, of course, ( Farnsworth Image Dissectors or Iconoscopes, not CPS Emitrons, or the latest & greatest Image Orthicons), & it would require an extra room in each dwelling, plus "Industrial Strength" power wiring.

By the time the real 1984 came around, it would have been much easier, but still prohibitively expensive.

Sci-Fi usually required much more sophisticated technology--FTL drives anyone?

[Nusa]

"1984" is neither science, nor fiction.

If you judge it by the standards of 1949, when George Orwell wrote it, it was science fiction! Remember, it was a time when most people still relied on newspapers, radios, and movie reels for information. The fact that many people read it decades later, when nearly everyone had a television in their house, just made it more powerful and prophetic.

Not really, everybody knew Television existed, & at enormous expense, the system described in "1984" could have been implemented using 1949 Technology.
Not Broadcast standard, of course, ( Farnsworth Image Dissectors or Iconoscopes, not CPS Emitrons, or the latest & greatest Image Orthicons), & it would require an extra room in each dwelling, plus "Industrial Strength" power wiring.

By the time the real 1984 came around, it would have been much easier, but still prohibitively expensive.

Sci-Fi usually required much more sophisticated technology--FTL drives anyone?

Heh, the term "Sci-fi" didn't exist in 1949. That term was coined years later.

Just because some technology already exist in some primitive form, doesn't change the fact the widespread applications described of TV science was fiction at the time. Still is, in important respects. Only in the last few years have there been a significant number consumer TV's actually capable of two-way comms.

A more recent example that is commonly considered science fiction: A Clockwork Orange (book 1962, movie 1972).

Sure, there is "hard" and "soft" science fiction, as well as a lot of sub-genres, but the general term is quite inclusive, merely requiring innovative or imaginative concepts. e.g. King Kong (1932 book)

[matts-uk]

There was an alien eyeball in every room, and it was always watching people. The alien eyeball(s) never interfere, just always watching people.

The plot sounds very familiar.  Could it have been a short story?  Sorry I don't know which one but I read a lot of shorts as a teenager.  Other than that it sounds like it could have come from the not so twisted mind of Douglas Adams.

I remember this alien eyeball idea as a side description in a bigger story. Alien eyeballs were not the main plot. Also, I remember it like these aliens provide free buildings for people, in exchange for having an always watching eyeball in each room. For whatever reason, I picture the idea as an organic eyeball with organic vines on the walls.

I am imagining two eyeballs, with the letters g__gle wrapped around them. 

[RoGeorge]

Could it have been a short story?

Yes, it could be. The memory is so fade that I am starting to question myself if it's a real memory, or a fabricated one. 

[AndyC_772]

You could try writing and publishing the story, and wait for people to say "you just ripped off such-and-such". If they don't, then you have an original story you can profit from!

It sounds to me like it might have come from a book like The Wasp Factory.

[RoGeorge]

You could try writing and publishing the story, and wait for people to say "you just ripped off such-and-such". If they don't, then you have an original story you can profit from!

LOL, best answer so far!

[android]

Could it be https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/I_Am_the_Doorway ?

Apparently a movie is in the pipeline too: http://www.iamthedoorway.com

[cvanc]

I'm vaguely remembering an episode of 'The Twilight Zone' that might fit this description?

[CatalinaWOW]

"1984" is neither science, nor fiction.

If you judge it by the standards of 1949, when George Orwell wrote it, it was science fiction! Remember, it was a time when most people still relied on newspapers, radios, and movie reels for information. The fact that many people read it decades later, when nearly everyone had a television in their house, just made it more powerful and prophetic.

Not really, everybody knew Television existed, & at enormous expense, the system described in "1984" could have been implemented using 1949 Technology.
Not Broadcast standard, of course, ( Farnsworth Image Dissectors or Iconoscopes, not CPS Emitrons, or the latest & greatest Image Orthicons), & it would require an extra room in each dwelling, plus "Industrial Strength" power wiring.

By the time the real 1984 came around, it would have been much easier, but still prohibitively expensive.

Sci-Fi usually required much more sophisticated technology--FTL drives anyone?

Heh, the term "Sci-fi" didn't exist in 1949. That term was coined years later.

Just because some technology already exist in some primitive form, doesn't change the fact the widespread applications described of TV science was fiction at the time. Still is, in important respects. Only in the last few years have there been a significant number consumer TV's actually capable of two-way comms.

A more recent example that is commonly considered science fiction: A Clockwork Orange (book 1962, movie 1972).

Sure, there is "hard" and "soft" science fiction, as well as a lot of sub-genres, but the general term is quite inclusive, merely requiring innovative or imaginative concepts. e.g. King Kong (1932 book)

Whoever coined the term years later had a really easy job, since the magazine "Astounding Tales of Super Science" changed its name to "Astounding Science-Fiction" in March of 1938.  I am sure that many people abbreviated it in speech almost immediately.  I don't know when the first print reference to "sci-fi" occurred.

It can be really hard to track down favorite old stories.  One of my favorites (for no good reason - it isn't that good a story) is "Junkyard Planet".  Took me years to track it down.  I remembered it being part of an Ace Double but just couldn't find it.  Discovered that it had been re-titled.  An H Beam Piper product.