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You might be surprised to learn that this is the earliest description that I know about of the idea behind 3D printers and stereolithography.
Mr. Eric Stokes-Harding wrote novels of high adventure - in a drab, boring era in the not-too-distant future, when the plodding of the scientific method had reduced all challenges to harmless trivialities. Ah, to escape to a more primitive world - Venus, perhaps? But how to get there...
Here's a description of how it works:
Eric helped Nada to a place on the crystal, lay down at her side.
"I think the Express Ray is focused just at the surface of the crystal, from below," he said. "It dissolves our substance, to be transmitted by the beam. It would look as if we were melting into the crystal."
"Ready," called the youth.
A bell jangled. "So long," the youth called.
Nada and Eric felt themselves enveloped in fire. Sheets of white flame
seemed to lap up about them from the crystal block. Suddenly there was a
sharp tingling sensation where they touched the polished surface. Then
blackness, blankness.
Here's an interesting similar perspective from an essay by John Elfreth Watkins, Jr. - What May Happen in the Next Hundred Years, published in 1900:
Thanks to Jordan Bassior for suggesting this item.
Compare to Deposition (3D Printing) from Assassin (1978) by James P. Hogan and plastic constructor from Things Pass By (1945) by Murray Leinster. Also, the Biltong life-forms from Pay for the Printer (1956) by Philip K. Dick.
As a transportation device, compare it to the telepomp from The Man Without a Body (1877) by Edward Page Mitchell, the
displacement booth from Flash Crowd (1972) by Larry Niven, the
stepping discs from Ringworld (1970) by Larry Niven and the
trip box from Eye of Cat (1982) by Roger Zelazny.
Also, see the libra-transmitter from Into the Meteorite Orbit by Frank R. Kelly, Jaunte from The Stars My Destination, the Transo from Time is the Simplest Thing by Clifford Simak and the geofractor (1939) from One Against the Legion by Jack Williamson. Comment/Join this discussion ( 0 ) | RSS/XML | Blog This | Additional
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Science Fiction
Timeline
Brin's 1990 Novel Earth Still Full Of Predictions
'... making the point that their likenesses, every move they made, were being transmitted.'
Gaia - Why Stop With Just The Earth?
'But the stars are only atoms in larger space, and in that larger space the star-atoms could combine to form living matter, thinking matter, couldn't they?'
Microsoft VASA-1 Creates Personal Video From A Photo
'...to build up a video picture would require, say, ten million decisions every second. Mike, you're so fast I can't even think about it. But you aren't that fast.'
Splendid View Of Eclipse From Orbit Visualized And Repurposed By Arthur C. Clarke
'The area affected was five hundred kilometres across, and perfectly circular.'
Goldene - A Two-Dimensional Sheet Of Gold One Atom Thick
'Hasan always pitched a Gauzy - a one-molecule-layer tent, opaque, feather-light, and very tough.'
SpaceX Wants A Moonbase Alpha
'And he had been sent with troops, supplies and bombs to command Russia's most trusted post, the Moonbase.'
Vast Apartment Living Will Get Even More Vast
'What is your population', I asked. 'About eighty millions.'
NASA Wants Self-Driving Or Remote-Controlled Vehicles For Lunar Astronauts
'THE autobus turned silently down the wide street of Hydropole. Robot-guided, insulated from noise and cold...'
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