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"But the problem with reincarnation is that it's hard to imagine what the storage medium for past lives would be. Not to mention the input-output device. I hesitate to rule it out completely, but I'd need pretty definite proof."
- Arthur C. Clarke
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| Venus Cities Float In Atmosphere | ||
| Cloud cities on Venus. |
This is an early reference to the idea that Venus, the surface of which could not reasonably support human life, could be colonized with "cloud cities".
In the story, baking loaves of bread using helium to help it rise has resulted in millions of loaves taking flight.
| Radio Venus reported to its winged audience that Earth's inhabitants were establishing food depots in the upper air, preparatory to taking up permanent aerial residence "such as we have always enjoyed on Venus." |
| Technovelgy from Bread Overhead!,
by Fritz Leiber. Published by Galaxy Science Fiction in 1958 Additional resources -
|
I'm not sure how long the idea of building cloud cities on Venus has been around. Scientist and sf author Geoffrey Landis suggested the idea in 2008. See the stories below for more details.
The Hawkmen in Flash Gordon had a city that floated in the sky, as well, in the 1930's.
The floating island in the sky idea is historically old; see the entry for laputa in Gulliver's Travels (1726).
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Additional
resources:
More Ideas
and Technology from Bread Overhead!
More Ideas
and Technology by Fritz Leiber
Tech news articles related to Bread Overhead!
Tech news articles related to works by Fritz Leiber
Venus Cities Float In Atmosphere-related
news articles:
- Cloud City On Venus?
- Revisiting A Cloud City On Venus
- HAVOC Over Venus ala Bespin
| SpaceX Wants A Moonbase Alpha |
| NASA Wants Self-Driving Or Remote-Controlled Vehicles For Lunar Astronauts |
| Orbital Mechanics, The Liftoff, The Turnover, The Retrograde Burn |
| Can A Human Land A SpaceX Rocket On Its Tail? |
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'You are who we say you are, Dr. Dakin,' Turner said.'
'It's area, and its consequent light-gathering capacity, was many times greater than any rigid mirror...'
'Tell me your torments,' the Padre said, in an elderly voice marked with compassion.
'...a slender-legged tripod surmounted by a spherical body no larger than a football.'
'... making the point that their likenesses, every move they made, were being transmitted.'
'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?'
'...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.'
'The area affected was five hundred kilometres across, and perfectly circular.'
