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"No one has ever produced a statement of fact that was technically true. The most accurate statements of science we have today are accurate to only 15 decimal places."
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In this book of novellas, Roger Zelazny shows us some of the life experience of a man who doesn't exist. That is, according to the computer systems of this near future world, he did not exist. One of the original programmers, he was able to assign himself an identity whenever he wished. Each of the stories is a case he accepted as a contractor from a private investigative agency.
In this story, he is asked to protect a project group that seeks to create additional usable land by creating islands in the ocean. The idea is to use nuclear explosives in areas where hot lava is close to the surface.
One can reasonably speculate that this story was inspired by the creation of the island Surtsey off the coast of Iceland. In November of 1963 seamen fishing saw signs of an underwater eruption that occurred at a 130 meter depth. The resulting island eveosually totaled about 3 kilometers of new land area, with the highest point about 170 meters above sea level. It was named Surtsey for Surtur, the fire giant of Norse mythology who would set fire to the earth at the Last Judgment. This event made a great impression on me (a child at the time) and was covered at length in National Geographic.
This is a great collection of stories; the others in the book include Home is the Hangman and 'Kjwalll'kje'k'koothailll'kje'k. Comment/Join this discussion ( 0 ) | RSS/XML | Blog This | Additional
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Science Fiction
Timeline
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'Tell me your torments,' the Padre said, in an elderly voice marked with compassion.
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'...a slender-legged tripod surmounted by a spherical body no larger than a football.'
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'... making the point that their likenesses, every move they made, were being transmitted.'
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'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?'
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'...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.'
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