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"Generally, the human race avoids doing anything radical until forced into it."
- Frederik Pohl
 |
| Flat Cat | ||
| A nearly two-dimensional furry little beast. |
| "Say, Mr. Angelo, what is this? At first I thought it was a fur cap; now I see it's alive." Castor pointed to the furry heap on the counter. It was slowly slithering toward the edge.
The shopkeeper reached out and headed it back to the middle. "That? That's a 'flat cat.' ...It has a Latin name but I never bothered to learn it. Angelo tickled it with a forefinger; it began to purr like a high-pitched buzzer. It had no discernable features, being merely a pie-shaped mass of sleek red fur... [Castor] looked down and three beady little eyes stared trustfully back up at him, then closed and disappeared completely. |
| Technovelgy from The Rolling Stones,
by Robert Heinlein. Published by Scribner's in 1952 Additional resources -
|
Okay, this isn't really a piece of technology, and it wasn't a bioengineered beast, either. However, if I included Clifford Simak's hunting robes, I should certainly put this one in, too.
Fans of Star Trek: TOS have some idea of what a flat cat is like:
Captain Kirk's "Trouble with Tribbles" (aired 1967) wasn't humanity's first encounter with disgustingly cute furballs! We just took in a copy of Robert Heinlein's "The Rolling Stones" (1952). Except these were called flatcats. #startrek #heinlein #flatcat #tribble pic.twitter.com/ZO16a0CgsO
— Book Archive, Ltd. (@BookArchiveLtd) April 12, 2022
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Additional
resources:
More Ideas
and Technology from The Rolling Stones
More Ideas
and Technology by Robert Heinlein
Tech news articles related to The Rolling Stones
Tech news articles related to works by Robert Heinlein
Flat Cat-related
news articles:
- Flatcat Robot Recalls Both Heinlein And Simak
| Let's Make Slaver Sunflowers! Engineering Plants To Reflect Light |
| Machete-Wielding Philodendron Isn't Going To Take It Anymore |
| Tsunami Forecasts Improved By Ionosphere Signals |
| EctoLife Concept Video Artificial Womb For Baby Mass Production |
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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.'
