The Book

The Movie

The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy by Douglas Adams:
Science Fiction Inventions, Technology and Ideas

Hilarious and well-written, this novel will surprise and delight you on every page. Arthur Dent barely escapes from Earth when it is destroyed to make room for an interstellar freeway. Sarcastic aliens, remarkable devices, highly improbable situations; terrific book. Select an invention:

Babel Fish - improbable translator
A living fish which, when placed in your ear, will live there and translate any form of language for you.

Deep Thought - second largest computer
The second-largest computer ever made.

Electronic Book - more massively useful than a towel
An early reference and description of electronic book hardware and operation.

Gesture-Controlled Device
An electronic device that is controlled by hand gestures.

GPP Genuine People Personalities
Giving mechanisms their own unique affect.

Infinite Improbability Drive - what are the odds it exists?
Generates a field in which anything, no mater how improbable, can exist.

Joo Janta 200 Super-Chromatic Peril Sensitive Sunglasses
Sunglasses that darken at the sight of danger.

Marvin the Robot - brain the size of a planet
Another fine robot from the marketing division of the Sirius Cybernetics Corporation

Nutri-Matic - not quite tea
A drink dispenser that scans the person to determine what might go down well.

Self-Satisfied Door - aaaahh!
A door that is much more satisfied with its functionality than it has any right to be.

Sub-Etha Sens-O-Matic - better range than your thumb
A device which senses passing spacecraft; essential tool of interstellar hitchhikers

Towel - massively useful
A simple scrap of cloth with surprisingly many uses.

 

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Science Fiction
in the News

Russians Create Robot Tank Platoons
re: Philip Nowlan w/D. Calkins
(8/15/2025)

3D-Printed Exoskeleton Learns From Your Hand
re: Fritz Leiber
(8/13/2025)

Smartwatch Powered By Slime Mold
re: Philip K. Dick
(7/11/2025)

Unmanned Boats Attack At Sea
re: Ray Naylor
(7/9/2025)

Carpentopod Walking Table
re: Terry Pratchett
(7/7/2025)

Iron Drone Raider Counter-UAV Operations
re: Robert Sheckley
(7/5/2025)

SpaceX Rocket Shuttle Point-To-Point On Earth
re: Robert Heinlein
(7/3/2025)

Quaise Uses Beams Of Energy To Dig Geothermal Wells
re: Frank Stockton
(7/1/2025)

Robots Repair And Modify Themselves
re: Harry Harrison
(6/29/2025)

Waymo And Tesla 'Autonomous Cabs' Are Piloted By Remote Drivers
re: Philip K Dick
(6/27/2025)

Robot Janitors Get To Work
re: Philip K. Dick
(6/25/2025)

Robots Learn To Install Charged Batteries Into Themselves
re: Not known.
(6/23/2025)

Robot Rabbits Entice Pythons
re: JW Groves
(6/21/2025)

LLM 'Cognitive Core' Now Evolving
re: Philip K. Dick
(6/19/2025)

More SF in the News

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