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"We were essentially being shell-shocked by rapid change. That was one of the things you needed science-fiction writers for back in the Sixties, because we could cope with the future."
- Peter Watts
 |
| Plastex | ||
| A combination of plaster and latex, it allows houses to change shape for you. |
The psychotropic houses of Vermillion Sands were able to mirror the feelings of their owners. They could also change shape as required.
| It was a beautiful room all right, with opaque plastex walls and white fluo-glass ceiling, but something terrible had happened there. As it responded to me, the ceiling lifting slightly and the walls growing less opaque, reflecting my perspective-seeking eye, I noticed that curious mottled knots were forming, indicating where the room had been strained and healed faultily. Deep hidden rifts began to distort the sphere, ballooning out one of the alcoves like a bubble of overextended gum.
"Lively responses, aren't they, Mr. Talbot?" He put his hand on the wall behind us. The plastex swam and whirled like boiling toothpaste, then extruded itself into a small ledge. Stamers sat down on the lip, which quickly expanded to match the contours of his body, providing back and arm rests. 'Of course, you're getting nothing but custom-built units here,' Stamers said. 'The vinyl chains in this plastex were hand-crafted literally molecule by molecule.' |
| From The Thousand Dreams of Stellavista,
by J.G. Ballard. Published by Amazing Fact and Science Fiction in 1962 Additional resources -
|
Compare to the memory plastic from Larry Niven's 1969 story Death by Ecstasy.
The house trees of Jack Vance's 1964 novel The Houses of Iszm also tailored themselves to owners, if more slowly. Contrast plastex, which does what you want, to the Bambakias hotel of Bruce Sterling's 1998 novel Distraction, which actually tells you what to do, construction-wise.
I don't know if Ballard knowingly reused the word "plastex" or not. The word was trademarked in the 1930's by a toy company; it is used in reference to a bouncy kind of plastic.
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More Ideas
and Technology from The Thousand Dreams of Stellavista
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and Technology by J.G. Ballard
Tech news articles related to The Thousand Dreams of Stellavista
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Plastex-related
news articles:
- HypoSurface Walls Are Full Of Life
- Touchy Feely Trigger Point Mouldings
- Self-Healing Concrete Uses Bacteria For Healing
- 'Supra B 'Toys Soon Self-Healing
- Self-Healing Batteries
- Outdoor Testing For Self-Healing Concrete
- Fungi-Infused Concrete Repairs Itself
- MXene Hydrogel Skin For Robots Flexes And Senses
| Amazon Blimp Parent Drone Concept |
| Tortoise Mobile Smart Stores |
| Sony Pocket Air Conditioner Is Phil Dick's Idea! |
| ROAM Robotics Skiing Exoskeleton |
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'The pokkecon rang again. *The coffee’s for him?* Tsuyoshi said.'
The Jetsons imagined so much future.
'Rod placed the brain inside the panel... the horse raised its head, wiggled its ears, blinked twice, gave a tentative whinny.'
'Pina2bo would have to operate full blast for many years to put as much SO2 into the stratosphere as its namesake had done in a few minutes.'
'Chain of hotels that specialized in non-human service.'
'But then... not every bulldozer operator works on the Moon.'
'Griff found the white and pink map distracting and switched it off using his tongue mouse.'
