Science Fiction
Dictionary
A B C D E F G H I J K L M N O P Q R S T U V W X Y Z
Latest By
Category:
Armor
Artificial
Intelligence
Biology
Clothing
Communication
Computers
Culture
Data Storage
Displays
Engineering
Entertainment
Food
Input Devices
Lifestyle
Living Space
Manufacturing
Material
Media
Medical
Miscellaneous
Robotics
Security
Space Tech
Spacecraft
Surveillance
Transportation
Travel
Vehicle
Virtual
Person
Warfare
Weapon
Work
"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
 |
| Worldcraft Bubble | ||
| An incredibly detailed mechanical simulation of a world. |
"'Own Your Own World' ... quite a slogan."
| The Worldcraft bubble glittered, catching the light...
Lora turned on the bubble. It glowed, winking into brilliance... She increased the magnification, bringing the microscopic central planet into focus... Again Lora increased the magnification. The central planet grew, showing a pale green ocean lapping faintly at a low shoreline. A city came into view, towers and broad streets, fine ribbons of gold and steel. Above, twin suns beamed down, warming the city. Myriads of inhabitants swarmed about their activities...
 (The Worldcraft Bubble from 'The Trouble with Bubbles' by Philip K. Dick) The inhabitants of the city came into sharp view. They hurried about their business, endless thousands of them. In cars and on foot. Across spidery spans between buildings, breathtakingly beautiful. |
| Technovelgy from The Trouble With Bubbles,
by Philip K. Dick. Published by If in 1953 Additional resources -
|
This idea is an interesting prediction of the current fascination with artificial, computer-generated worlds in games like Spore.
Compare to the Neoterics from Theodore Sturgeon's 1941 novella Microcosmic God, the pocket universe from Murray Leinster's 1946 story of that name and the Kingdom in a Box from Stanislaw Lem's story collection The Cyberiad: Fables for the Cybernetic Age.
We couldn't leave Terra so we built our own worlds right here. Sub-atomic worlds, in controlled containers. We start life going on a sub-atomic world, feed it problems to make it evolve, try to raise it higher and higher... It's certainly a creative pastime. Not a merely passive viewing like television..."
Comment/Join this discussion ( 0 ) | RSS/XML | Blog This |
Additional
resources:
More Ideas
and Technology from The Trouble With Bubbles
More Ideas
and Technology by Philip K. Dick
Tech news articles related to The Trouble With Bubbles
Tech news articles related to works by Philip K. Dick
Worldcraft Bubble-related
news articles:
- Our World Formed In A Bubble?
- Satoshi Tomizu Creates Pocket Universes And Worldcraft Bubbles In Glass
| Replace The Smartphone With A Connected Edge Node For AI Inference |
| Sunday Robotics 'Memo' Bot Has Unique Training Glove |
| Tornyol Microdrone Kills Mosquitoes |
| PLATO Spacecraft, Hunter Of Habitable Planets, Now Ready |
Want to Contribute an
Item?
It's easy:
Get the name of the item, a
quote, the book's name and the author's name, and Add
it here.
| <Previous | Next> |
|
|
|
Technovelgy (that's tech-novel-gee!) is devoted to the creative science inventions and ideas of sf authors. Look for the Invention Category that interests you, the Glossary, the Science Fiction Invention Timeline, or see what's New.
|
Science Fiction
Timeline
1600-1899
1900-1939
1940's 1950's
1960's 1970's
1980's 1990's
2000's 2010's
'Buy a Little Dingbat... electropen, wrist watch, pocketphone, pocket radio, billfold ... all in one.'
'... an elastic, tinted material that had all the feel and appearance of human flesh and epidermis.'
'It is remarkable that the long leverages of their machines are in most cases actuated by a sort of sham musculature...'
'Briquet’s head seemed to think that to find and attach a new body to her head was as easy as to fit and sew a new dress.'
'...copy was turned out in a charming and entirely feminine handwriting.'
'It was almost unheard of for slunch to spread that fast...'
'He then started hand movements of definite pattern...'
'The leg was to function, in a way, as a servo-mechanism operated by Larry’s brain...'
