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"Science fiction represents the modern heresy and the cutting edge of speculative imagination as it grapples with Mysterious Time---linear or non-linear time."
- Frank Herbert
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| Guide-Beam | ||
| A wireless means of controlling and directing the movement of a passenger vehicle. |
| He spun off down the road, allowing the car to operate on the New York guide-beam. It was safer that wy. And a lot quickr. He didn't mind having his car operated from a hundred miles off. All the other cars racing along the eight-lane highway were guide operated. Made accidents almost impossible, and meant he could enjoy the countryside...
Something picked up the car and hurled it from the road. The guide had failed. Interference. That was his last thought. |
| Technovelgy from Time Pawn,
by Philip K. Dick. Published by Thrilling Wonder Stories in 1954 Additional resources -
|
This is how it appeared in Dr. Futurity six years later:
Compare with the Camden speedster from Robert Heinlein's 1941 story Methuselah's Children. Charles Stross came up with a very interesting variation on this idea in his 2007 novel Halting State; see driverless drones.
He spun off down the road, allowing the car to operate on the San Francisco guide-beam north. It was safer that way, especially on U.S. 101. And a lot quicker. He didn't mind having his car operated from a hundred miles off. All the other cars racing along the sixteen lane highway were guide-operated, too, those going his way and those heading in the opposite direction, on the analog south highway to Los Angeles. It made accidents almost impossible, and meant he could enjoy the educational notices which various universities traditionally posted along the route. And, behind the notices, the countryside.
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Tech news articles related to Time Pawn
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| Musk Idea Of Cars Talking To Each Other Predicted 70 Years Ago |
| Waymo And Tesla 'Autonomous Cabs' Are Piloted By Remote Drivers |
| Maybe It's Too Soon To Require Autonomous Mode |
| Caterpillar Electric Mining Loader Not Yet Ready For Moon |
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'If you're one of those rarities who haven't attended a rocket-polo "carnage", let me tell you it's a colorful affair.'
'They filed clumsily into the battleroom, like children in a swimming pool for the first time, clinging to the handholds along the side.'
'a walking balloon proceeded with long strides of its aluminum legs...'
'There was nowhere on the planet where science and technology could not provide one with a comfortable home...'
'Most men updated their PIP on New Year's Day...'
'...a misshapen, many-tentacled thing about twice the size of a man.'
