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"As the rate of technological development speeds up, the gap between science fiction and what we’re living now is getting narrower all the time."
- Richard Morgan
 |
| Martian Print Amoeba | ||
| An organism able to mimic consumer goods. |
Making even modern manufacturing methods obsolete.
| ...the greater economic aspects of another extraterrestrial creature, the Martian print amoeba. This august unicellular organism survived by its ability to mimic other life forms - those of its own size, specifically - and although this ability had amused Terran astronauts and UN officials, no one had seen an industrial usage until Virgil Ackerman of [Martian flap bat] guano fame had come upon the scene... he had presented a print amoeba with one of his current mistress' expensive furs; the print amoeba had faithfully mimicked it... |
| Technovelgy from Now Wait For Last Year,
by Philip K. Dick. Published by Doubleday in 1966 Additional resources -
|
Unfortunately, when the Martian print amoeba gets bored, it tends to switch back to its real form. So, a method of "fixing" the amoeba was developed:
Dick fans will recognize the Biltong life forms from his 1956 short story Pay for the Printer as well as the autofac nanorobots from his 1955 short story of the same name. All three show PKD's fascination with the seemingly infinite capacity of modern manufacturing, and the fact that the source of this cornucopia is a complete mystery to the average consumer.
The answer... consisted of killing the amoeba during its interval of mimicry and then subjecting the cadaver to a bath of fixing-chemicals which had the capacity to lock the amoeba in that final form; the amoeba did not decay and hence could not later on be distinguished from the original.
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| DARPA Wants 'Large Bio-Mechanical Space Structures' |
| Robot Bricklayer Or Passer-By Bricklayer? |
| Organic Non-Planar 3D Printing |
| Laser-Beam Welding In Orbital Factories |
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'... oblongs were all over the floor and surfaces.'
'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...'
