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"In science fiction one can say a great many things that are unpalatable, … because it's expressed as science fiction you can slip it past their defenses."
- Frederik Pohl
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| Pedomotive | ||
| A kind of stilt-like leg extenders; take longer strides, get there faster. Extreme sports gear. |
It sounds like he is talking about drywall stilts, adjustable leg extensions worn by drywall installers. If you can imagine adding some kind of spring-loaded (or power-assisted) addition to this basic device - you've got a pedomotive. I'll bet that somewhere, some guy has tried it (I'm betting he wound up in the E.R.).
| A constable from the Shanghai police, legs strapped into a pedomotive, was coming down the street with the tremendous loping strides afforded by such devices, escorted by a couple of power-skating Ashantis. |
| Technovelgy from The Diamond Age,
by Neal Stephenson. Published by Bantam Books in 1995 Additional resources -
|
Pedomotive is a word meaning driven by the feet; it was used to describe a variety of pedal-driven bicycles in the nineteenth century. It's incredible that the first pedal-driven bicycle in production ( the Michaux boneshaker) cost over $300 in 1870 (about $3000 today); people bought them because they really did increase mobility.
This sort of gear can also be worn for extreme sports enthusiasts - you can even do flips in them. Be sure to take a look at Poweriser Extreme Sports Gear - it's a real-life pedomotive!
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Additional
resources:
More Ideas
and Technology from The Diamond Age
More Ideas
and Technology by Neal Stephenson
Tech news articles related to The Diamond Age
Tech news articles related to works by Neal Stephenson
Pedomotive-related
news articles:
- Poweriser: Extreme Sports Gear from The Diamond Age
- Race Into The Future With Bionic Boots
| SpaceX Rocket Shuttle Point-To-Point On Earth |
| CORLEO Robotic Horse Concept Looks Ready To Ride |
| Futuristic Transit Elevated Bus Never Really Worked |
| Japan Automated Cargo Transport |
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'Power could be compressed thus into an inch-square cube of what looked like blue-white ice'
'It's so light that you can set it up in five minutes by yourself...'
'Heavy penalties... were to be applied to any one found driving manually-controlled machines.'
'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...'
