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"Individual science fiction stories may seem as trivial as ever to the blinder critics and philosophers of today -- but the core of science fiction, its essence has become crucial to our salvation if we are to be saved at all."
- Isaac Asimov
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| Midge | ||
| A very small flapping wing UAV that can be carried by a larger flying device. |
| "...Many of our UAVs are equipped with smaller aircraft that can be dispersed in quantity. We refer to them as "midges". Midges have many capabilities. To the untrained eye, they look like sparrows. They even fly like sparrows, for up to 20 hours before they self-destruct. The ones we are utilizing at this moment to search the crowds in Mecca are known as Osmic Mobile Observers or OSMO's. They can zero in on individuals or groups of individuals based on long-term dietary habits." |
| Technovelgy from Quantico,
by Greg Bear. Published by Vanguard in 2007 Additional resources -
|
Compare to the tracer-birds from an unusual story by Roger Zelazny. As far as I know, the earliest reference to a little flying UAV (unmanned aerial vehicle) is the scarab robot from a 1936 story by Raymond Z. Gallun.
Also, compare it to the robot bird from Invader on My Back, by Philip E. High, published by Ace Books in 1968.
The copseyes from a story by Larry Niven use a different take on this idea.
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'The leg was to function, in a way, as a servo-mechanism operated by Larry’s brain...'
'The observation vehicle was of that peculiar variety used in conveying a large number of people across rough terrain.'
'The real border was defended by... a swarm of quasi-independent aerostats.'
'I ... set my automatic astronomical instruments to searching for a habitable planet.'
'...haven't you a section of the factory where only robot labor is employed?'
