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"One could imagine a very ascetic sort of life ... where the body is ignored. This is something I've played with in my books, where people hate to be reminded sometimes that they have bodies, they find it very slow and tedious."
- William Gibson
 |
| Directed Cars in Tunnels | ||
| Self-driving vehicles. |
| For the Tyngall merely lifted a small steel rod, and waved it as might a musical conductor directing an invisible orchestra; and instantly a partition in the floor opened and three little cushioned cars shot out, each moving on a pair of broad-based wheels arranged bicycle- fashion. Two of the cars glided up to Harry and Celia as if under intelligent direction; and after they had entered, one in each car, the vehicles darted away again, and whirled them through long lighted tunnels at what seemed breakneck speed. |
| Technovelgy from The Lord of Tranerica,
by Stanton A. Coblentz. Published by Dynamic Science Stories in 1939 Additional resources -
|
It had automatic doors, too:
Compare to the Gyro-Hat from An Experiment in Gyro-Hats (1926) by Ellis Parker Butler, the tumblebug from The Roads Must Roll (1940) by Robert Heinlein, the Two-Wheeled Ground Car from First Lensman (1950) by E.E. 'Doc' Smith, the Gyro Two-Wheeled Truck from The Sign of the Tiger (1958) by Alan Nourse (w/Meyer), the Gyrocar (Gyro) from The Ring (1969) by Piers Anthony (w/R. Margroff) and the smart bike from Distraction (1998) by Bruce Sterling.
Dismally the sovereign glanced down
at the waters, still glittering in the
noonday sun despite the shadowing
towers that arose on all sides. Then irresolutely he ambled away; turned a
switch; entered a little plush-lined car
that rolled in through a door which
opened as if of its own volition; pulled
a second switch; and went gliding away
through long steel-lined corridors. As
he shot rapidly forward, doors opened
before him and closed behind him with
perfectly timed reguarity, although no
human operator was visible; lights
gleamed and vanished; the car turned
curves and descended grades although
the rider did nothing to guide it ; and finally it came to a halt in an immense
room marked “Science Laboratory.”
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and Technology from The Lord of Tranerica
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Tech news articles related to works by Stanton A. Coblentz
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'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...'
