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"Real science opens windows for us to look through. We're right at the footsteps of the most interesting scientists around."
- Larry Niven
 |
| Groundcar (or Ground Car) | ||
| A non-skimming, non-flying vehicle. |
One of the ways a writer can emphasize the extraordinary advances of a culture is to use verbiage to suggest that current technology is old-fashioned.
| I will return in three hours, as well before sunset the wind makes it impossible to get even a ground car into the port. |
| Technovelgy from Galactic Patrol,
by E.E. 'Doc' Smith. Published by Street and Smith in 1937 Additional resources -
|
Robert Heinlein used it in Methuselah's Children in 1941:
Isaac Asimov used it in Bridle and Saddle (Foundation) in 1942 in Astounding Science Fiction:
I like words like this; compare to static house or inert-wear or flat photo or tru-mem systems or post-crime punishment or tree-grown wood or manual closet or meat person or dirt-farming.
She dropped down the lift tube from Ventura's apartment, claimed her speedy ground car from the attending automaton in the basement and set the control combination for North Shore.
Lee was at the window and his voice broke in on Hardin's reverie. "They've come," he said, "in a last-model ground car, the young pups."
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Additional
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More Ideas
and Technology from Galactic Patrol
More Ideas
and Technology by E.E. 'Doc' Smith
Tech news articles related to Galactic Patrol
Tech news articles related to works by E.E. 'Doc' Smith
| The 'Last Mile' In China Crowded With Delivery Robots |
| 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 |
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'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?'
'... oblongs were all over the floor and surfaces.'
