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"Science fiction operates a little bit like science itself, in principle. You've got thousands of people exploring ideas, putting forth their own hypotheses. Most of them are dead wrong; a few stand the test of time; everything looks kind of quaint in hind"
- Peter Watts
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| Spherical Tires | ||
| Tires that are shaped like balls, rather than like squat cylinders. |
This is an early mention of this idea, but there was so much innovation already by 1930 in the automotive field.
| The young astronaut approached his tiny space flyer. It was shaped like an egg, except that it was more elongated, and the two ends tapered down to blunt points instead of being rounded. It was mounted upon four revolving metal spheres set into its keel instead of wheels as landing gear. |
| Technovelgy from The Death's Head Meteor,
by Neil R. Jones. Published by Air Wonder Stories in 1930 Additional resources -
|
Compare to the smartwheels from Neal Stephenson's 1992 novel Snow Crash and the flex-wheels from Arthur C. Clarke's 1968 novel 2001: A Space Odyssey.
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Additional
resources:
More Ideas
and Technology from The Death's Head Meteor
More Ideas
and Technology by Neil R. Jones
Tech news articles related to The Death's Head Meteor
Tech news articles related to works by Neil R. Jones
Spherical Tires-related
news articles:
- Eagle-360 Spherical Wheel Concept
| 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.'
