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"The immediate problem with our meat brains is that they have no back-up. We can lose the most precious information we have from one bump on the head or stroke. You want a mind system with back-up that can access other databases."
- Bart Kosko
 |
| Crash Balloons | ||
| Inflatable bags that would both cushion and hold a flycycle driver in the event of a crash. |
For his novel Ringworld, Larry Niven came up with the idea of a flycycle to cover great distances in reasonable style. They resembled flying motorcycles; what would happen if you lost control or were about to crash? Flycycles were open to the sky like a motorcycle.
| His 'cycle slammed hard up against him, as if he'd been booted in the butt by a giant foot. An instant later the power cut off entirely.
Crash balloons exploded before and behind him. They were shaped balloons, and they interlocked around him like a pair of clasped hands. Louis could not so much as move his hands or turn his head. |
| Technovelgy from Ringworld,
by Larry Niven. Published by Ballantine in 1970 Additional resources -
|
It happens that flycycle also were equipped with automatic deceleration in the event that a crash was imminent.
In rereading the novel, I wondered if perhaps Niven had stumbled onto the idea of a car air bag. However, I'm pretty sure that airbags were available in some form in the late 1960's. Also, inflatable bags were proposed for aircraft during WWII, so it is an idea with a long history. If you're interested, take a look at how airbags work.
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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.'
