Virtual Light by William Gibson:
Science Fiction Inventions, Technology and Ideas

Set in California (well, NoCal and SoCal) in 2005, there is a lot of social upheaval (homeless people seize the San Francisco bay bridge for living space, television worship). A bicycle messenger turned pickpocket steals a set of high-tech sunglasses that can see into a special dataset; DatAmerica corporate types pursue. Select an invention:

Canola Oil - a cob in your tank
Vegetable oil refined for use as fuel

Chunker - non-violent weapon
A device that fires small cubes of rubber; a non-lethal form of riot control.

Fractal Knife - more cutting surface
The blade uses a fractal geometry to increase its cutting surface.

Hood Hologram
A hologrammatic display on the outside surface of a car.

Separated At Birth Database
Missing persons database uses similarity to famous people.

Stealth House - toxic dwellings
A home that is entirely sealed, leading to toxic buildup.

 

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Science Fiction
in the News

Robotic Barber Programmed With a Number of Styles
re: Don Wilcox
(5/17/2025)

Humanoid Boxing Robot KO's Opponent - It's A Knockout!
re: Aldo Giunta
(5/15/2025)

Caterpillar Electric Mining Loader Not Yet Ready For Moon
re: Jack Williamson
(5/13/2025)

Centipede Robots Down On The Farm
re: Fritz Leiber
(5/11/2025)

Anthropic's Claude AI Creates Legal Citation From Whole Cloth
re: Punch
(5/11/2025)

Students Vie For Lunar Regolith Mining Robot Prize
re: Pournelle and Niven
(5/9/2025)

'They Erased My Memory' Says Ariana Grande
re: Edmond Hamilton
(5/7/2025)

Solitary Black Hole Wanders In Space
re: Frank K. Kelly
(5/5/2025)

Spaceplane From Virgin Atlantic
re: Max Plaisted
(5/3/2025)

DARPA Wants 'Large Bio-Mechanical Space Structures'
re: Greg Bear
(5/1/2025)

Robot Hand Creeps Along, Separate From It's Owner
re: Philip K. Dick
(4/30/2025)

Taikonauts Exercise In China's Tiangong Space Station
re: Murray Leinster
(4/28/2025)

Korean Exoskeleton Suit F1 Helps You Put It On
re: Marvel
(4/26/2025)

Have AI Researchers Given Up On 'Bio-Babies'?
re: David Brin
(4/24/2025)

More SF in the News

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