The Space Merchants by Frederik Pohl (w/CM Kornbluth):
Science Fiction Inventions, Technology and Ideas

Exceptional novel; it's focus on marketing and advertising will make you scratch your head and realize that there was someone who thought about our world that is packed tight with advertising - in 1950! Select an invention:

Airplane Window Ads - ads on clouds
An airplane window that allows you to - see advertisements!

Automatic Pilot - a brief history
A device to control the movement of aircraft using computer components.

Chicken Little - vat-grown protein
Very early reference to meat grown in a vat for food.

Chlorella Plantation
A skyscraper designed for food production.

Coffiest - coffee plus
It's coffee that you can't live without.

Compulsive Subsonics - ads dodge your cortex
An advertising agency works with every part of the audience's brain.

Hilsch Vortex Tube - Maxwell's demon lives!
A T-shaped device that admits air under pressure and outputs hot air from side and cold from the other.

Hypnoteleset
A device that guarantees quick, surrogate sleep.

Plasticocoon
Holds a prisoner motionless.

Prism Window - better plane window
A device for getting a better view of the ground from inside an airplane.

Retinal Projection - put the ad right on the eyeball
A method for projecting advertisements directly on the retina.

Soot-Extractor Nostril Plugs (Antisoot Plugs) - breathe easier
A small device worn to filter industrial pollutants out of breathing air.

Tourist Rocket
A cheap, unpleasant way to do space travel.

Water Bulb
A zero-gee dispenser of liquids.

Water Bulb
A zero-g way to enjoy water.

 

Technovelgy.com is devoted to the creative inventions of science fiction authors and movie makers. Look for the Science Fiction Invention Category that interests you, the Glossary of Science Fiction Inventions, the Timeline of Science Fiction Inventions, or see what's New.
Find
new authors and technologies - Shop for yourself, your library and your lab.

 

 

 

 

Science Fiction
in the News

Bone-Building Drug Evenity Approved
re: Edmond Hamilton
(12/7/2025)

Secret Kill Switch Found In Yutong Buses
re: Keith Laumer
(12/5/2025)

Inmotion Electric Unicycle In Combat
re: Robert Heinlein
(12/3/2025)

Grok Scores Best In Psychological Tests
re: Isaac Asimov
(12/1/2025)

PaXini Supersensitive Robot Fingers
re: Ray Cummings
(11/29/2025)

Congress Considers Automatic Emergency Braking, One Hundred Years Too Late
re: Bernard Brown
(11/27/2025)

The Desert Ship Sailed In Imagination
re: Ray Bradbury
(11/25/2025)

The Zapata Air Scooter Would Be Great In A Science Fiction Story
re: Robert Heinlein
(11/23/2025)

Thermostabilized Wet Meat Product (NASA Prototype)
re: Various
(11/21/2025)

Could Crystal Batteries Generate Power For Centuries?
re: Edmond Hamilton
(11/19/2025)

India Ponders Always-On Smartphone Location Tracking
re: Jack Vance
(11/17/2025)

Amazon Will Send You Heinlein's Knockdown Cabin
re: Robert Heinlein
(11/15/2025)

Is It Time To Forbid Human Driving?
re: Bernard Brown
(11/13/2025)

Replace The Smartphone With A Connected Edge Node For AI Inference
re: Raymond F. Jones
(11/11/2025)

More SF in the News

Home | Glossary | Invention Timeline | Category | New | Contact Us | FAQ | Advertise |
Technovelgy.com - where science meets fiction™

Copyright© Technovelgy LLC; all rights reserved.