Science Fiction
Dictionary
A B C D E F G H I J K L M N O P Q R S T U V W X Y Z
 |
Augmented Reality Cemetery Tour - The Dead Speak
An Augmented Reality tour of Atlanta's Oakland cemetery will let the dead speak to visitors. In a recent trial run, users carried laptops in backpacks and used game controllers to navigate the cemetery.
(From Augmented Reality)
At specific grave sites, visitors listened to the voices of the first person buried in Oakland, a child who lived during the Civil War and a local historian who died in 2000. The historian's voice was the real thing; the others (obviously) were dubbed.
(From Augmented Reality)
The audio along with information from other sources was delivered via a wireless network in the cemetery.
This story reminded me strongly of Babel-17, the award-winning 1967 novel by Samuel R. Delany. Captain Rydra Wong needs to put together a crew; for that, she and a Transport Customs Officer need to go to the Discorporate Sector to pick out a crew by speaking with the dead:
The had moved between the pylons when a flickering coalesced. Silver latticed with red fires glimmered through the industrial smog. Three figures formed; women, sequined skeletons glittered towards them, casting hollow eyes.Kittens clawed the Customs Officer's back, for strut works pylons gleamed behind the apparitional bellies.
"The faces," he whispered. "As soon as you look away, you can't remember what they look like. When you look at them, they look like people, but when you look away - " He caught his breath as another one passed. "You can't remember!" He stared after them. "Dead?" He shook his head. "You know I've been approving the psyche-indexes on Transport workers corporate and discorporate for ten years. And I've never been close enough to speak to a discorporate soul..."
"There's some jobs," Calli's voice was as heavy with alcohol as his shoulders with muscle - "Some jobs on a Transport ship you just can't give to a live human being..."
...Like the Eye, Ear and Nose. A live human scanning all that goes on in those hyperstasis frequencies would - well, die first and go crazy second."
The Eye, Ear and Nose refers to the way in which formerly corporate people perceive the unknowable hyperstasis frequencies, mapping them onto familiar sights, sounds and smells.
Update 01/02/2024: Take a look at the lifebox from Rudy Rucker's 1986 story Soft Death. End update.
I'm not sure what the biggest story is here - "the dead speak", or "they are starting to put WiFi in cemeteries". You be the judge. Read more at Augmented Reality: Another Virtual Brick in the Wall. Also, in Babel-17 Delany has an amazingly accurate prediction of the piercing mania of the last ten years - and pushes the envelope - see decorative implants.
Scroll down for more stories in the same category. (Story submitted 2/18/2005)
Follow this kind of news @Technovelgy.| Email | RSS | Blog It | Stumble | del.icio.us | Digg | Reddit |
Would
you like to contribute a story tip?
It's easy:
Get the URL of the story, and the related sf author, and add
it here.
Comment/Join discussion ( 1 )
Related News Stories - (" Culture ")
Harrison Bergeron, Illustrated And Practiced
'But he didn't get very far with it before another noise in his ear radio scattered his thoughts. George winced...' - Kurt Vonnegut, Jr., 1961.
Buy A Galaxy? Maybe Start Smaller
'The sky is the limit' just got higher.
Is There A Global Problem With Who Is Having Children?
'After twenty generations of shillyshallying...' - CM Kornbluth, 1950.
Warfare Goes Underground In Ukraine
'Once in the very first weeks of the war, before everyone had been evacuated from the surface...' - Philip K. Dick,
Technovelgy (that's tech-novel-gee!) is devoted to the creative science inventions and ideas of sf authors. Look for the Invention Category that interests you, the Glossary, the Invention Timeline, or see what's New.
Science Fiction
Timeline
1600-1899
1900-1939
1940's 1950's
1960's 1970's
1980's 1990's
2000's 2010's
Current News
Prairie Madness - And Space Sickness
'Space-sickness is one of the most unpleasant sensations that a human being can experience. Not all are subject to it...'
Can Stratospheric Aerosol Injection Control The Weather?
'...I saw a nice black heavy-looking cloud sailing by just now, and I can get the electrical machine out in five minutes to draw it down.'
SETI Suggests Prospecting The Solar System Without Landing
'From a distance it could resolve the cosmic rays reflected from various substances.'
Wolfram Alpha Mathematica Predicted by Science Fiction in 1948!
'The answer to the dumb student's prayer.'
Cislunar Space And The Space Lanes of Golden Age Science Fiction
'He had travelled the space-lanes of the solar system for the greater part of his life...'
NASA Moonbase Update
'The dinner was excellent. It was completely vegetarian — grown in specially prepared gardens in this Moon base...'
Neuralink Will Allow Humans To Communicate With ... Animals?
'Telepaths had their sensitiveness enlarged to an immense range by the pin-sets, which were telepathic amplifiers adapted to the mammal mind.'
Special Lights For Driverless Cars!
'That light is actually the Anamorphic Equalizer...'
'Old People Began to Cross The Continent In Their Own Cars'
'It was a relief to enter one of the comfortable autos, whisper a direction down the tube, and just know that you would be taken to your destination in the quickest, safest, and cheapest manner.'
Harrison Bergeron, Illustrated And Practiced
'But he didn't get very far with it before another noise in his ear radio scattered his thoughts. George winced...'
Starfall Manufacturing Drugs In Space
'The vast spinning sphere of Factory in the Sky loomed above and ahead of us, gleaming white against the unfathomable jet depths of surrounding space.'
The Solar Oberth Slingshot
'And if it doesn’t work,' inquired Lazarus, 'what does that make us? Sunspots?'
'Maybe The Woman Of Your Life Is Still Under Production'
'The Dillard people had performed a miracle and put all the works in a girl-modeled case.'
'If Anyone Is Watching Earth...'
'Our study of your race has convinced us that you are not fitted to leave your planet in the present state of your civilization.'
Epirus High-Power Microwave Defeats Drones
'...the spreading beam of the deranging ray struck them, and Then one toppled and fell. Then another.'
Cloud Of Space Rubbish From China's Long March Rocket
'Within seconds the material was spread out over fifty yards, in a matter of hours it might occupy several cubic miles of space...'
