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"I don't know why I write science fiction. The voices in my head told me to!"
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This is one of the cooler features of the Hogwarts castle from Harry Potter and the Sorceror's Stone; however, it appeared in this novel by Stanislaw Lem more than a generation earlier.
These ceilings are intended to solve a problem in a very organized future society; how do you have multi-level cities, while still making sure that everyone has the feeling of being outdoors?
I'm wondering if there are any earlier examples of this, either in sf or in the design world. The idea of a flat display the size of a wall is present in the parlor walls from Ray Bradbury's Fahrenheit 451, which was published in 1953. I also remember flat panel displays used as 'windows' (with a picture presented from outdoors) within an enormous city-in-a-building (an arcology) from Oath of Fealty, a 1981 novel by Niven and Pournelle.
Compare to Robert Heinlein's simulacrum window from Tunnel in the Sky (1955), the sky ceiling from the 1961 novel Return From The Stars by Stanislaw Lem, the ersatz window from the 1969 novel Galactic Pot-Healer by Philip K. Dick and the window wavelength from the 1969 novel Super-Toys Last All Summer Long by Brian Aldiss. Comment/Join this discussion ( 5 ) | RSS/XML | Blog This | Additional
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Science Fiction
Timeline
Brin's 1990 Novel Earth Still Full Of Predictions
'... making the point that their likenesses, every move they made, were being transmitted.'
Gaia - Why Stop With Just The Earth?
'But the stars are only atoms in larger space, and in that larger space the star-atoms could combine to form living matter, thinking matter, couldn't they?'
Microsoft VASA-1 Creates Personal Video From A Photo
'...to build up a video picture would require, say, ten million decisions every second. Mike, you're so fast I can't even think about it. But you aren't that fast.'
Splendid View Of Eclipse From Orbit Visualized And Repurposed By Arthur C. Clarke
'The area affected was five hundred kilometres across, and perfectly circular.'
Goldene - A Two-Dimensional Sheet Of Gold One Atom Thick
'Hasan always pitched a Gauzy - a one-molecule-layer tent, opaque, feather-light, and very tough.'
SpaceX Wants A Moonbase Alpha
'And he had been sent with troops, supplies and bombs to command Russia's most trusted post, the Moonbase.'
Vast Apartment Living Will Get Even More Vast
'What is your population', I asked. 'About eighty millions.'
NASA Wants Self-Driving Or Remote-Controlled Vehicles For Lunar Astronauts
'THE autobus turned silently down the wide street of Hydropole. Robot-guided, insulated from noise and cold...'
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