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"SF is a controlled way to think and dream about the future."
- Gregory Benford
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| Metal Paste | ||
| A conductive metal that could be easily squirted from a tube. |
In the novel, the Engineer class from the Mote were not just good engineers; they had evolved over thousands of generations to be superlative engineers.
When the human ship arrived in the Mote system, an Engineer was the first Motie to see the ship. Once contacted, the Engineer set about to ready the ship for a journey home.
| "Now the alien's making something. I don't understand what's keeping it... It's got the cover off the control panel. It's rewiring things. A moment ago it was squeezing silver toothpaste in a ribbon along the printed circuitry. I'm only telling you what it looks like, of course..."
[The alien Engineer comes aboard the human ship.] "Captain!" A streamer of blue light glowed at the stern of the alien craft... "Yon ship's underway, Captain," Sinclair reported... "That thing's on autopilot, would you both agree? But we didn't see him program it." "We saw him practically rebuild the controls, Captan," Cargill said. "My Lord! Do you think that's how they control..." "Seems verra inefficient, but the beastie did nae else that could hae been the programming of an autopilot," Sinclair mused. "And twas bloody quick about it, sir. Captain, do ye think it built an autopilot?" |
| Technovelgy from The Mote in God's Eye,
by Larry Niven (w/J. Pournelle). Published by Simon & Schuster in 1974 Additional resources -
|
All of the metal in the Mote system had been mined and used. Now, metal was incredibly precious and every bit of it was reused and then reused. Engineer labor was cheap by comparison; it made it practical to launch a ship one way, completely rebuild and reconfigure it for the journey and then rebuild and reconfigure it for landing.
Compare to the liquid metal from The Dual World, by Arthur K. Barnes, published by Thrilling Wonder Stories in 1938
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Additional
resources:
More Ideas
and Technology from The Mote in God's Eye
More Ideas
and Technology by Larry Niven (w/J. Pournelle)
Tech news articles related to The Mote in God's Eye
Tech news articles related to works by Larry Niven (w/J. Pournelle)
Metal Paste-related
news articles:
- Metal-like Polymer Developed In South Korea
- Silver-Based Epoxy Makes Electronics Thinner
- SIlver Pen Writes Flexible Circuits
- Make Space Tools On The Spot (Like Moties)
- Draw Circuits With Conductive Ink
| 'Mooncrete' Lunar Regolith Concrete (LRC) |
| Harvard Metamaterials Change Structure Instantly |
| Nano-Chainmail 2D Mechanically Interlocked Polymer |
| Goldene - A Two-Dimensional Sheet Of Gold One Atom Thick |
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'Space-sickness is one of the most unpleasant sensations that a human being can experience. Not all are subject to it...'
'...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.'
'From a distance it could resolve the cosmic rays reflected from various substances.'
'The answer to the dumb student's prayer.'
'He had travelled the space-lanes of the solar system for the greater part of his life...'
'The dinner was excellent. It was completely vegetarian — grown in specially prepared gardens in this Moon base...'
'Telepaths had their sensitiveness enlarged to an immense range by the pin-sets, which were telepathic amplifiers adapted to the mammal mind.'
'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.'
'But he didn't get very far with it before another noise in his ear radio scattered his thoughts. George winced...'
