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"...if you want to know what your future looks like, don't waste your time on Analog; read Time magazine. We are already saturated in the future. "
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How is it possible for people encased in individual spacesuits to converse with each other? The ingenious Mr. Edison provides the solution.
This delightfully retro solution is based on the recent (from the point of view of the writer) introduction of telephone central exchanges, in which operators could connect two distant telephones with switchboards.
The first telephone switchboard was put into use in New Haven, Connecticut in 1878. Built from carriage bolts, handles from teapot lids and bustle wire, it could handle two simultaneous conversations.
Plug boards manned by operators characterized later telephone exchanges. Subscriber lines terminated in bantam jacks lined up in banks; when a distant caller picked up their phone, a light near the jack came on, the operator inquired as to the number needed, and then plugged a connecting wire into the subscriber's line to complete the call.
Compare to the suit-phone from The Sargasso of Space (1931) by Edmond Hamilton, the audiphone from Blood of the Moon (1936) by Ray Cummings and the suit-radio from The Long Way (1944) by George O. Smith.
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Science Fiction
Timeline
Europa Clipper Plate Carries A Special Message
'...a universal cryptogram — yet it is one which can be interpreted by any intelligent creature on any planet in the Solar System!'
Micro-Robots Are Smallest, Fully Functional
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'I made them... with the fine work of the watchmaker...'
Can A Human Land A SpaceX Rocket On Its Tail?
'If she starts to roll sideways — blooey! The underjets only hold you up when they’re pointing down, you know.'
Robot Snakes No Longer Stopped By Stairs
'...she dropped her hands from the wheel, took the robot snake from his box.'
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