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"[Science fiction] is the only kind of writing that allows you to look at the world we live in and change one piece at a time."
- Frederik Pohl
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| E-Document Distribution | ||
| A method of wirelessly distributing a document to a large group of people in an ad hoc setting. |
How many times have you been to a conference and heard "I'm sorry, I only made 250 copies of this paper - some of you are going to have to share."
At a conference in the novel, one of the speakers finds an online document. He distributes it to the others live.
| "Aha," Nielsen said. "I just found an interesting paper on continental weathering that supports what Stan says. Here, I'll pipe it to you."
People drew plaques and readers from their pockets and unfolded them to receive the document, drawn from some corner of the net by Nielsen's quick-and-dirty ferret program. Distracted from his recent desire to leave, Stan too began reaching for his wallet. |
| Technovelgy from Earth,
by David Brin. Published by Bantam in 1990 Additional resources -
|
I'm constantly being promised that I will be able to walk up to a kiosk and hold out my device, and good stuff will be automagically beamed into it. This is a good early description of the electronic alternative to "Xerox the material, and give a copy to everyone."
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Science Fiction
Timeline
1600-1899
1900-1939
1940's 1950's
1960's 1970's
1980's 1990's
2000's 2010's
'Power could be compressed thus into an inch-square cube of what looked like blue-white ice'
'It's so light that you can set it up in five minutes by yourself...'
'Heavy penalties... were to be applied to any one found driving manually-controlled machines.'
'Buy a Little Dingbat... electropen, wrist watch, pocketphone, pocket radio, billfold ... all in one.'
'... an elastic, tinted material that had all the feel and appearance of human flesh and epidermis.'
'It is remarkable that the long leverages of their machines are in most cases actuated by a sort of sham musculature...'
