Latest By
Category:
Armor
Artificial
Intelligence
Biology
Clothing
Communication
Computers
Culture
Data Storage
Displays
Engineering
Entertainment
Food
Input Devices
Lifestyle
Living Space
Manufacturing
Material
Media
Medical
Miscellaneous
Robotics
Security
Space Tech
Spacecraft
Surveillance
Transportation
Travel
Vehicle
Virtual
Person
Warfare
Weapon
Work
"it slowly dawned on me that the landscape of science is maybe what interests people a great deal in science fiction."
- Gregory Benford
 |
| Biltong Life Form | ||
| Remarkable organic manufacturing aliens, probably indigenous to the Centaurus system. |
From cars to radios to fine glassware, the Biltong life forms could create beautiful, working copies. The survivors of war relied on the Biltong life forms to make copies - "prints" - of necessary objects.
But there was a problem.
As fast as the prints wore out, they were replaced by the Pittsburgh Biltong. New prints were made from the original objects preserved from the War.
| The Biltong was dying. Huge and old, it squatted in the center of the settlement park, a lump of ancient yellow protoplasm, thick, gummy, opaque. Its pseudopodia were dried up, shriveled to blackened snakes that lay inert on the brown grass. The center of mass looked oddly sunken. The Biltong was gradually settling as the moisture was burned from its veins by the weak overhead sun...
The Biltong's central lump undulated faintly. Sickly, restless heavings were noticeable as it struggled to hold onto its dwindling life... On the concrete platform, in front of the dying Biltong, lay a heap of originals to be duplicated. Beside them, a few prints had been commenced, unformed balls of black ash mixed with the moisture of the Biltong's body, the juice from which it laboriously constructed its prints. |
| From Pay for the Printer,
by Philip K. Dick. Published by Satellite Science Fiction in 1956 Additional resources -
|
Objects that were poorly copied, or copied from copies, ended up being useless.
Charlotte took the puddinged watch back and restored it to her sweater pocket.
The works of the tiny Swiss watch were a fused, unformed mass of shiny steel. No separate wheels or jewels or springs, just a glitter of pudding...
Comment/Join this discussion (BACK ON!) ( 0 ) | RSS/XML | Blog This |
Additional
resources:
More Ideas
and Technology from Pay for the Printer
More Ideas
and Technology by Philip K. Dick
Tech news articles related to Pay for the Printer
Tech news articles related to works by Philip K. Dick
Biltong Life Form-related
news articles:
- Hexapod Robot CNC Router
- 3D Printing In Ceramics - The Vitraglyphic Process
- 3D Printer Used To Make Transplant Jawbone
- 3D Printing: The End Of Global Supply Chains?
- 3D Printing Is Here - Pay For The Printer!
| 3D Printing Is Here - Pay For The Printer! |
| 3D Printing: The End Of Global Supply Chains? |
| MGX 3D Printed Goods Almost Has it |
| 3D Nano Molecular Structures Can Be Built On A Surface |
Want to Contribute an
Item?
It's easy:
Get the name of the item, a
quote, the book's name and the author's name, and Add
it here.
| <Previous | Next> |
|
|
|
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.
|
'Then their lasers vaporized the smaller satellites...'
'The legs are long, curled way up to deliver power, like a cheetah's.'
'It rested among green parklands and... stood in total isolation, a glittering block of whites and flashing windows dotted with colors.'
'George Walt's corporate existence proved the workability of wholly mechanical organs...'
