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"I think engineering will supply our demand for a "spiritual" life after meat death."
- Bart Kosko
 |
| Kink-Spring | ||
| A device that stores energy with near-perfect efficiency. |
In the future envisioned in the novel, fossil fuels have been exhausted. And how do you replace an energy source as small and portable as gasoline?
Just for purposes of comparison, consider that a gallon of gas (and you know how big a gallon of milk is) is the energy equivalent of 500 hours of human labor. For about $3.50 - that's how cheap energy is in the US. For now.
| Lalji unmoored and took his place at the tiller. He unlocked the kink-springs and the boat whirred into the deeper current, stored joules dripping from its precision springs in a steady flow as molecules unlocked, one after another, reliable from the first kink to the last. |
| Technovelgy from The Calorie Man,
by Paolo Bacigalupi. Published by F&SF in 2005 Additional resources -
|
Kink-springs are charged with animal work:
Compare to the shipstone from Robert Heinlein's 1982 novel Friday.
Thanks to an anonymous reader for pointing this item out.
The kinetic man unjacked Lalji’s kink-springs from the winding treadmills and stacked them beside the slavering mulies. Lalji lifted a spring, grunting at its heft. Its mass was no different than when he had brought it to the winding shop, but now it fairly seemed to quiver with the mulies’ stored labor.
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Additional
resources:
More Ideas
and Technology from The Calorie Man
More Ideas
and Technology by Paolo Bacigalupi
Tech news articles related to The Calorie Man
Tech news articles related to works by Paolo Bacigalupi
Kink-Spring-related
news articles:
- Velkess Energy Storage System (It's A Flexible Flywheel!)
| Jetson ONE Air Races Begin, Can Air Polo Be Far Behind? |
| X-Control Janus-1 A Suitcase Aircraft |
| Time Crystals Can Now Be Seen Directly |
| China Steals Strato Airship Design From Google App Engine |
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'If you're one of those rarities who haven't attended a rocket-polo "carnage", let me tell you it's a colorful affair.'
'They filed clumsily into the battleroom, like children in a swimming pool for the first time, clinging to the handholds along the side.'
'a walking balloon proceeded with long strides of its aluminum legs...'
'There was nowhere on the planet where science and technology could not provide one with a comfortable home...'
'Most men updated their PIP on New Year's Day...'
'...a misshapen, many-tentacled thing about twice the size of a man.'
