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"I believe in limited government, and the 20th century has been the century of government. The data is uniform. The government has failed at every single task it has set out to do, with the exception of waging war."
- Bart Kosko
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| Suction Mail Tube | ||
| An evacuated tube system carrying mail to residences. |
| She had opened the suction mail tube and there was the metal foil advertisement: ROME AND THE BORGIAS! THE WRIGHT BROTHERS AT KITTY HAWK! Travel in Time, Inc., can costume you, put you in a crowd during the assassination of Lincoln or Caesar! We guarantee to teach you any language you need to move freely in any civilization, in any year, without friction. Latin, Greek, ancient American colloquial. Take your vacation in Time as well as Place! |
| Technovelgy from The Illustrated Man,
by Ray Bradbury. Published by Doubleday in 1951 Additional resources -
|
The original pneumatic capsules were created in the 1830's and used primarily for quickly sending telegrams from telegraph offices to nearby business buildings.
However, Bradbury is proposing (apparently) to have similar networks connecting all of our houses, which would be a fun idea. However, given my experience with tube networks in hospitals (where they are used to transport small specimens and paperwork), they need constant fiddling and repair work, and an entire city full of tube networks might be more of a hassle than a benefit.
Compare to the vacutubes and the bounce tubes from Robert Heinlein's Double Star (1956); Heinlein was another fan of the pneumatic tube system idea.
This comes from his short story The Fox and the Forest, which is a part of The Illustrated Man story collection.
Thanks to Connor Lawrence for submitting this item.
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'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...'
'The vast spinning sphere of Factory in the Sky loomed above and ahead of us, gleaming white against the unfathomable jet depths of surrounding space.'
'And if it doesn’t work,' inquired Lazarus, 'what does that make us? Sunspots?'
'The Dillard people had performed a miracle and put all the works in a girl-modeled case.'
'Our study of your race has convinced us that you are not fitted to leave your planet in the present state of your civilization.'
