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"This is a predictive tool I've used: There are goals we've sought for ten thousand years, and we'll go on seeking them. Instant transport and travel, immortality (or at least longevity and miracle cures.), instant learning …"
- Larry Niven
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| Stationary Sidewalk | ||
| A sidewalk that is fixed permanently in one location; not a sliding walkway. |
I can't resist terms like this, used to enhance the contrast between the dull present and the exciting future.
| It was the recreation hour, and the common street was crowded with Workers. On the stationary sidewalks, close against the building lines, couples strolled, in the tight-fitting clothing of their caste, each colored to indicate the wearer's occupation. The slow-moving ways that bordered the walks, were filled with younger men, their eyes gleaming with anticipation of the evening's pleasure. Parker made his way across these to the central express conveyor... |
| Technovelgy from Exiles of the Moon,
by Nat Schachner (w. AL Zagat). Published by Wonder Stories in 1931 Additional resources -
|
Compare to terms like groundcar from Galactic Patrol (1937) by Doc Smith, static house from The Thousand Dreams of Stellavista (1962) by J.G. Ballard, post-crime from The Minority Report (1956) by Philip K. Dick , dumb matter from Accelerando (2005), by Charles Stross and inert-wear from Say Goodby to the Wind (1970), by J.G. Ballard. I'd also add normal space from Islands of Space (1931) by John W. Campbell and flat photo from Hyperion (1989) by Dan Simmons.
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'Clothes are no longer made from dead fibers of fixed color and texture that can approximate only crudely to the vagrant human figure...'
'Books were just a commodity that had to be produced, like jam or bootlaces.'
'...it rears and spreads its fan. It can pick one man out of a crowd.'
'...a new plastic with the characteristics of an avian eggshell.'
'It was a pushpot, which could not possibly be called a jet plane because it could not possibly fly. Only it did.'
'She wouldn't stop until Antar had told her everything he knew about whatever it was that she was playing with on her screen.'
'Does thinking you're the last sane man on the face of the Earth make you crazy?'
