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"Building one space station for everyone was and is insane: we should have built a dozen."
- Larry Niven
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| Inert Resin | ||
| A special coating that eliminates maintenance on marine structures. |
This novel has a number of very well-realized technologies for taking care of problems related to daily wear-and-tear.
| [Maintenance] is not a problem, with the modern polymers," Andrei said smoothly. "Inert resins… we paint them on … reduce corrosion almost to nothing…" Laura could see the thick painted sheen of polymer on the great load-bearing pipes and struts. There were no barnacles at the water line. No seaweed, no slime. Nothing grew on this structure. It was slick as ice. |
| From Islands in the Net,
by Bruce Sterling. Published by William Morrow in 1988 Additional resources -
|
What strikes me as interesting is the swing from a squeaky, ultra-clean future to a grimy, grainy future where everything is worn down. This kind of technovelgy will let us move back from worn and grimy back to perfect.
See also smart material, from All Tomorrow's Parties by William Gibson.
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More Ideas
and Technology from Islands in the Net
More Ideas
and Technology by Bruce Sterling
Tech news articles related to Islands in the Net
Tech news articles related to works by Bruce Sterling
Inert Resin-related
news articles:
- Escapin: Anti-Bacterial Sea Slug Protein Prevents Biofilm Build-Up
| Superfast Replicator: Volumetric Additive Manufacturing |
| A 'Genuine Nanorobotic Production Factory' |
| Made In Space To Manufacture Optical Fiber In Orbit |
| Self-Assembling Bacteria Build A Pressure Sensor |
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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.
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'A metal... light as cork and stronger than steel...'
'Ken lay full-length in the padded body compartment, his feet resting on the controlling bars of the directional planes, hands on the torpoon's engine levers.'
'... little machines, that went from plant to plant... cutting off the ripe fruit.'
'Recharge the batteries... in almost every town and village...'
'...a tiny, rocket-powered projectile, drove towards the mysterious bulk. It hit, exploding into a cloud of incandescent vapour.'
'The flycycles were miracles of compact design.'
These drones can provide situational awareness beyond visual line-of-sight capability.
'It resembled conventional human-operated transportation vehicles, but with one exception -- there was no driver's cabin.'
'Each one consists of a hub with many tiny spokes... On the end is a squat foot, rubber tread on the bottom...'
'A paper thin polycarbon screen unfurled silently from the top of the unit and immediately grew rigid.'
