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"Science fiction writers, I am sorry to say, really do not know anything. We can't talk about science, because our knowledge of it is limited and unofficial, and usually our fiction is dreadful."
- Philip K. Dick
 |
| Robobug | ||
| A cyborg insect. |
| Doyle swiveled in his chair, reached up to a shelf, and took down a clear plastic box that held a dragonfly clinging to a twig... The dragonfly had been turned into something called a HIMEMS... Ramirez and the others simply called them "robobugs."
...he opened the box, took out the twig and carefully placed the HIMEMS in the middle of a table. The hybrid dragonfly was a blue-eyed darner with a long body... and a tiny video lens. Slowly the insect moved its two pairs of wings... Doyle tapped his finger on the table, and the startled insect flew away. Doyle... activated the HIMEMS program on the computer. The first image on the monitor showed something dark, with a rough texture, and Doyle guessed that the dragonfly was resting on a tree branch. He attached a joystick to the computer and gently pushed the lever forward. The dragonfly responded like a toy airplane, taking off and heading east... He had learned to control the hybrids. You couldn't direct precise movements, but you could send the dragonfly in a general direction and then make it stop and hover... |
| Technovelgy from The Golden City,
by John Twelve Hawks. Published by Doubleday in 2009 Additional resources -
|
Compare to the the Roachster from Sparrowhawk. Philip K. Dick also deserves a mention for the commercial flies from his 1966 novel The Simulacra, and don't forget Jeff Noon's blurbflies from his 2000 novel Nymphomation.
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Science Fiction
Timeline
1600-1899
1900-1939
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'What would you do,' Eric asked the robot cabdriver, 'if your wife had turned to stone, your best friend were a toad, and you had lost your job?'
'those suits they wear -- call them 'stillsuits' -- that reclaim the body's own water...'
'Now, except for weight and heat, the same conditions prevail in this chamber as in space.'
'there were so many worms and counterworms loose in the data-net...'
'Now, look, let's start with the three fundamental Rules of Robotics...'
'..the synthetic intellects at the Place of Knowledge had far outstripped the minds of men.'
'But after washing and drying clothes had to be smooth - free from fine lines and wrinkles ...'
