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"As the rate of technological development speeds up, the gap between science fiction and what we’re living now is getting narrower all the time."
- Richard Morgan
 |
| Plastiskin | ||
| Artificial human skin to cover prosthetics. |
As far as I know, the first use of this word.
| Horace looked over the assembly of quiet, subdued robots.
“Fortunately I have taught you all how to make others like you, so that you can perpetuate your race by making more and more robots. You can go on where the human race leaves off, building a civilization that will spread over the universe. 1 Just remember that planets where life exists are death to you. The radiations of living protoplasm, no matter how you try to insulate yourselves from them will destroy the gel in which your brain rests. And no other substance has the same properties as that gel.”
 (Plastiskin from 'Unforeseen' by Roger P. Graham) “But all you planned for us to do for the human race?” Rob protested as Horace skillfully glued the plastiskin back over the braincase of his first robot creation. |
| Technovelgy from Unforeseen,
by Roger P. Graham. Published by Fantastic Adventures in 1949 Additional resources -
|
Another use from We All Died At Breakaway Station by Richard Meredith, published by Amazing Stories in 1969:
Additional resources -
Compare to the surrogate skin from Robert Heinlein's 1951 novel The Puppet Masters and art-derm from Philip K. Dick's 1961 novel Dr. Futurity and the more functional read-out skin from John Varley's 1992 novel Steel Beach.
Also, compare to plastissue from WF Wallace's 1952 story Accidental Flight and plasta-skin from Star Rangers (1953) by Andre Norton. And uniflesh from The Dosadi Experiment (1977) by Frank Herbert.
The steward vanished as quickly
and silently as he had come, and
Bracer remained in the same position, fighting thought, until metallic
knuckles clad in synthetic plastiskin
rapped on the cabin’s hatch.
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'Thirty rounds of fighting is tough work. Even for machines.'
'...the excavations were already in progress, for he saw gray slopes of rubble.'
'...the walking mills of Puffy Products began to tread delicately on their centipede legs across the wheat fields of Kansas.'
'Here is a Clerk that would work incessantly, and neither eat, sleep, want payment, or grumble.'
'ZARNAK, YOU'RE TO COMMAND A SCOUTING EXPEDITION --- FIND OUT WHAT THIS IS ALL ABOUT!'
'These are your rudimentary seed packages... Some will combine in place to form more complicated structures.'
