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"On-line gaming environments are completely different things... Essentially it's massive global role-playing."
- Peter Watts
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| Mattress Sleep Sensor | ||
| Sleep problems? Make sure you get your body out of bed each day. |
Do you keep hitting the snooze alarm? Here's a fool-proof way to make sure you get out of the sack. Even if you have found the perfect bed.
| Ten minutes earlier he had been snoring in his apartment at the Cowles Modular Community, with the alarm buzzing in his ears. The third time it went off, it would refuse to shut up until his 190 pounds were lifted from the sensor in the mattress. |
| From Dream Park,
by Larry Niven (w/S. Barnes). Published by Ace Books in 1981 Additional resources -
|
Like many of Niven's fictional ideas, this one seems doable. A mechanical linkage like this has a variety of benefits. You can't throw it across the room, or cause it to snooze; you can only obey it.
It also has other applications in hospitals; I recently heard a news item about a hospital bed that could sense if a patient had gotten out of bed (an alarm would sound for the nurse). It could also be used to get data on sleep disorders (frequent rising in the night).
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More Ideas
and Technology from Dream Park
More Ideas
and Technology by Larry Niven (w/S. Barnes)
Tech news articles related to Dream Park
Tech news articles related to works by Larry Niven (w/S. Barnes)
Mattress Sleep Sensor-related
news articles:
- Mattress Alarm Perfect For Sleepy Students
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| Nissan ProPILOT Slippers Are Self-Parking, Autonomous |
| Seiko Astron Always Knows Your Time Zone |
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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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'Merton... placed the electrodes of the sleep-inducer on his forehead.'
'... we can descend and live down there at one of those year-round aquatic resorts.'
'...she would have to be coaxed by another series of pats into a circular orbit.'
'The sleek, tapered space shuttle lay immobile upon the private landing field...'
Yes, people of the future, robots will dress you.
