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"I received a nice letter the other day from the Dalai Lama. He had read 'The Nine Billion Names of God'. It is about a computer at a Tibetan monastery."
- Arthur C. Clarke
 |
| Transparent Car Roof | ||
| You can see through the roof of the car. |
Early prediction of this idea.
| He gave up the speculation, noted the road behind was temporarily clear, then raised his eyes as something darkened the gyrocar’s transparent roof. It was a police autogyro, hanging from spinning vanes, its landing wheels a yard above the hurtling car. |
| Technovelgy from Sinister Barrier,
by Eric Frank Russell. Published by Unknown in 1939 Additional resources -
|
How many cars had an entirely glass roof before the Tesla Model S?
As far as I know, the earliest "moonroof" (a small glass window set into the roof) was 1934.
Compare to glassite from Brigands of the Moon (1930) by Ray Cummings, artificial transparent element from Last and First Men (1930) by Olaf Stapledon, neo-crystal from Master of the Asteroid (1932) by Clark Ashton Smith, plani glass from Crystalized Thought (1937) by Nat Schachner, thermalite from Planet of Eternal Night (1939) by John W. Campbell and slow glass from Light of Other Days (1968) by Bob Shaw.
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| Leader-Follower Autonomous Vehicle Technology |
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'He had travelled the space-lanes of the solar system for the greater part of his life...'
'The dinner was excellent. It was completely vegetarian — grown in specially prepared gardens in this Moon base...'
'Telepaths had their sensitiveness enlarged to an immense range by the pin-sets, which were telepathic amplifiers adapted to the mammal mind.'
'It was a relief to enter one of the comfortable autos, whisper a direction down the tube, and just know that you would be taken to your destination in the quickest, safest, and cheapest manner.'
'But he didn't get very far with it before another noise in his ear radio scattered his thoughts. George winced...'
'The vast spinning sphere of Factory in the Sky loomed above and ahead of us, gleaming white against the unfathomable jet depths of surrounding space.'
'And if it doesn’t work,' inquired Lazarus, 'what does that make us? Sunspots?'
'The Dillard people had performed a miracle and put all the works in a girl-modeled case.'
'Our study of your race has convinced us that you are not fitted to leave your planet in the present state of your civilization.'
