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"We are all repositories for genetically-encoded information that we're all spreading back and forth amongst each other, all the time. We're just lousy with information."
- Neal Stephenson
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| Aerocycle (Ærocycle) | ||
| An aerial bicycle, human powered. |
See the entry for aerodromes for more details on flying machines.
| Ærial navigation in 1999 was not merely confined to large express, passenger and Everybody in the Air.freight ships, but also came into general use by the public. The Ærocycle of the twentieth century was an ærial bicycle that skimmed through the air with admirable ease, being operated like the old-fashioned bicycles suffering mortals in 1899 used to jump over hills and rough roads, straining muscle and nerve to the utmost tension, and frightening horses with their “bicycle face.”
 (Aerocycle from 'Looking Forward' by Arthur Bird) Two or three of the bicycles of 1899 were kept as curiosities in a glass case in 1999 in the war department at Washington, Mexico. They were regarded as instruments of voluntary torture, relics of a species of refined barbarism. The invention of the Ærocycle sealed the doom of bicycles |
| Technovelgy from Looking Forward: A Dream of the United States of the Americas in 1999,
by Arthur Bird. Published by L.C. Childs & Son in 1899 Additional resources -
|
Human-powered flight is much more tiring in reality; here's a quick video showing the Gossamer Albatross crossing the channel.
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Additional
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More Ideas
and Technology from Looking Forward: A Dream of the United States of the Americas in 1999
More Ideas
and Technology by Arthur Bird
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Tech news articles related to works by Arthur Bird
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Science Fiction
Timeline
1600-1899
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'...Anything was possible in my imaginary environment.'
'Somewhere in space, a chrome and blue automobile raced the green light of Earth.'
'That explains how it was so easy for me to remain motionless in midair...'
'We had discovered that metal was relatively impervious to the telepathic effect.'
'Detailed plans for the construction of the Gundstetter-Halone warp drive were flowing.'
'Do not waste your priceless company on the unappreciative folds of a sleep pod...'
'...so we've promised him a generous pension from the royalties.'
'Hocus-pocus religions and archaic weapons are no substitute for a good blaster at your side.'
