Science Fiction Dictionary
A  B  C  D  E  F  G  H  I  J  K  L  M  N  O  P  Q  R  S  T  U  V  W  X  Y  Z

Latest By
Category:


Armor
Artificial Intelligence
Biology
Clothing
Communication
Computers
Culture
Data Storage
Displays
Engineering
Entertainment
Food
Input Devices
Lifestyle
Living Space
Manufacturing
Material
Media
Medical
Miscellaneous
Robotics
Security
Space Tech
Spacecraft
Surveillance
Transportation
Travel
Vehicle
Virtual Person
Warfare
Weapon
Work

"The wealth of the universe is all over your head. We need to take command of the solar system to gain that wealth..."
- Larry Niven

Vibratium Wall Time Machine  
  An element that is unstable in time makes time travel possible and enables the Grandfather Paradox.  

One of the first references in science fiction to the "Grandfather Paradox", the idea that if a person went back in time and killed their own grandfather, they they would cease to exist. And so how would that person, who never existed, go back in time?

Resting on a movable platform was a large square box, tall enough and wide enough to accommodate several men, as well as a cluster of shiny machinery, tubes, numerous gadgets and controls. What was peculiar about the box was the material of which it was made. A transparent, metalliclike substance, harder and less clear than glass, and shimmering in a sort of ecstatic dance as though its component atoms were afflicted with a stuttering St. Vitus.


(Vibration Wall Time Machine from 'Ancestral Voices' by Nat Schachner)

“Curious element, vibratium. Without its strange property of reversing itself or speeding up in time, the machine could never have been made.”

The time machine cleared magically a moment, then clouded into milky opaqueness. The sharp outlines blurred and faded until there was only a gray mist ; then nothingness. The machine had started on its tremendous journey back into time!

The vibratium walls shimmered into translucency; the atoms were approaching normal speeds. A tiny jar, and vision was established. The machine had come to a halt.

Technovelgy from Ancestral Voices, by Nat Schachner.
Published by Astounding Science Fiction in 1933
Additional resources -

The scientist's assistant tries to warn him:

Fifty thousand men, women and children vanished that fatal day; fifty thousand human beings of every race and clime ; in savage Africa, in far-off Australia, in teeming China, in blue-eyed northern Europe, in dark-haired southern Europe, in the vast stretches of America, the melting pot of all races.

“But it’s dangerous business, meddling with the past. What’s done is done. ‘The moving finger writes, and, having writ, moves on.’’ You know the rest.

"We try to introduce an anachronistic element into the past, and the consequences may be incalculable."


(Vibration Wall Time Machine Cover from 'Ancestral Voices' by Nat Schachner)

The scientist kills his own remote ancestor and dies on the return trip in the machine.

“This,” he repeated. “Look at it; it’s a Hun of Attila’s time. Read Gibbon’s description. Note something further. It’s a caricature, I grant you, but a painfully accurate caricature of Emmet Pennypacker the eminent scientist. This Hun was Pennypacker’s direct progenitor. Pennypacker killed his own father, so to speak, and therefore never existed. Pennypacker, gentlemen, was a myth!”

Comment/Join this discussion ( 0 ) | RSS/XML | Blog This |

Additional resources:
  More Ideas and Technology from Ancestral Voices
  More Ideas and Technology by Nat Schachner
  Tech news articles related to Ancestral Voices
  Tech news articles related to works by Nat Schachner

Articles related to Engineering
AI Enhances Images Your Brain Sees
Deflector Plasma Screen For Drones ala Star Wars
Philips Smart Palm Recognition Smart Deadbolt
MAGGIE Mars Aerial and Ground Global Intelligent Explorer

Want to Contribute an Item? It's easy:
Get the name of the item, a quote, the book's name and the author's name, and Add it here.

<Previous
Next>

Google
  Web TechNovelgy.com   

 

 

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 Science Fiction Invention Timeline, or see what's New.

 

 

 

 

Science Fiction Timeline
1600-1899
1900-1939
1940's   1950's
1960's   1970's
1980's   1990's
2000's   2010's

Science Fiction in the News

Europa Clipper Plate Carries A Special Message
'...a universal cryptogram — yet it is one which can be interpreted by any intelligent creature on any planet in the Solar System!'

Micro-Robots Are Smallest, Fully Functional
'With a whir, the Scarab shot from the concealing shadows of the corner where it had hidden itself.'

AI Enhances Images Your Brain Sees
'I could have sworn the psychomat showed pictures almost as sharp and detailed as reality itself'

Illustrating Classic Heinlein With AI
'Stasis, cold sleep, hibernation, hypothermia, reduced metabolism, call it what you will - the logistics-medicine research teams had found a way to stack people like cordwood and use them when needed.'

Deflector Plasma Screen For Drones ala Star Wars
'If the enemy persists in attacking or even intensifies their power, the density of the plasma in space will suddenly increase, causing it to reflect most of the incoming energy like a mirror.'

DIY Robotic Hand Made After Loss Of Fingers
'I made them... with the fine work of the watchmaker...'

Cheap Drunk Driver Detection From UofM
"Look, I can drive... Start, darn it!"

Can A Human Land A SpaceX Rocket On Its Tail?
'If she starts to roll sideways — blooey! The underjets only hold you up when they’re pointing down, you know.'

Robot Snakes No Longer Stopped By Stairs
'...she dropped her hands from the wheel, took the robot snake from his box.'

Has Turkey Been Stealing Rain From Iran?
Can one country take another's rain?

More SF in the News

More Beyond Technovelgy

Home | Glossary | Science Fiction Timeline | Category | New | Contact Us | FAQ | Advertise |
Technovelgy.com - where science meets fiction™

Copyright© Technovelgy LLC; all rights reserved.