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"The point sticks in your head: physics rules. Virtue does not triumph unless the physics allows it."
- Larry Niven
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| Float-home | ||
| Living entity genetically designed for use as a houseboat. |
In the novel, the plot turns on whether or not the largest entities in the known universe will form attachments or feel love for human beings. These entities are familiar to all of us.
Rather than getting comfort from convenience devices based on machinery, the author uses animals to convey simple feelings at the most basic animal level. In this excerpt, Jorj X. McKie arrived at a sort of living houseboat to meet his lover.
| She had already vacated the float-home, and McKie could sense the living entity's resentment. He had shattered the idyll which the float-home had been conditioned to create. The float-home would return to its former affability once he was gone. They were gentle creatures, susceptible to sentient irritation. |
| Technovelgy from Whipping Star,
by Frank Herbert. Published by Galaxy Publishing in 1969 Additional resources -
|
What kind of creature would you start with - to end up with a float-home? Maybe a manatee? While you are thinking about it, take a look at an Australian houseboat tour.
Be sure to take a look at a Herbert classic - the chairdog.
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and Technology from Whipping Star
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and Technology by Frank Herbert
Tech news articles related to Whipping Star
Tech news articles related to works by Frank Herbert
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| With Mycotecture, We'll Just Grow The Space Habitats We Need |
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'The massive feet working the pedals, arms and hands flashing and glinting...'
'There were cubic miles of it, and it glistened like a silvery Christmas tree...'
'Jason had been guiding the caravan of cars as usual...'
"The robot solemnly hit a ball against the wall, picked it up and teed it, hit it again, over and again...'
'There was a wall ahead... It was riddled with holes that were the mouths of tunnels.'
'...support the interior human structure against Jupiter’s pull.'
'Anything larger than a BB shot it picked up and placed in a tray...'
