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"Individual science fiction stories may seem as trivial as ever to the blinder critics and philosophers of today -- but the core of science fiction, its essence has become crucial to our salvation if we are to be saved at all."
- Isaac Asimov
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| Cybercab | ||
| An autonomous taxi. |
As far as I know, this is the first (and perhaps only) use of this word in science fiction.
| They turned their backs on the black water, and trudged upslope. A cybercab dogged their heels, hoping for a fare, but they ignored it, and it sped off. |
| Technovelgy from Vacuum Flowers,
by Michael Swanwick. Published by Asimov's Science Fiction in 1987 Additional resources -
|
Compare to the driverless taxi from The Living Machine (1935) by Dr. David H. Keller, arguably the first mention of this idea.
The robotic or automated taxi is a frequently explored theme in sf; see Tin Cabby from Cities in Flight [1957], the autocab from Between Planets [1951] and the autonomic cab from The Three Stigmata of Palmer Eldritch [1964].
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Additional
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More Ideas
and Technology from Vacuum Flowers
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and Technology by Michael Swanwick
Tech news articles related to Vacuum Flowers
Tech news articles related to works by Michael Swanwick
Cybercab-related
news articles:
- CyberCab - Tesla Renames The Robotaxi
| Nifty Folding Electric Bicycles! |
| Boring Company Drills Asimov's Single Vehicle Tunnels |
| Boring Company Vegas Loop Like Asimov Said |
| SpaceX Rocket Shuttle Point-To-Point On Earth |
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'It diverts integers of the data, the fundamental message-units, so that they no longer agree.'
'Clothes are no longer made from dead fibers of fixed color and texture that can approximate only crudely to the vagrant human figure...'
'Books were just a commodity that had to be produced, like jam or bootlaces.'
'...it rears and spreads its fan. It can pick one man out of a crowd.'
'...a new plastic with the characteristics of an avian eggshell.'
'It was a pushpot, which could not possibly be called a jet plane because it could not possibly fly. Only it did.'
