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"I forged a concept which is relatively simple and possibly unique in theology, and that is, the irrational is the primordial stratum of the universe."
- Philip K. Dick
 |
| Monowheel | ||
| A single-wheeled police car. |
Although this is perhaps the first (of very few) uses of this word in science fiction, it was probably used before (see below).
| He made himself fairly comfortable on the back seat of the darkgreen SIC car, a late model Hebster Monowheel.
 ('Monowheel' from 'Firewater' by William Tenn [Astounding])
|
| Technovelgy from Firewater,
by William Tenn. Published by Astounding Science Fiction in 1952 Additional resources -
|
Several designs for single-wheel vehicles were introduced in the mid-19th century, which is the most likely time for this word to have been coined.
Compare to the gyrocar from Two Boys in a Gyrocar the story of a New York to Paris motor race (1911) by Kenneth Brown, the Gyro-Hat from An Experiment in Gyro-Hats (1926) by Ellis Parker Butler, the Two-Wheeled Ground Car from First Lensman (1950) by E.E. 'Doc' Smith, the Gyro Two-Wheeled Truck from The Sign of the Tiger (1958) by Alan Nourse (w/Meyer), the Gyrocar (Gyro) from The Ring (1969) by Piers Anthony (w/R. Margroff) and the smart bike from Distraction (1998) by Bruce Sterling.
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Additional
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More Ideas
and Technology from Firewater
More Ideas
and Technology by William Tenn
Tech news articles related to Firewater
Tech news articles related to works by William Tenn
| The 'Last Mile' In China Crowded With Delivery Robots |
| Musk Idea Of Cars Talking To Each Other Predicted 70 Years Ago |
| Waymo And Tesla 'Autonomous Cabs' Are Piloted By Remote Drivers |
| Maybe It's Too Soon To Require Autonomous Mode |
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'Power could be compressed thus into an inch-square cube of what looked like blue-white ice'
'It's so light that you can set it up in five minutes by yourself...'
'Heavy penalties... were to be applied to any one found driving manually-controlled machines.'
'Buy a Little Dingbat... electropen, wrist watch, pocketphone, pocket radio, billfold ... all in one.'
'... an elastic, tinted material that had all the feel and appearance of human flesh and epidermis.'
'It is remarkable that the long leverages of their machines are in most cases actuated by a sort of sham musculature...'
