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"...a lot of people find adventure on the Internet. That's their idea of being interactive. My idea of being interactive is going on out and doing it on the street."
- Harlan Ellison
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| Selectacol | ||
| A device that automates the interior design process, providing a choice of color schemes for a roomful of furniture. |
Another great sixties kind-of-name. But an interesting concept; it's hard to see how it could be implemented, unless you used basically white or neutral colors and then changed the light color.
If you long for a selectacol, but are unwilling to wait for automatic decorating, find tips at The Sheffield School of Interior Design.
| Orne glanced around at the Bullone guest room: low-key furnishings with an old-fashioned selectacol for change of color scheme. A polawindow looked out onto an oval swimming pool. The glass had been muted to dark blue. This imparted a moonlit appearance to the view outside. |
| From The Godmakers,
by Frank Herbert. Published by Berkley Medallion in 1972 Additional resources -
|
In the novel, Lewis Orne is a person with exceptional, undiscovered abilities. One of the key themes explored in the book is the idea of free will - and whether or not people should be allowed to make choices.
The notion of being able to instantly transform your home into any of a set of interior design schemes also reveals the nature of the people who live in the house. They are also capable of transforming themselves over time to incorporate various political "colors" and schemes.
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'A worker replaced by a nubot... had to be compensated.'
'... forcing the energy transfer which allowed him to regrow his lost fingers.'
'The car surged and lifted, clearing its top by a negligible margin.'
Science fiction authors are serious about sleep, too.
'I had explained," said Nessus, "that our civilisation was dying in its own waste heat.'
'Just what did I want Flexible Frank to do? - any work a human being does around a house.'
SF writers have thought about this since the 19th century.
