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
"I've got this beautiful panoramic three-dimensional painting of Mars based on Martian photos. It's 30 feet wide. You can pick out every pebble on the Martian landscape. And who'd have dreamed you could do that?"
- Arthur C. Clarke
 |
| Cleaning Machine Warren | ||
| A room or space set aside for machinery when not in use. |
William Gibson, as a novelist, seems to have a special place in his heart for machines, using them to add a nineteenth century air to his work.
| All around her the planes of shadow in his study, the angular darkness. His hand coming forward, into the lamp's circle of light, unsteadily, to point at her, the robes cuffs sliding back to reveal a golden Rolex and more dragons, their manes swirling into waves, pricked out strong and dark around his wrist, pointing. Pointing at her. "Do you understand?" She hadn't answered, but had run instead, down to a secret place she knew, the warren of the smallest of the cleaning machines. They ticked around her all night, scanning her every few minutes with pink bursts of laser light, until her father came to find her, and, smelling of whiskey and Dunhill cigarettes, carried her to her room in the apartment's third floor. |
| From Mona Lisa Overdrive,
by William Gibson. Published by Bantam in 1988 Additional resources -
|
I think that the use of machines is meant to invoke an earlier time, the childhood of the character. It's a peculiar inversion, using machinery (and especially automata) to grant atmosphere or emotion to a book. I wonder if those of us who grew up in the period between the full flower of the great industrial machines (I'm thinking in particular of the Rouge steel plant in Michigan, a structure that really resonates with a nineteenth century vibe) and the Internet ascribe feelings of security to the idea of a machine warren.
And besides, if machines disappear somewhere and return shiny and recharged, ready for any task that comes, might you and I want to visit such a place?
Comment/Join this discussion ( 2 ) | RSS/XML | Blog This |
Additional
resources:
More Ideas
and Technology from Mona Lisa Overdrive
More Ideas
and Technology by William Gibson
Tech news articles related to Mona Lisa Overdrive
Tech news articles related to works by William Gibson
| Jeff Bezos Tries Waldoes (Robotic Hands) |
| Tesla Diagnoses Itself, Sends Part Request |
| Tesla Robotaxis Will Automatically Recharge Themselves |
| Husqvarna Automower 435X AWD |
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> |
|
|
|
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 Invention Timeline, or see what's New.
|
'... the young men in the streets who applied polyimde OLED body film to their bared shoulders.'
'Bioengeering had put out a spec report on the long crawly things five months back.'
'The air-taxi found its way past and around other ground-cars...'
'They tried to use it today and it wouldn't work. No colors and no ceph patterns, neither one...'
'Cerebral Electromagnetic Emmission Amplification and Relay System — call it artificial telepathy, if you like.'
'[It] caused his televised image... to mouth the vowels and consonants beautifully.'
'There was almost no sound, just a steady velvety whirr as the taxi sped along.'
Life imitates anime art.
