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"Science fiction represents the modern heresy and the cutting edge of speculative imagination as it grapples with Mysterious Time---linear or non-linear time."
- Frank Herbert
 |
| Hovercraft | ||
| A vehicle that moves about on a cushion of air. |
Obviously, Gibson did not invent the hovercraft; but I like his description.
| Feeling entirely dislocated now, Komiko watched as Sally made a survey of available vehicles, quickly bribed a uniformed dispatcher, intimidated three other prospective fares, and chivied Komiko into a pockmarked, slabsided hover craft, painted in diagonal bands of yellow and black. The passenger compartment was barren and remarkably uncomfortable-looking. The driver, if there was one, was invisible beyond a scrawled bulkhead of plastic armor. The nub of a video camera protruded where the bulkhead met the roof, and someone had drawn a crude figure there. |
| From Mona Lisa Overdrive,
by William Gibson. Published by Bantam in 1988 Additional resources -
|
The first known design for vehicle using an air cushion was by the Swedish designer and philosopher, Emmanual Swedenborg, in 1716. The craft looked like a small boat turned upside down. The operator of this vehicle would "flap" a pair of oar-like air scoops, forcing compressed air beneath the hull. However, the inventor soon realized that the energy requirements were greater than a person could provide.
The name and concept of hovercraft were created by Sir Christopher Cockrell; the first working hovercraft was built by him in 1959. Hovercraft are today in common use; however, dreams of hovercars and other vehicles never came to fruition, owing to the excessive power requirements of getting a vehicle to "hover" on anything but the smoothest surface. Read more at The Hovercraft History and Hovercraft Museum.
For an amusing look at an intelligent (?) hovercraft, see the entry for hover-limo - hovercraft for hire from Steel Beach by John Varley.
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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.
