Science Fiction
Dictionary
A B C D E F G H I J K L M N O P Q R S T U V W X Y Z
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 went back to science fiction to try a few experiments …and my first experiment was a disaster…"
- Alfred Bester
 |
| Sleeping Plates | ||
| A pair of plates that nullify gravity for the being(s) sleeping between them. Is null gravity the answer to your sleep problems? |
You want the most comfortable sleeping experience known to man? You want to eliminate bed sores forever? Try sleeping plates.
| My face and hands were flaming red, with blisters rising, and I ached as though I'd been beaten. Rest and tender loving care, that's what I wanted.
I was floating between a pair of sleeping plates, hideously uncomfortable, when the nurse came to announce a visitor. I knew who it was from her peculiar expression. "What can get through a General Products hull?" I asked it. |
| Technovelgy from Neutron Star,
by Larry Niven. Published by Worls of If in 1966 Additional resources -
|
Here's a clue to some additional features; this quote is from his 1970 novel Ringworld:
"I really was sleepy, Louis. But never mind..."
"Sleeproom nodes
merge," he said, and something happened to the sleeper field. The two
regions of stable equilibrium, the anomalies which kept Louis and Teela
from falling out of the field, moved together and merged into one. Louis
and Teela followed, sliding "downhill" until they bumped and clung.
There is apparently some science (or good pseudo-science) about the sleep position you most often adopt. The free-fall position, defined as lying on your front with your hands around the pillow and head turned to one side, is adopted by about 7% of those studied. In Sleep Position Gives Personality Clue, Professor Chris Idzikowski, director of the Sleep Assessment and Advisory Service, assigns these characteristics:
"Often gregarious and brash people, but can be nervy and thin-skinned underneath, and don't like criticism, or extreme situations."
See the gravity neutralizing disks from a 1937 Edmund Hamilton story for an early (the earliest?) reference to this idea.
Comment/Join this discussion ( 0 ) | RSS/XML | Blog This |
Additional
resources:
More Ideas
and Technology from Neutron Star
More Ideas
and Technology by Larry Niven
Tech news articles related to Neutron Star
Tech news articles related to works by Larry Niven
| Sleep Pods At Daxing International Airport |
| Amazon Blimp Parent Drone Concept |
| Tortoise Mobile Smart Stores |
| Sony Pocket Air Conditioner Is Phil Dick's Idea! |
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 Science Fiction Invention Timeline, or see what's New.
|
Science Fiction
Timeline
1600-1899
1900-1939
1940's 1950's
1960's 1970's
1980's 1990's
2000's 2010's
'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...'
