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"At its best, SF is the medium in which our miserable certainty that tomorrow will be different from today in ways we can't predict, can be transmuted to a sense of excitement and anticipation, occasionally evolving into awe."
- John Brunner
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| Commuter Cooling Unit | ||
| A portable air conditioner for commuters. |
Richard Hnatt lives in a future Earth that is too hot. It is so hot that anyone who is forced to go out of doors is required to wear their own cooling unit for their own personal safety and well-being.
| Looking out the window he saw with aversion that already it had become too hot for human
endurance; the footer runnels were abruptly empty as everyone ducked for cover. The time was
eight-thirty and he now had to leave; rising, he went to the hall closet to get his pith helmet
and his mandatory cooling-unit; by law one had to be strapped to every commuter's back until
nightfall... He opened the door and stepped out into the hall, feeling the cool wind of the portable unit as it chugged from behind him... Shortly, he was aboard a thermosealed interbuilding commute car, on his way to downtown New York City... |
| Technovelgy from The Three Stigmata of Palmer Eldritch,
by Philip K. Dick. Published by Doubleday in 1965 Additional resources -
|
This book was written in 1964; time enough for Dick to see astronauts carrying their own
cooling units when climbing into rockets. It is a considerable leap to see how they might be
used in global warming.
The notion of global warming dates from the late 1800's; scientists vary in their estimates about how much our
weather patterns and global temperature vary due to our impact on the environment, or long-term changes that are normal for the Earth.
Compare to the heat suit from Sand Doom (1955) by Murray Leinster.
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Additional
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More Ideas
and Technology from The Three Stigmata of Palmer Eldritch
More Ideas
and Technology by Philip K. Dick
Tech news articles related to The Three Stigmata of Palmer Eldritch
Tech news articles related to works by Philip K. Dick
Commuter Cooling Unit-related
news articles:
- Air Warrior Microclimatic Cooling Garments Tested By Army
- Wristify, Your Personal Cooling and Heating Device
- Blaux Your Personal Commuter Cooling Unit
- Sony Pocket Air Conditioner Is Phil Dick's Idea!
| Sleep Pods At Daxing International Airport |
| Amazon Blimp Parent Drone Concept |
| Tortoise Mobile Smart Stores |
| Sony Pocket Air Conditioner Is Phil Dick's Idea! |
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'...Anything was possible in my imaginary environment.'
'Somewhere in space, a chrome and blue automobile raced the green light of Earth.'
'That explains how it was so easy for me to remain motionless in midair...'
'We had discovered that metal was relatively impervious to the telepathic effect.'
'Detailed plans for the construction of the Gundstetter-Halone warp drive were flowing.'
'Do not waste your priceless company on the unappreciative folds of a sleep pod...'
'...so we've promised him a generous pension from the royalties.'
'Hocus-pocus religions and archaic weapons are no substitute for a good blaster at your side.'
