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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
 |
| Tanglefoot Field | ||
| A force field that would not harm but merely entangle and stop anyone (or anything) caught in it. |
At this point in the story, a crowd of unruly aliens are in need of restraint.
| Greenberg slid a hand under his desk and located a control that would throw a tanglefoot field over the lower floor ... a permanent installation; the hall had seen other disturbances. |
| From The Star Beast,
by Robert Heinlein. Published by Charles Scribner's Sons in 1954 Additional resources -
|
Although no one has implemented this idea as an energy field, there is interest in quelling civil disorder using something similar. Once choice is an antitraction gel that is so slippery it is impossible to stand up. The Portable Vehicle Arresting Barrier is a kind of netting that can stop a 7,500 lb. pickup truck going 45 miles per hour, then wrap around to trap the occupants.
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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.
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'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.
There's a lesson in this for neural net AI engineers everywhere.
