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"In 1970 I found little difficulty staying 30 years ahead of the man in the street, and now I find it difficult to stay 18 months ahead of the man on the street."
- Vernor Vinge
 |
| Automated Surface Measurement | ||
| A mechanical method of accurately measuring a surface. |
At this point in the story, Graham is being measured for a suit. A device is used to provide an automated measurement of key points on his body.
| ...the tailor pulled out a number of slotted arms terminating in little discs, pulling them out until the discs were flat against the body of Graham, one at each shoulder blade, one at the elbows, one at the neck and so forth, so that at last there were, perhaps, two score of them upon his body and limbs. At the same time, some other person entered the room by the lift, behind Graham. The tailor set moving a mechanism that initiated a faint-sounding rhythmic movement of parts in the machine, and in another moment he was knocking up the levers and Graham was released. |
| From When the Sleeper Wakes,
by H.G. Wells. Published by Unknown in 1899 Additional resources -
|
This item is a remarkable prediction of modern devices that are used to digitize surfaces for part manufacturing; a part is sculpted and then its surface is digitized for entry into a computer-aided design (CAD) system.
Compare to the feeler-planes from Jack Vance's 1954 novel The Houses of Iszm.
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| Inkjet-Printed Wearable Solar Cells |
| E - Ink's Automatic Self Styling Color-Changing Dress |
| Clothes That Do Photosynthesis |
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'... the two pairs of waldoes in the screen followed in exact, simultaneous parallelism.'
'THE SPACE VESSEL was traveling swiftly… For over five thousand years they had Voyaged on and on.’
'They circled the vast audiences, dancing, twittering, chirping...'
'The sun-quilt was a patchwork of colors and materials on the inward side, but silvered on the outward side...'
'Jim, I saw them reduce four of my doctors and nurses into those little cubes!'
'Fats Jordan was hanging in the center of the Big Glass Balloon, hugging his guitar to his massive black belly above his purple shorts..'
'When confronted by hills, or rough terrain, it did not stop, but simply slowed until the task demanded equaled its steady power output.'
'... the brain is no longer subjected to the accustomed pull, and it expands slightly in all directions.'
