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"There's a poetry in the materials we use to construct our world of artifacts; it speaks of our long history as a technological species."
- William Gibson
 |
| Single Seat Scooter | ||
| A self-service monocycle. |
| At a stand beside the station Gersen selected a self-service cab -- a single seat scooter, gyroscopically balanced, with a transparent canopy. Two SVU in the slot gave him possesion for an hour. Stepping aboard, he drove north through the noisy streets of Sailmaker Beach. |
| Technovelgy from The Star King,
by Jack Vance. Published by Berkeley in 1964 Additional resources -
|
You might be interested in an even earlier sf gyroscopically balanced monocycle - the tumblebug from Robert Heinlein's 1940 novella The Roads Must Roll.
For a very cool design prototype version, see EMBRIO Embodies The Tumblebug; don't miss the real-life invention - the Eunicycle Single-Wheel Gyro-Stabilized Scooter.
Also, compare to the one-man car from The Houses of Iszm (1954) by Jack Vance.
Thanks to an anonymous reader for this item.
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More Ideas
and Technology from The Star King
More Ideas
and Technology by Jack Vance
Tech news articles related to The Star King
Tech news articles related to works by Jack Vance
| Waymo And Tesla 'Autonomous Cabs' Are Piloted By Remote Drivers |
| Maybe It's Too Soon To Require Autonomous Mode |
| Caterpillar Electric Mining Loader Not Yet Ready For Moon |
| Engineer Creates Crazy Motorized Track Hospital Bed |
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'This was their world, their planet — this swift-traveling, yet seemingly moveless vessel.'
'Gaines and Harvey mounted tumblebugs, and kept abreast of the Cadet Captain...'
Accompanied by a small selection of similar ideas from science fiction.
'...war-balloons, or, as it would be more correct to call them, navigable aerostats.'
