 |
Dictionary of Culture Terms in Science Fiction
(Technovelgy items at top: skip
down to News)
Name |
Author (Publication Date) |
Cranial Amplified Programming CAP An aid to learning, which you apply directly to your skull. |
Greg Bear (2015) |
Mental Radio-Handicap A device that destroys concentration. |
Kurt Vonnegut, Jr. (1961) |
Uptime Forward in time. |
John Baxter (1964) |
Accelerated Schooling Knowledge force-fed directly into the brain. |
James Blish (1957) |
Accelerated Schooling Helmet A device that stimulates the brain and imparts knowledge directly. |
James Blish (1957) |
Adjustment Making sure the man fits the job! |
Keith Laumer (1964) |
Adoption of Television Prediction of TV penetration in homes and the death of movie houses. |
Bernard Brown (1931) |
Aeroplane Baseball A standard-sized baseball making possible non-standard pitches. |
Bob Olsen (1928) |
Agony Box - testing for humans A device for causing non-lethal, non-injuring pain by nerve induction. |
Frank Herbert (1984) |
Alcoholic Reliever Mechanized relief from alcoholism. |
Robert Sheckley (1956) |
Alien Self-Government Rules to assure intelligent aliens the right to govern themselves in freedom. |
A.E. van Vogt (1942) |
Aliens Speak English The skeleton men of Mercury speak English, but have a good reason for it. |
Maurice G. Hugi (1934) |
Amtal Rule Testing to destruction |
Frank Herbert (1965) |
Asterite A person who was born and lived amongst the asteroids. |
Jack Williamson (1942) |
Automatic Judge Automatically listens to the plaintiff and defendant and provides a just verdict. |
Clement Fezandie (1926) |
Babel-17 - words are telling An alien weapon in the form of a language. |
Samuel R. Delany (1966) |
Belter A person who was born and raised in the asteroid belt around Sol. |
Larry Niven (1966) |
Bohemias - a cultural incubator A place where the ordinary rules of society don't apply; the "next big thing" often comes from these places. |
William Gibson (1999) |
Book of the Kalends - no author, no title The ever-changing book without a title; the documented history of a world. |
Philip K. Dick (1969) |
Booklegger A smuggler of books. |
Robert Heinlein (1951) |
Brain Erasure Deleting selected knowledge from the brain using electrical impulses. |
Edmond Hamilton (1948) |
Brainlock - life in the now A technique to focus the attention of prisoners on a limited task, precluding the possibility of escape. |
William Gibson (1988) |
Breed Humans For Machines Carefully cull the strong, resilient humans in favor of weakness, that the human race might be more adapted to life in the Machine. |
E.M. Forster (1909) |
Centrifugal Bumble-Puppy Futuristic children's game. |
Aldous Huxley (1932) |
Checker-City A city planned as a checker-board of alternating vegetation and buildings. |
Edmond Hamilton (1933) |
Citizen Journalism - silence dogood lives! The notion that ordinary people can make use of technological tools like cellphone cameras and the Internet to provide information. |
David Brin (1990) |
Cloud Sculpting - remake the clouds Using gliders and chemical showers to shape clouds artistically. |
J.G. Ballard (1967) |
Coder Specialized humans who excel at engineering tasks. |
Chris Wooding (2006) |
Cold-Pac Bin A special coffin-sized chamber used to maintain half-life. |
Philip K. Dick (1969) |
Coley Group A musical form that involves dancing in a field of weak microwaves. |
John Brunner (1975) |
Court Robo-Clerk - hear ye, hear ye! A robotic law clerk. |
Frank Herbert (1964) |
Credibility Rating How believable are your blog posts? your emails? your tweets? |
David Brin (1990) |
Credit - first use A basic unit of currency. |
John W. Campbell (1934) |
Cyberethics Philosophy detailing how computers work within human communities. |
Sid Meier (1999) |
Darkdawn City - the venue is musical An entire city that is tuned to be played by the winds. |
George RR Martin (1977) |
Death Bath A suicide chamber. |
Nat Schachner (w. AL Zagat) (1931) |
Delphi Pool A large group of people used as a statistical sampling resource; even if the correct answer is not known, responses tend to cluster around the correct answer. |
John Brunner (1975) |
Diaspar Memory - everyone gets a copy The city's memory could store works of art, and reproduce them upon request. |
Arthur C. Clarke (1956) |
Didge-Ital Digital music. |
Bruce Sterling (1988) |
Discorporate Sector An electronic afterlife. |
Samuel R. Delany (1966) |
Disney Therapy Letting people retreat to a simpler time, for their mental health. |
John Varley (1992) |
Downtime Traveling back in time. |
John Baxter (1964) |
Dream Console - used by he who shapes Device allows a therapist to enter and create dreams in patients. |
Roger Zelazny (1966) |
Dream-Adventures Dreams sent directly to the brain are more popular than movies. |
Edmond Hamilton (1940) |
Dream-House An establishment wherein one could find the finest dream adventures placed in his own mind. |
Edmond Hamilton (1940) |
Dream-Machine The mechanism that sent standardized dreams into the brain. |
Edmond Hamilton (1940) |
Drink the Fungi A method of suicide or criminal punishment involving ingestion of spores. |
Edwin K. Sloat (1933) |
Earplug Decision (Restraint of Advertising) A Supreme Court judgement that declared that earplugs used to block advertising were unconstitutional. |
Anne Warren Griffith (1953) |
Eetee (E.T. - extraterrestrial) A sentient being not of this Earth. |
Thomas Wilson (1953) |
Electro-Education The latest thing in electrically stimulated learning. |
Edmond Hamilton (1948) |
Electromechanical Educator An automated teaching machine. |
George O. Smith (1959) |
Electronic Book Store A place to pick up your electronic books. |
Stanislaw Lem (1961) |
Electronic Cash A digital currency, like Bitcoin. |
Bruce Sterling (1994) |
Emotion Meter A device for empirically determining human emotion. |
W. Varick Nevins, III (1935) |
Environmental Happening Weather created as a work of art. |
John Varley (1976) |
Esper A person to perceive the contents of another person's mind. |
Alfred Bester (1952) |
Ethical Calculus Mathematics used to determine positive social conduct. |
Sid Meier (1999) |
Ethical Suicide Parlor - don't be a drupelet A comfy environment in which you might commit ethical suicide, and thereby serve society. |
Kurt Vonnegut, Jr. (1958) |
EverRest Cryotorium - cryonics in orbit Rest forever in cryonic suspension among the stars. |
Roger Zelazny (1992) |
Extra-Factual Memory - an implanted memory A "memory" placed in a person's mind by artifice, rather than by real life experience. |
Philip K. Dick (1966) |
Filter Program - live in your own world Using programs to filter Internet results; a person need see only what they want to see. |
David Brin (1990) |
Flash Crowd (Flash Mob) - or flash mob What you call a group of people who suddenly appear at an interesting location. |
Larry Niven (1972) |
Flatscreen Movie - old-fashioned 2D entertainment Like holographic or three-dimensional recordings, but showing only two dimensions. |
John Barnes (1991) |
Floating Spherical Pool Control of gravity permits mid-air pools of water. |
Jack Williamson (1939) |
Forced Scholars Hothouse intellectuals. |
Emile Souvestre (1846) |
Free Play (The Mind Game) A computer simulation that presents an enjoyable game for young people that is also used for psychological evaluation. |
Orson Scott Card (1985) |
Fyunch(click) An alien assigned to become an expert in just one person. |
Larry Niven (w/J. Pournelle) (1974) |
Galaxy Superbrain The idea that the galaxy itself is a conscious entity. |
Robert Castle (1939) |
General Intelligence Machine News and information from one device. |
H.G. Wells (1899) |
Geriatric Rooming-House - swept aside An apartment building with rooms built especially with the very senior citizen in mind. |
Philip K. Dick (1969) |
Government Lethal Chamber A legal suicide booth. |
Robert W. Chambers (1895) |
Grok - a Martian sees and knows To understand fully; become one with (from the Martial verb "to drink"). |
Robert Heinlein (1961) |
Group Ego - a kind of group mind A group mind; a single entity that shares a number of bodies. |
Robert Heinlein (1941) |
Group Mind A shared consciousness between a number of individuals. |
Olaf Stapledon (1930) |
Hall of Euthanasia - a death trap A place for (mostly) voluntary suicide. |
Jack Williamson (1939) |
High-Frequency Oven - essence of the microwave This describes the essence of a microwave. |
Robert Heinlein (1948) |
Histo-Research - best possible evidence Historical research using a time machine. |
Philip K. Dick (1954) |
Hive Mind A group mind. |
Edmond Hamilton (1942) |
Home Ad Blocker Device insulates house against intrusion by 3D advertisements. |
Alfred Bester (1974) |
Hooman An alternative spelling. |
Nelson S. Bond (1943) |
Horsten Psychomat Re-creates a mental scene for the viewer. |
Stanley G. Weinbaum (1935) |
House Records Archivist - forget holographic memories A specialist who correlated information within the House Records of the Bene Gesserit. |
Frank Herbert (1984) |
House Voice - Thurber's nightmare A house-based system that mediates technologies (like phone) with a verbal interface directed to the inhabitants of the house. |
William Gibson (1988) |
Human Quarter A ghetto for human beings; in this case, in a world of robots. |
Philip K. Dick (1954) |
Human Serial Number A unique number tattooed on body of a person. |
David H. Keller (1933) |
Humanoid An alien with a human-like shape and appearance. |
Isaac Asimov (1940) |
Hypnobioscope - learn while you sleep The first fictional reference to sleep teaching. |
Hugo Gernsback (1911) |
Hypno-Encyclopedic Techniques If you plan to live for centuries, you need to organize your memories. |
Robert Heinlein (1973) |
Hypno-Ligation A means of psychological control over an individual. |
Frank Herbert (1965) |
Hypnopædia (Sleep-Teaching) - learn while asleep The idea that a person can learn explicit subject matter while sleeping. |
Aldous Huxley (1932) |
Immersive Home Video Technology lets users interact with home videos. |
Steven Spielberg (2002) |
Improve Memory Help immortals make sense of their memories. |
Robert Heinlein (1941) |
Indestructible Contract Legal document in which can't be easily altered or damaged. |
Gordon R. Dickson (1960) |
Indoor Stadium An entirely enclosed baseball stadium. |
Clarence Edward Heller (1930) |
Inflatable Church A church using an inflatable projection screen as an altar. |
John Brunner (1975) |
Interactive Suicide Note A last message for the people you are leaving behind - that encourages their participation. |
John Varley (1984) |
International Fantasy Gaming Society (IFGS) - the fictional basis for the real one A group dedicated to playing live action role-playing games. |
Larry Niven (w/S. Barnes) (1981) |
Interplanetary Clearance Bureaucratic red tape associated with busy space ports. |
Robert Heinlein (1941) |
Interplanetary Passport Required document for space travelers. |
Edmond Hamilton (1938) |
Inurbanity (Inurbane) Criminal penalties for persons who are unable to behave properly in crowded cubic cities. |
Louis Tucker, D.D. (1929) |
Key Club - by booth id only A social club made exclusive by teleportation booth; may be in a chain with other physically identical locations. |
Larry Niven (1972) |
Kingdom in a Box An entire civilization in miniature - in an interactive box. |
Stanislaw Lem (1965) |
Korsakov's - mind control A type of mind control imposed on prisoners to make them more manageable during their prison time. |
William Gibson (1988) |
Law Expert System (LEX) - law software Software capable of rendering a legal opinion. |
Greg Egan (1991) |
Law of Contact Non-interference in the development of other worlds. |
Orville Shaara (1952) |
Lawyer Program - AI goes to the dark side Software that could listen to legal argument. |
David Brin (1990) |
Learning-Cap - for thinking A special metal helmet for electro-education. |
Edmond Hamilton (1948) |
Legislation Analyzer - torn from the headlines Device analyzes potentially biased bills. |
Philip K. Dick (1953) |
Lifebox A device that captures a person's life experience in software. |
Rudy Rucker (1986) |
Lunar Advertisement An 'ad' on the lunar surface that can be seen by its audience on Earth. |
Arthur C. Clarke (1957) |
Lunar Disneyland - underground playground A vast cavern excavated on the Moon - used for entertainment. Very large scale entertainment. |
John Varley (1976) |
Magnetically Floating Furniture - like sitting on a cloud Furniture that is suspended at the proper height using magnetic forces. |
Kurt Vonnegut, Jr. (1959) |
Massive Open Learning Teach using standard videos prepared by the best teachers. |
David H. Keller (1929) |
Master Ventriloquism Corporation (MV) A central source of product advertising, commercials sent out to every product. |
Anne Warren Griffith (1953) |
Mechanical Funeral An entirely autonomous burial rite. |
Ray Bradbury (1947) |
Mechanical Judge A device that makes legal decisions. |
Stanton A. Coblentz (1939) |
Mechanical Tune-Maker An electromechanical device that created unique music. |
Philip K. Dick (1954) |
Mechanotherapy A mechanism or device-based therapy that cures (or palliates) alcoholism. |
Robert Sheckley (1956) |
Memory Hole A receptacle for unwanted documents. |
George Orwell (1948) |
Mental Static Device Cloak the minds of individuals with a kind of 'noise'. |
Isaac Asimov (1953) |
Mentat A person who has been specially trained and conditioned for excellence in |
Frank Herbert (1965) |
Metal Foil Advertisement An advertising circular made out of metal. |
Ray Bradbury (1951) |
Micro Book (Microbook) - perfect for space travel A very small volume, possibly an electronic book. |
Anthony Boucher (1943) |
Millenniaire A person with much more Time than an ordinary person. |
Hannu Rajaniemi (2010) |
Mind-Shield - internal mind control A mental defense or barrier that prevents access to one brain by another person or device. |
A.E. van Vogt (1940) |
Mnemonic Flutter System (Pulse-Sychronizer) A device to imprint particular facts from a book upon the brain of the reader. |
Frank Herbert (1969) |
Mnemonic Pulse A feature of filmbook recordings that helps imprint knowledge on the mind of the user. |
Frank Herbert (1965) |
Mnemonic Service Dedicated humans who collected bits of data in hopes of catching key correlations between fields of study. |
Isaac Asimov (1954) |
Mood Organ - play your partner A device which allows you to dial the mood you would like to have. |
Philip K. Dick (1968) |
Moon-Terror A syndrome common to people who live in less than half Earth-normal gravity. |
Jack Williamson (1941) |
Mother World One's home planet, or the origin world of one's species. |
Earl L. Bell (1928) |
Movie Pill Gives you the experience of having seen a movie. |
Don Wilcox (1939) |
Municipal Darwinism The process by which smaller towns were eaten by larger ones. |
Philip Reeve (2003) |
Navicloud Custom Debinder A machine that pulls books apart and scans the contents. |
Vernor Vinge (2006) |
Nerve Control Lines Designs that take control of human nervous systems. |
A.E. van Vogt (1948) |
News Clown - they're all the rage A person who delivers specially selected light news. |
Philip K. Dick (1963) |
News Receptor - listens for news Devices used by homeostatic newspapers to gather news autonomically. |
Philip K. Dick (1953) |
Nexialist A person with a coordinative knowledge across a variety of sciences. |
A.E. van Vogt (1950) |
Novel-Writing Machines A device that automatically produces fiction. |
George Orwell (1948) |
Nowhen At no time. |
Poul and Karen Anderson (1971) |
OLED Body Film Attaching or implanting flexible screen material to the body as decoration. |
Chen Qiufan (2019) |
Online Employability Profile Testing - get the right job first An online test that determines the best areas in which you might search for a job. |
Frederik Pohl (1966) |
Out-Worlder A person from another planet. |
Harry Bates (1934) |
Overmind A consciousness that supersedes the minds of many individuals. |
Francis Flagg (1929) |
Padre Booth Device that provides religious aid and comfort on demand. |
Philip K. Dick (1969) |
Painted Respirator Masks Children choose to decorate otherwise uniform equipment masks. |
Robert Heinlein (1949) |
Paint-to-Order Robot Artist A robotic mechanism that could produce a unique picture, given subject and artistic style. |
F.L. Wallace (1953) |
Palm Flower - what color It's like a life clock. |
William Nolan (w/G.C. Johnson) (1967) |
Parenthood Lottery A means of restricting population growth. |
Brian Aldiss (1969) |
Personality Alteration Permanent alternation of personality, the tools of the trade. |
Fritz Leiber (1943) |
Personality Death - you're dead to yourself Punishment leaves the body intact. |
Harry Harrison (1959) |
Phone-Grid Transex Network Addictive network-enhanced sexuality. |
Philip K. Dick (1974) |
Photosensitive Pigment Special paint that stays 'blank' until exposed to a scene. |
J.G. Ballard (1966) |
Planetary ID Card Identification for every person on every planet in the solar system. |
Edmond Hamilton (1940) |
Pocket-Sized Ad-Blocker A device that prevented targeted advertisements from reaching you. |
Alan Dean Foster (2006) |
Post-Crime - you're still a criminal Criminal activities after they have actually happened. |
Philip K. Dick (1956) |
Pray-o-Mat - coin-based religion A device that would offer prayers in exchange for a few coins properly deposited. |
Roger Zelazny (1967) |
Precrime A system by which criminal acts are known before they occur. |
Philip K. Dick (1956) |
Predictable Crime A criminal act that computers were able to foresee in advance. |
Isaac Asimov (1958) |
Predictions Registry - if you're sure An organization that keeps track of predictions made by individuals. |
David Brin (1990) |
Prime Directive The first and most important rule; usually protective. |
Jack Williamson (1947) |
Print-Book Youve seen them. |
Isaac Asimov (1988) |
Psychic Probe A device capable of discerning truthful information in a living human brain. |
Isaac Asimov (1952) |
Psychohistory Branch of mathematics describes the behavior of human beings en masses. |
Isaac Asimov (1951) |
Psycho-History The application of psychology to historical data. |
Eric Frank Russell (1941) |
Puff-Pipe Pipe with lighting built in. |
Clarence Edward Heller (1930) |
Purple Wage Guaranteed subsidy paid to every citizen. |
Philip Jose Farmer (1967) |
Randominoes Dominoes that randomly generate new numbers. |
Jeff Noon (2000) |
Reactive Walls - club scene 2020 Wall surfaces designed for use in clubs; they reacted to the music played in the room. |
John Shirley (1985) |
Recorded Books Electronically recorded books. |
Isaac Asimov (1952) |
Relations with Extraterrestrial Life - before the Prime Directive Instructions to earth citizens on how to behave when encountering alien civilizations. |
Clifford Simak (1944) |
Replaced Worker Benefits Compensation for people whose jobs are taken by robots. |
John Twelve Hawks (2014) |
Rewriting History Use of sophisticated technology to continuously rewrite the historical record. |
George Orwell (1948) |
Rhetorizer - the writer's assistant A computerized assistant for writers. |
Philip K. Dick (1964) |
Robots Take Human Jobs Robots displace human beings in the workforce. |
David H. Keller (1929) |
Rocket-Polo Polo played with rocket-powered craft. |
John Victor Peterson (1938) |
Ro-Womb - enfold the patient. Device enfolds the patient during therapy. |
Roger Zelazny (1966) |
Royalties For Machine Learning Subjects A payment to people who are used as subjects for imitation learning by robots. |
Anthony Boucher (1943) |
Sapience The ability of a species to think, to reason with discernment and wisdom. |
E.M. Johnson (w/C.A. Smith) (1931) |
Scent-Organ A device that output specified odors. |
Aldous Huxley (1932) |
Scientifiction Writing that combines science and fiction. |
Hugo Gernsback (1916) |
Self-Opening Box Don't show this to Apple. |
William Tenn (1947) |
Sensory-Syrynx A complex musical instrument. |
Samuel R. Delany (1968) |
Shadow People Alien knowledge leads to alien results - for humans. |
Clifford Simak (1963) |
Simple Organisms Do Math Insects show unusual signs of intelligence. |
Clifford Simak (1944) |
Single Sheet Molecule A counterfeit-proof way to output unique documents. |
Gordon R. Dickson (1960) |
Singularity In science, a condition in which spacetime breaks down; in society, a technological advance causes social conditions to break down. |
Arthur C. Clarke (1952) |
Skin Toning Using artificial means to effect a temporary change in skin color. |
Jack Vance (1964) |
Sky Ceiling - long before Hogwarts Ceilings that consist of large screens, on which are presented images of the sky. |
Stanislaw Lem (1961) |
Sleepshop A quiet place to die. |
William Nolan (w/G.C. Johnson) (1967) |
Smarter People Having Fewer Children The original argument that less suitable human pairs are having proportionally more children. |
C.M. Kornbluth (1951) |
Sol-Ido The universal language of interplanetary travelers. |
Harl Vincent (1932) |
Space Lawyer (Sky-Lawyer) - space laws A lawyer with special knowledge of space law. |
Nat Schachner (1941) |
Space Madness The monotony of space travel could drive you crazy. |
Max Valier (1931) |
Space-Court The place of judgement for crimes committed in interstellar space. |
Edmond Hamilton (1938) |
Spark Plug (Systematician) A person who draws information from diverse areas of knowledge. |
Stephen Lawhead (1983) |
SPOOKS - go on a LARP for a lark A live-action role playing (LARP) game that lets ordinary people play at being secret agents. |
Charles Stross (2007) |
SSA Machine A machine that compares two people for compatibility; it sees sub specie aeternitatis, literally 'under the aspect of eternity' or outside of time. |
Philip K. Dick (1969) |
Strakh - prestige in payment The prestige or social prominence which serves as a medium of exchange on the planet Sirene. |
Jack Vance (1976) |
Subdermal Microchannels - dayglo body mod A means of personal adornment; think of day glow tattoos. |
Paul Di Filippo (1985) |
Subjunctivisor Projects a possible future, based on your own impressions. |
Stanley G. Weinbaum (1935) |
Synthesist - the Dilettante Dept A person who did nothing but make cross-references between one field and another. |
John Brunner (1968) |
Synthetic Personality A artificial identity, a legal fiction of a person. |
Robert Heinlein (1940) |
Synthony A musical performance by robots. |
F.L. Wallace (1953) |
Talisman - focus on your hopes Device that causes beings nearby to experience truth and peace; works only in the hands of rare adepts. |
Clifford Simak (1963) |
Tand - an abstract venerated sculpture A metal sculpture, made in contemplation, which has great meaning for the initiates. |
Jack Vance (1962) |
TANSTAAFL - and there isn't There ain't no such thing as a free lunch. |
Robert Heinlein (1966) |
Teaching Chair No-frills teaching machine. |
Larry Niven (1991) |
Teaching Machine A helmet placed on the head focuses illimitable knowledge into even the head of an earth man. |
Nat Schachner (1936) |
Teep Rod - give me your thoughts A device that gathers the thoughts of an individual. |
Philip K. Dick (1969) |
Telepadion Instructor A device that places an entire sensory experience directly into the brain. |
J. Harvey Haggard (1931) |
Telephonic Music Room Places where a person could go, at any time, to share in musical performances happening at some distance away. |
Edward Bellamy (1888) |
The Book of the Machine The only book needed for life in the vast Machine. |
E.M. Forster (1909) |
The Krang - instrument or weapon? An enormous musical instrument (or weapon). |
Alan Dean Foster (1972) |
Theater Seat Indicators Vacant seats are clearly shown. |
Clarence Edward Heller (1930) |
Thought Screen A material screen that is worn by the user, upon which are projected the mental images of the user. |
Nat Schachner (w. AL Zagat) (1931) |
Thought-receptor Vote-counting Machine That's one way to do a plebiscite. |
R.F. Starzl (1931) |
Thought-Record Helmet A wearable history book. |
Robert Randall (1958) |
Threat Team (of sf writers) Gathering together a group of science fiction writers to try to predict what will happen, or to understand an unknown threat. |
Larry Niven (w/J. Pournelle) (1985) |
Three Generation Work (Century Piece) An artwork created by three consecutive generations of artists, in exactly one century. |
Jack Vance (1949) |
Tiersian Therapy A therapeutic discipline in which the patient chooses a character from a book and then attempts to be that character. |
Philip Jose Farmer (1991) |
Timebroker - trading fungible time A person who traded in the commodity of other people's time. |
Paul Di Filippo (2006) |
Timeslip When humans keep time on Mars, they must work with the extra forty minutes in each day. |
Spider Robinson (1992) |
Toposcope A special helmet used in a form of sleep teaching. |
James Blish (1957) |
Toy Testing Dummy A child-sized device used to test suspect toys. |
Philip K. Dick (1959) |
Transdress - transparent clothing A transparent dress upon which thousands of patterns may be projected. |
Larry Niven (w/S. Barnes) (1992) |
Treatment of Extramundane Aborigines Laws for aliens on their own planet. |
Eric Frank Russell (1943) |
Tune-Maker Automated music production. |
Philip K. Dick (1956) |
Ultimate Football League (UFL) A football league without restrictions on human modification. |
Chris Nakashima-Brown (2008) |
Undersea Restaurant A restaurant located in its entirety under the sea. |
Jack Vance (1964) |
Unichapel (Robotic Confession Booth) - automated religion Automated religious confessional with monotone, programmed responses. |
George Lucas (1970) |
Van Goom's Gambit A chessboard pattern that unhinges the mind of any player who sees it. |
Victor Contoski (1966) |
Verse Transcriber A device that would produce perfect poetry, given the necessary parameters. |
J.G. Ballard (1971) |
Versificator A device that composes words to music. |
George Orwell (1948) |
Virtual Assembly Use of holograms to accomplish an assembly of people. |
R.F. Starzl (1931) |
Virtual Childrearing - long distance childcare Learn childcare the virtual way; maybe long distance childcare, too. |
David Brin (1994) |
Visible Halo Providing a religious figure with a technological sign of grace. |
Anson MacDonald (1941) |
Visicastor A person who presents video broadcasts. |
Isaac Asimov (1953) |
Visigraphic Crowd Emotional Record A graphic record of the emotions of a crowd. |
Fritz Leiber (1943) |
Voice Combines exceptional insight into personalty with voice modulation to achieve control over individuals. |
Frank Herbert (1965) |
Voice Encyclopedia - a robot has answers Access to information via robotic voice recognition over the phone. |
Philip K. Dick (1969) |
Voight-Kampff Empathy Test - can you pass? A test consisting of a set of images and questions, asked while the subject's biometric data are gathered; intended to separate humans from non-humans. |
Philip K. Dick (1968) |
Voight-Kampff Test - are you human? A test intended to distinguish human beings from replicants. |
Ridley Scott (1982) |
Wende A change, a turning point, a reversal of culture and politics. |
Bruce Sterling (1993) |
Whuffie A system in which one's actions, as perceived by others, directly procure the necessities of life; reputation-based currency. |
Cory Doctorow (2003) |
Wire Act A person with special hardware modifications that allow him or her to create music by bodily movement. |
John Shirley (1985) |
Related Science Fiction in the News
Miss Alabama Beauty Contest Offers Different Standards '...they moved with the ease of dandelion puffs.' - Jack Vance, 1952. (re: Jack Vance, 11/29/2024 ) |
California Fireman Arrested For Starting Fires 'Fire is bright and fire is clean.' - Ray Brandbury, 1953. (re: Ray Bradbury, 9/21/2024 ) |
Tether Cryptocurrency Flow Rate US$190Bn Per Day 'Alex did not find it surprising that people... were electronically minting their own cash.' - Bruce Sterling, 1994. (re: Bruce Sterling, 9/5/2024 ) |
Poul Anderson's 'Brain Wave' "Everybody and his dog, it seemed, wanted to live out in the country; transportation and communication were no longer isolating factors." - Poul Anderson, 1953. (re: Poul Anderson, 8/11/2024 ) |
Waymo Cars Shout At Each Other, Autonomously 'My cars talk to one another. I have no doubt about it...' - Isaac Asimov, 1953. (re: Isaac Asimov, 8/2/2024 ) |
Cognify - A Prison Of The Mind We've Seen Before In SF 'So I serve a hundred years in one day...'- Joe Haldeman, 2011. (re: Joe Haldeman, 6/20/2024 ) |
Robot Preachers Found To Undermine Religious Commitment 'Tell me your torments,' the Padre said, in an elderly voice marked with compassion. - Philip K. Dick, 1969. (re: Philip K Dick, 4/26/2024 ) |
Gaia - Why Stop With Just The Earth? 'But the stars are only atoms in larger space, and in that larger space the star-atoms could combine to form living matter, thinking matter, couldn't they?' - Robert Castle, 1939. (re: Robert Castle, 4/18/2024 ) |
Splendid View Of Eclipse From Orbit Visualized And Repurposed By Arthur C. Clarke 'The area affected was five hundred kilometres across, and perfectly circular.' - Arthur C. Clarke, 1953. (re: Arthur C. Clarke, 4/12/2024 ) |
SensorWake Scent-Based Alarm Clock 'The odalarm awoke Jorj X. McKie with a whiff of lemon.' - Frank Herbert, 1977. (re: Frank Herbert, 2/22/2024 ) |
Ulm Sleep Pods For The Homeless 'The lid lifted and she crawled inside...' - Larry Niven, 2000. (re: Larry Niven, 2/14/2024 ) |
Prophetic Offers Lucid Dreaming Halo With Morpheus-1 AI ''Leads trail away from insertion points on her face and wrist... to a lucid dreamer...' - Peter Watts, 1999. (re: Peter Watts, 2/12/2024 ) |
Navajo Say Human Cremains On The Moon Is 'Desecration' 'Like all loonies, we conserve our dead...' - Robert Heinlein, 1966. (re: Robert Heinlein, 1/6/2024 ) |
Drones Participate In Buddhist Rites '...a prayer wheel swung into view and began spinning at a furious pace.' - Roger Zelazny, 1967. (re: Roger Zelazny, 11/21/2023 ) |
Peyton Manning's French Bread Olympics - Science Fiction Style 'the inauguration of the helium-filled loaf...' (re: Fritz Leiber, 10/5/2023 ) |
Do Aliens Have A 'Non-Interference' Prime Directive? '... it was against the law for our people to visit Earth.' - George Parsons Lathrup, 1897. (re: George Parsons Lathrup (w/T. Edison), 7/17/2023 ) |
Collie Dog Suit Fulfills His Dream - Of Walking In Public As A Dog 'The Lon Chaney of the interstellar set.' - Roger Zelazny, 1976. (re: Roger Zelazny, 7/9/2023 ) |
Jonathan Swift in 1726 Predicted AI-Generated Crap Overwhelming Amazon In 2023 '...the most ignorant person... might write books... without the least assistance from genius or study.' - Jonathan Swift, 1726. (re: Jonathan Swift, 7/3/2023 ) |
Virtual Reality: Is Technology Alone Enough To Fully Enter A New World? 'Otherwise what good are the Perky Pat layouts to them?' - Philip K. Dick, 1969. (re: Phillip K. Dick, 4/11/2023 ) |
Amitabh Bachchan Wins Personality Protection 'He led me down the Hall of Portraits to the ego-likeness of the Duke Leto Atreides.' - Frank Herbert, 1964. (re: Frank Herbert, 2/25/2023 ) |
Bubloons May Be The Start Of Something Much Bigger 'Spurgle kicked at the letter G... It was a monstrous white thing, ten feet thick, half a city block long...' - Alan Nelson, 1953. (re: Alan Nelson, 2/11/2023 ) |
Sleeping Pods In Tokyo Railway Stations '... she was asleep before the lid sealed fully back in place.' - Larry Niven, 2003. (re: Larry Niven, 2/9/2023 ) |
Wist Labs Makes Minority Report Family Videos Come True Step inside your memory - it's immersive. (re: Steven Spielberg, 2/7/2023 ) |
Is It Better To Be Short? 'He was one of the smaller, energy-saving new breed...' - Frank Herbert, 1972. (re: Frank Herbert, 1/7/2023 ) |
The Coming Hell Of ChatGPT Salesbots 'Robot-salesmen were everywhere, gesturing, pleading, shrilling...' - Philip K. Dick, 1954. (re: Philip K. Dick, 12/19/2022 ) |
Holly+ Processes Your Singing In Holly Herndon's Voice 'The perfect voice is the voice of science.' - Bernard Brown, 1931. (re: Bernard Brown, 12/3/2022 ) |
Megachurches Catch Up To Heinlein 'Mars,' the kid repeated, threw Boone a Scout salute and made a sixty-foot leap over the crowd. - Robert Heinlein, 1961. (re: Robert Heinlein, 11/27/2022 ) |
Soulaje Self-Administered Euthanasia Wearable Prototype 'A young man... advanced with nervous strides along the gravel path which leads to the bronze doors of the Lethal Chamber.' - Robert Chambers, 1895. (re: Robert W. Chambers, 8/27/2022 ) |
Musk: Defeat The Bots, Authenticate The Humans 'I'm not a peace officer,' Rick said. 'I'm a bounty hunter.' - Philip K. Dick, 1968. (re: Philip K. Dick, 5/20/2022 ) |
SUCHO Saving Ukraine's Libraries Digitally 'No human mind could ever hope to master even a small portion of what was being received every second, Sam thought, but it would all be there...' - George Zebrowski, 1979. (re: George Zebrowski, 4/9/2022 ) |
Your Inner Sleeping Landscape Is An Advertiser's Dream 'The principle of the dream-machine was old.' - Edmond Hamilton, 1940. (re: Edmond Hamilton, 3/21/2022 ) |
Gas Prices Worse Than In 'I Am Legend' Yes, I remember when gas was thirty cents per gallon; but that's about $1.75 in 2015 dollars. Ah, inflation. (re: Richard Matheson, 3/11/2022 ) |
Cooler Screens Deliver Ads To You, Their Captive Audience 'What was it Grandmother used to call their supermarket? Hell on earth, hell on wheels, something like that.' - Anne Warren Griffith, 1953. (re: Pohl and Kornbluth, 3/3/2022 ) |
Scientifiction, Searchlight of Science 'And science goes on, with scientifiction as its searchlight.' (re: Jack Williamson, 12/31/2021 ) |
Betty Crocker, The First Company Avatar 'After six months of surgery and psycho-conditioning, he was identical with the other 496 Mr. Prestos...' - Alfred Bester, 1956. (re: Alfred Bester, 12/21/2021 ) |
Motessense - NTT Defines Your Attractive Personality '...portraiture reproduced through a shigawire projector that is ... said to convey the ego essence.'- Frank Herbert, 1965. (re: Frank Herbert, 12/3/2021 ) |
Self-Serve Sarco Suicide Pod '... the black chip of admission to your own Euthanasia Clinic!' - Jack Williamson, 1939. (re: Jack Williamson, 12/1/2021 ) |
iBand+ Headband Helps With Lucid Dreams 'Alice Nakata lies twitching on her bunk, eyes closed...' - Peter Watts, 1999. (re: Peter Watts, 11/29/2021 ) |
'Seabreeze' Apple And UCLA Project To Beat Depression 'It's illegal to hold back information during a psyche test,' the machine said peevishly.' - Philip K. Dick, 1953. (re: Philip K. Dick, 9/29/2021 ) |
John Lennon Would Have Loved Auto-Tune - Paul McCartney 'It is the perfect voice.' Bernard Brown, 1931. (re: Bernard Brown, 8/3/2021 ) |
Reading Ancient Records Of Humanity, With AI's Help 'You could never consult Archival Records in a straightforward manner.' - Frank Herbert, 1984. (re: Frank Herbert, 7/29/2021 ) |
Amazen ZenBooth Dispenses Serenity At Amazon 'That's what I get for dialing zen, Joe said to himself.' - Philip K. Dick, 1969. (re: Philip K. Dick, 5/25/2021 ) |
Ford's In-Car Ads From Billboards 'It would soon squeeze in and harangue him in the cranky, garbagey fashion of the Nitz advertisements.' Philip K. Dick, 1964. (re: Philip K. Dick, 5/3/2021 ) |
China Requires Social Credit Codes Of Live Stream Users 'Every man has his characteristic strakh...' - Jack Vance, 1976. (re: Jack Vance, 4/15/2021 ) |
Sheepskin Parchment Helped Medieval Lawyers Prevent Fraud 'The single sheet he held, and even the words and signatures upon it, were all integral parts of a single giant molecule...' - Gordon R. Dickson, 1960. (re: Gordon R. Dickson, 3/15/2021 ) |
'Black Friday' Online Shopping - In 1899! 'In your days they showed you a fashion-plate,' said the tailor, 'but this is our modern development.' HG Wells, 1899. (re: HG Wells, 11/21/2020 ) |
What Does A Tesla Full Self-Driving Car See? 'All objects within my panoramic gaze trembled and vibrated like quick motion pictures...' - Paramahansa Yogananda, 1946. (re: Paramahansa Yogananda, 10/13/2020 ) |
Satoshi Tomizu Creates Pocket Universes And Worldcraft Bubbles In Glass 'The Worldcraft bubble glittered, catching the light...' - Philip K. Dick, 1953. (re: Philip K Dick, 10/3/2020 ) |
Personalized Masks Appear 'The tiger stripes on Jim's mask... made the young people easy to identify.' - Robert Heinlein, 1949. (re: Robert Heinlein, 7/23/2020 ) |
Science Fiction Helps Young Readers Build Resiliency 'Reading science fiction and fantasy can help readers make sense of the world.' (re: Various, 5/11/2020 ) |
Unwanted Cruise Ships Huddle Together Out At Sea 'On the screen they passed in an endless, boundaryless flood of green specks...' - James Blish, 1957. (re: James Blish, 5/3/2020 ) |
News Mood Filter Web Extension 'He adjusted the n, the r and b knobs, and hopefully anticipated a turn for the better...' (re: Philip K. Dick, 4/29/2020 ) |
Maybe We Could Hibernate Until The Covid-19 Pandemic's End 'Cold-rest was a common last resort therapy for functional psychoses.' - Robert Heinlein, 1941. (re: Robert Heinlein, 4/15/2020 ) |
reLive Memorial Come Back As A Tree 'It was time - time to go again. She touched the leaf. She was wanted.' - Philip K. Dick, 1954. (re: Philip K. Dick, 3/15/2020 ) |
Arkangel: Automatic Visual Censoring It's whatever the Party says it is, Winston. (re: George Orwell, 3/9/2020 ) |
Singing Ringing Tree Wind-Powered Sculpture 'It was like no music Dirk had ever heard, It was eerie and wild...' - George RR Martin, 1977. (re: George R.R. Martin, 12/1/2019 ) |
Magic Mushroom Nose Spray From Silo Wellness 'I don't need help... that's not my diagnosis!' (re: Various, 11/27/2019 ) |
FlyZoo Robot Hotel By Alibaba '... hotels that specialized in non-human service.'- Harry Harrison, 1970. (re: Harry Harrison, 10/3/2019 ) |
Implanted Memories Provide Songs To Birds Finches can't tell the difference. (re: Philip K. Dick, 10/1/2019 ) |
Google Commits To Fighting Deepfakes 'The program raced up the screen one scan line at a time, subtly smoothing, deleting and coloring.' - Bruce Sterling, 1995. (re: Bruce Sterling, 9/25/2019 ) |
Mindar The Robot Buddhist Priest Offers A Blessing 'Not working is the hardest work of all.' - Philip K. Dick, 1969. (re: Philip K. Dick, 9/15/2019 ) |
First Artificial Memory Formed In Animals 'Is an extra-factual memory that convincing?' Quail asked. - Philip K. Dick, 1966. (re: Philip K. Dick, 8/29/2019 ) |
China's Artificial Intelligence-Enhanced Education 'The grey gas not only cut off his vision, but also his other senses...' - James Blish, 1951. (re: James Blish, 8/5/2019 ) |
France's 'Red Team' Of Science Fiction Authors 'They're the only experts we have.' - Niven and Pournelle, 1985. (re: Niven and Pournelle, 7/19/2019 ) |
BrainNet Triple Telepathic Gaming Threat 'In the gloomy half-darkness the three idiots sat babbling.' Philip K Dick, 1956. (re: Philip K. Dick, 6/27/2019 ) |
Project Dylan - Amazon's Voice-Activated Wearable That Recognizes Human Emotions Life imitates anime art. (re: Shoji Kawamori, 5/11/2019 ) |
Kazahk Ironist Protester Arrested For Blank Sign Protest '...a man carried a white rectangular sign, blank on both sides.' - Larry Niven, 1972. (re: Larry Niven, 4/27/2019 ) |
Bitcoin Surges Again, To $7,000 '... electronic, private cash, unbacked by any government, untraceable, completely anonymous.' - Bruce Sterling, 1994. (re: Bruce Sterling, 4/25/2019 ) |
North Sea Stone Age Reconstruction And Philip K Dick 'Your Dip digs back into antiquity. Rome. Greece. Dust and old volumes.' - Philip K Dick, 1954. (re: Philip K. Dick, 4/21/2019 ) |
Amazon Warehouse Computer Can Fire People Now 'The system has already fired five people...' - Marshall Brain, 2002. (re: Marshall Brain, 4/9/2019 ) |
China Social Credit System Like State-Run Whuffie 'At least there was no mandatory Whuffie check on the monorail platform...' - Cory Doctorow, 2003. (re: Cory Doctorow, 2/27/2019 ) |
Sex In Driverless Cars? Updated With Video! '...admirable for petting.' - David H. Keller, 1935. (re: David H. Keller, 11/17/2018 ) |
Xinhua AI Anchor Puts CGI Face To Automated News '...a congeries of software agents.' - William Gibson, 1996. (re: William Gibson, 11/1/2018 ) |
Wirewax Watching You Watch, Adjusting Your Experience 'He adjusted the n, the r and b knobs, and hopefully anticipated a turn for the better...' - Philip K. Dick, 1964. (re: Philip K. Dick, 10/30/2018 ) |
Disney Keeps Backups Of Star Wars Franchise Actors 'She is a personality-construct, a congeries of software agents...' - William Gibson, 1996. (re: William Gibson, 10/16/2018 ) |
Deepfakes Imperil Democracy (George Orwell, Right Again) 'All history was a palimpsest, scraped clean and reinscribed exactly as often as was necessary.' - George Orwell, 1948. (re: George Orwell, 9/17/2018 ) |
Inspired By Japan, Nap Pods For Hajj It's always a good time for a nap. (re: Larry Niven, 9/7/2018 ) |
'Snapchat Dysmorphia' Now A Thing, Say Plastic Surgeons 'The program raced up the screen one scan line at a time, subtly smoothing, deleting and coloring.' - Bruce Sterling, 1985. (re: Bruce Sterling, 8/3/2018 ) |
Bot Tweets Venmo Drug Transactions An alarming item to find on your twitter feed. (re: John Brunner, 7/11/2018 ) |
Ontario Starts Guaranteed Minimum Income 'Earned by just being born.'- Philip Jose Farmer, 1967. (re: Philip Jose Farmer, 7/5/2018 ) |
Save Your Brain's Connectome, Upload Yourself Elsewhere 'You've got remote storage. How regular is the update?' - Richard Morgan, 2003. (re: Richard Morgan, 3/15/2018 ) |
TMS Decreases Belief In God, Increases Belief In Immigrants '... Setting up the same currents, the same basic ideas, in them all.' - Edmond Hamilton, 1938. (re: Edmond Hamilton, 3/14/2018 ) |
Blockchain Used To Verify Election Results 'Any adult could punch into the phone his or her code, followed by a yes or no.' - John Brunner, 1975. (re: John Brunner, 3/6/2018 ) |
We Could Downgrade Puerto Rico - And Thereby Save It 'It was cheaper to pay the refugees to go without up-to-the-minute equipment.' - John Brunner, 1976. (re: John Brunner, 10/16/2017 ) |
The Neuroon Open Sleep Tracker For Lucid Dreaming 'Leads trail away from insertion points on her face and wrist... to a lucid dreamer on the bedside shelf.' - Peter Watts, 1999. (re: Peter Watts, 8/15/2017 ) |
'Do Not Pay' Chatbots To Replace Law Firm Associates? 'I want my lawyer program.' - David Brin, 1990. (re: David Brin, 8/1/2017 ) |
Translate One2One From IBM's Watson Your Communication Solution 'It then excretes into the mind of its carrier a telepathic matrix...' - Douglas Adams, 1979. (re: Douglas Adams, 7/2/2017 ) |
News Now Philip K. Dick's Bailiwick 'A vast complex electronic organism... responsible to no one...' - Philip K. Dick, 1963. (re: Philip K. Dick, 7/1/2017 ) |
Wearable MRI Is Former Occulus/Facebook Exec's New Project 'Your cephalochromoscope... that you always turn on and play when you get home...' - Philip K. Dick, 1977. (re: Philip K. Dick, 2/25/2017 ) |
51 Percent Of Job Activities Could Be Automated 'Mike did not have upsets, acquired sense of humor instead...' - Robert Heinlein, 1966. (re: Robert Heinlein, 1/23/2017 ) |
Scotland Set To Implement Basic Income 'Earned by just being born.'- Philip Jose Farmer, 1967. (re: Philip Jose Farmer, 1/11/2017 ) |
Life In Detroit's 'Agrihood' - The First In The U.S. 'countless tiny brown circles in the green fields ...occasional ruins of ancient cities...' - Philip K. Dick, 1954. (re: Philip K. Dick, 11/29/2016 ) |
3RDiTEK Lifeblogging Headband Camera 'It's logging anyway - everything you see on duty goes into the black box.' - Charles Stross, 2007. (re: Charles Stross, 6/28/2016 ) |
Robot Lawyers And Robot Judges Now Everywhere 'The law clerk arrived, a smallish robot with a battered stainless steel hide and dull coppery features.' - Frederik Pohl, 1954. (re: Frederik Pohl, 6/20/2016 ) |
Roam-e Flying Selfie Drone Cam 'Tight mid-shot and pull out on but behind me...' -Karen Traviss, 2004. (re: Karen Traviss, 6/19/2016 ) |
DoNotPay Lawyer Program Contests Parking Tickets 'I want my lawyer program.' - David Brin, 1990. (re: David Brin, 6/16/2016 ) |
Beatie Wolfe's Album Is A Deck Of NFC Cards 'The greater trumps ready to step right out through those glistening surfaces.' - Roger Zelazny, 1970. (re: Roger Zelazny, 4/21/2016 ) |
All Your Prior Art Are Belong To Us '...how laborious the usual method is of attaining to arts...' - Jonathan Swift, 1726. (re: Jonathan Swift, 4/14/2016 ) |
One Third Of Young Canadians Prefer Robot Boss `Sit, old son. We have a lot to talk about.' - William Gibson, 1984. (re: William Gibson, 3/31/2016 ) |
Comedian Robot Named Data '[The] capacity to distinguish between gags that are partly funny and gags that are very funny' - William Tenn, 1951. (re: William Tenn, 3/26/2016 ) |
Is Space In The Brain Limited? '...Some totally different method of memory association in order to be eclectively time-binding.' - Robert Heinlein, 1941. (re: Robert Heinlein, 3/25/2016 ) |
Human Academics Recommend AIs As Teachers '... the torrent of facts that came from the memory cells of the City Fathers...' - James Blish, 1957. (re: James Blish, 3/4/2016 ) |
Apple Ring: Finally, Engineers Want To Make My Finger Watch 'Crayn glanced at his finger watch...' - HB Fyfe, 1951. (re: HB Fyfe, 1/17/2016 ) |
My Basic Income (Mein Grundeinkommen) 'Earned by just being born.'- Philip Jose Farmer, 1967. (re: Philip Jose Farmer, 12/25/2015 ) |
Kollektomat Tithing Machine 'He pressed buttons cast in the likenesses of animals and demons...' - Roger Zelazny, 1965. (re: Roger Zelazny, 12/23/2015 ) |
Internet Needs 'Hate Spell Checker' - Eric Schmidt 'He adjusted the n, the r and b knobs, and hopefully anticipated a turn for the better...' - Philip K. Dick, 1964. (re: Philip K. Dick, 12/1/2015 ) |
Niven's King's Free Park - In Toronto 'King's Free Park had been part of the San Diego Freeway...' - Larry Niven, 1970. (re: Larry Niven, 11/23/2015 ) |
Police Use Predictive Maps ala 'Minority Report' Routinely '...the data-receptors, and the computing mechanisms that studied and restructured the incoming material.' - Philip K. Dick, 1956. (re: Philip K. Dick, 11/6/2015 ) |
Lumo Projector Turns Kids Rooms Into Bradbury's Veldt 'The walls began to purr and recede... and presently an African veldt appeared...'- Ray Bradbury, 1951. (re: Ray Bradbury, 4/8/2015 ) |
Hologram Protest World's First 'Their bodies were in their dwelling cells, but their telucid images filled the hall.'- RF Starzl, 1931. (re: RF Starzl, 4/4/2015 ) |
Norlin Shoe Drone Robot UAV In-Store Delivery Thing 'Robot-salesmen were everywhere, gesturing, pleading, shrilling.'- Philip K Dick, 1954. (re: Philip K Dick, 3/6/2015 ) |
Brand Killer Helmet Blocks Real-Life Ads 'Some merely held the holos [ads] at arm's length.'- John Varley, 1977. (re: John Varley, 1/21/2015 ) |
Argentine Orangutan Receives Basic Human Rights 'They wouldn't dare let the Fuzzies be proven sapient...'- Little Fuzzy, 1962. (re: H. Beam Piper, 1/13/2015 ) |
Thync Mood Alteration Like PKD's Mood Organ 'I sat down at my mood organ and I experimented...' (re: Philip K. Dick, 1/10/2015 ) |
VirtualGreen Putting Simulator Like Brin's Needle-Gym 'My eyes saw a tiny, off-white chamber, its coarse floor of needles mimicking a steep hillside...'- David Brin, 1994. (re: David Brin, 1/8/2015 ) |
Meet 'Ross', Your Watson-Based Legal Researcher 'Why don't we just feed the bloody thing to LEX and ask for a summary?'- Greg Egan, 1991. (re: Greg Egan, 1/3/2015 ) |
A Basic Income TED Talk 'They de-emphasized what lack of work would do to Mr. Everyman'- Philip Jose Farmer, 1967. (re: Philip Jose Farmer, 12/18/2014 ) |
FuturICT Knowledge Accelerator And Psychohistory 'The reactions of human conglomerates to fixed social and economic stimuli...' (re: Isaac Asimov, 12/9/2014 ) |
Secrets Of Charismatic Speakers Revealed 'The tone, the timbre excellent - imperative, very sharp.'- Frank Herbert, 1965. (re: Frank Herbert, 11/29/2014 ) |
'Digital Drugs' (Like Herbert's Semuta?) Dismays Saudis 'The effect (described as timeless, sustained ecstasy) is elicited by certain atonal vibrations...'- Frank Herbert, 1965. (re: Frank Herbert, 11/11/2014 ) |
Time For A Universal Basic Income? 'Earned by just being born.'- Philip Jose Farmer, 1967. (re: Philip Jose Farmer, 10/30/2014 ) |
Will You Upload Your Mind Anytime Soon? And if so, how long will the copy last? (re: Richard Morgan, 10/22/2014 ) |
Blahtherapy - You Vent Anonymously To Strangers 'It's a service. Imposing no penances, it's kinder than the confessional.'- John Brunner, 1975. (re: John Brunner, 10/3/2014 ) |
Greenhouse Plugin Reveals Your Congressman's Money Sources 'Fuller details may be obtained by punching the code number...'- John Brunner, 1975 (re: John Brunner, 6/18/2014 ) |
Napping Station Now At UofM Library 'Then he strolled across the dayroom to the hypnoteleset...'- Pohl and Kornbluth, 1952. (re: Pohl and Kornbluth, 5/10/2014 ) |
Russia Bans Cursing, Demolition Man Morality Device Next 'John Spartan, you are fined five credits for repeated violations of the verbal morality statute.'- Demolition Man, 1993. (re: Various, 5/6/2014 ) |
How Do Americans See The Future Of Technology? What is most likely to happen in the future? Do you want to participate in the future? (re: Various, 4/17/2014 ) |
Updated: Flying Graffiti Drone Will Alter The Urban Landscape The tagger's dream - lie in bed while painting at a remote location. (re: William Gibson, 4/16/2014 ) |
Get Alien Vision And See New Colors! This guy can perceive a greater color range than you can. I guarantee it. (re: Roger Zelazny, 3/22/2014 ) |
HoverBall Bids Farewell To Ballistic Motion '...the ball darted in behind him.'- George Lucas, 1976. (re: George Lucas, 3/21/2014 ) |
Biotech Prisons - Serve A Thousand Years In a Day 'So I serve a hundred years in one day...'- Joe Haldeman, 2011. (re: Joe Haldeman, 3/21/2014 ) |
Momo App Locates 100M Possible Dates Nearby 'Locate where she's sitting, put the cursor on it...'- Larry Niven, 1998. (re: Larry Niven, 3/17/2014 ) |
Must Breaking Up Be Hard To Do? 'Whoever was placed inside the apparatus instantaneously experienced all the charms, lures, wiles, winks and witchery of all the fairer sex in the Universe at once.'- Stanislaw Lem, 1965. (re: Stanislaw Lem, 2/18/2014 ) |
SciCast Prediction Market Offers Collaborative Forecasting 'When you consolidate their replies they tend to cluster around the actual figure '- John Brunner, 1975. (re: John Brunner, 1/11/2014 ) |
Ten Years Of Technovelgy Thanks readers. I hope you've enjoyed it as much as I have. (re: Bill Christensen, 1/1/2014 ) |
OK2TALK Like Hearing Aid From Shockwave Rider 'Demanding no fees, it's affordable where psychotherapy is not.'- John Brunner, 1976. (re: John Brunner, 10/6/2013 ) |
75 Percent Of Americans Prefer Paper Books! 'The books were crystals with recorded contents.'- Stanislaw Lem, 1961. (re: Stanislaw Lem, 7/23/2013 ) |
New Global Century Center: China's Truman Show Venue We accept the reality of the world with which we are presented.- The Truman Show. (re: Various, 7/13/2013 ) |
Chris Hadfield, Space Oddity And Space Lawyers 'Had incorporated himself, in fact, under the laws of Vesta.'- Nat Schachner, 1941. (re: Nat Schachner, 5/27/2013 ) |
German Firm Seeks To Recruit Autistics Large corporations seem to be learning that people with autism can have unique strengths. (re: Elizabeth Moon, 5/22/2013 ) |
Personal Sniffer Robots '...The ticking combinations of the olfactory system of the hound.'- Ray Bradbury, 1953. (re: Ray Bradbury, 5/13/2013 ) |
A Big Collection Of Small Books 'Black, oblong, no larger than the end of Paul's thumb... It's a very old Orange Catholic Bible made for space travelers.'- Frank Herbert, 1965. (re: Frank Herbert, 4/23/2013 ) |
SimSensei Plus Kinnect Equals PKD's Voight-Kampff? 'We know this to be a primary autonomic response...'- Philip K. Dick, 1968. (re: Philip K. Dick, 4/2/2013 ) |
Elon Musk's Debt To Science Fiction Books A marvelous vision of a national fleet of electric phaetons that would truly revolutionize motor transport. And private space craft. (re: Various, 3/19/2013 ) |
Project Your Personality In Photos '...portraiture reproduced through a shigawire projector that is ... said to convey the ego essence.'- Frank Herbert, 1965. (re: Frank Herbert, 1/29/2013 ) |
First Bookless Public Library? 'No longer was it possible to browse among shelves, to weigh volumes in hand, to feel their heft, the promise of ponderous reading.'- Stanislaw Lem, 1961. (re: Stanislaw Lem, 1/13/2013 ) |
E-Book Reading Up - Print Book Reading Down 'You press this button here you see and the screen lights up giving you the index.'- Douglas Adams, 1979. (re: Douglas Adams, 1/7/2013 ) |
SynergyNet Multi-Touch Classroom 'Ender doodled on his desk, drawing contour maps... then telling his desk to display them in three dimensions from every angle...'- Orson Scott Card, 1985. (re: Orson Scott Card, 11/27/2012 ) |
How To 'Level Up' In Psychotherapy 'THE TIERSIAN THERAPY patients form a small and elite volunteer group...'- Philip Jose Farmer, 1991. (re: Philip Jose Farmer, 11/3/2012 ) |
Ethiopian Children Learn From Diamond Age Primers 'The book spoke in a lovely contralto, with an accent like the very finest Vickys.'- Neal Stephenson, 1995. (re: Neal Stephenson, 11/1/2012 ) |
Machine-Generated Fiction In Fiction 'Every one knew how laborious the usual method is of attaining to arts and sciences...'- Jonathan Swift, 1726 (re: Jonathan Swift, 10/30/2012 ) |
SF Unleashes Your Inner Asimov, Reading Or Writing Were you inspired by science fiction to create something? (re: , 10/28/2012 ) |
Global Crowd Intelligence Needs Your Help '... while nobody knows what's going on around here, everybody knows what's going on around here.'- John Brunner, 1975. (re: John Brunner, 10/17/2012 ) |
Rat Dreams Manipulated By Scientists 'Render freed his arm and lifted off his crown of Medusa-hair leads and microminiature circuitry...' (re: Roger Zelazny, 9/6/2012 ) |
Syrians Ask For Help From Mars '...enormous figures, drawn in characters of reflecting luminosity...' (re: Jules Verne, 9/5/2012 ) |
The Library Of The Future 'A Filer is an amazingly intelligent robot and there aren't many being manufactured.' (re: Stanton Coblentz, 8/21/2012 ) |
Trinity Chapel Offers Giving Kiosk 'A holy blue light filled the interior of the machine...' (re: Roger Zelazny, 8/19/2012 ) |
PredPol Crime-Prediction A Hit In L.A. 'All day long the idiots babbled...' (re: Philip K. Dick, 7/7/2012 ) |
Gideon eBibles And Frank Herbert's OC Bible The Gideons are surprising liberal in their approach, btw. (re: Frank Herbert, 7/2/2012 ) |
Google Wallet Like Pohl's Joymaker Credit Card You must know the institutional designation and account spectrum ... (re: Frederik Pohl, 7/1/2012 ) |
Space Command Is In Your Hands A most congenial project for Technovelgy readers. (re: Various, 6/23/2012 ) |
The Funnel Wall 'Some towers sound their notes while others fall silent...' (re: George R.R. Martin, 6/1/2012 ) |
The Most Densely Populated Place On Earth 'The population density shocked McKie...' (re: Frank Herbert, 5/6/2012 ) |
Tupac Hologram Performs With Snoop, Dre 'Pac's Thug Life, back from the dead. (re: Gene Roddenberry, 4/20/2012 ) |
Danceroom Spectroscopy Nano Dance Make music by interacting with the quantum world. (re: John Brunner, 4/17/2012 ) |
Microsoft Universal Translator Uses Your Voice It maintains all of your voice characteristics as you effortlessly speak other languages. (re: Gene Roddenberry, 3/12/2012 ) |
$200K In Bitcoins Stolen Wherever there are hard working gold miners, there are thieves. (re: Charles Stross, 3/7/2012 ) |
Futurist Agrees With Star Trek: DS9 On Job Destruction It's a dramatic idea, but check the evidence. (re: Various, 3/3/2012 ) |
Bank Of America ATMs Are Now Truth Machines John Brunner gave us the idea for this kind of data transparency. (re: John Brunner, 1/17/2012 ) |
Can Lucid Dreaming Improve Physical Skills? Attention dreamers! Lie down and start training. (re: Roger Zelazny, 12/22/2011 ) |
'World's Heaviest Woman' Title Sought To balance out the World's Greatest Losers, we find the world's most serious gainers. (re: Jack Vance, 9/12/2011 ) |
Klout Score Measures Your Influence Based on 10 networks including Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn and Foursquare. (re: Jack Vance, 9/11/2011 ) |
Interactive Storytelling On iPad The iPad moves further into a science-fictional future. (re: Neal Stephenson, 7/14/2011 ) |
South Korean Students Go All Tablet By 2015 Today's textbooks weigh 5 times what they did when I was a child; we need to give children a break from the fifty pound backpack. (re: Orson Scott Card, 7/4/2011 ) |
Fast Entropy, PHE And Psychohistory Is Isaac Asimov's psychohistory a viable idea? This scholar with degrees in economics, law and physics thinks so. (re: Isaac Asimov, 7/2/2011 ) |
Amazon Sells More E-Books Than Books Truly mind-boggling development at Amazon. (re: Stanislaw Lem, 5/27/2011 ) |
TellApart Ads Follow You On The Web Can a computer predict that you will be a customer, justifying its pursuit of you across the web? (re: William Gibson, 5/15/2011 ) |
Look Forward: IRS 'Pre-Audit' Would Predict Tax Cheating 'All day long the idiots babbled, imprisoned in their special high-backed chairs.' No, wait. (re: Philip K. Dick, 4/15/2011 ) |
China Bans Time Travel-Based TV Shows China's General Bureau of Radio, Film and Television has a problem with 'made up' stories. (re: Various, 4/4/2011 ) |
Thanks For Being Open Apple, Amazon, Barnes And Noble In which the author, a modern-day consumer, has a better-than-sfnal experience in shopping for a book. (re: Stanislaw Lem, 4/1/2011 ) |
Google And The Psychohistorians 'A further necessary assumption is that the human conglomerate be itself unaware of psychohistoric analysis...' (re: Isaac Asimov, 3/26/2011 ) |
India To Issue One Million Aadhaar Biometric IDs Per Day Soon, every unique citizen in India will also have a unique, government-issued biometric identification card. (re: Robert Heinlein, 2/28/2011 ) |
Technovelgy Has 2,000 SF Inventions, Ideas and Technologies That's a lot of science fiction technology, ideas and inventions. (re: Various, 2/16/2011 ) |
Confession App For iPhone Catholic Church Approved This app does everything but give you absolution. (re: Philip K. Dick, 2/9/2011 ) |
Google Translate for iPhone App Impressive app for Apple iPHone owners. (re: Hugo Gernsback, 2/9/2011 ) |
Egypt Drops Dime, Pulls Plug On Internet The government of Egypt made a few phone calls and poof! Its citizens have no Internet access - and we have no access into the country from outside. (re: John Brunner, 1/28/2011 ) |
Cliodynamics: Modeling Complex Societies Mathematically 'The basis of all valid psychohistory lies in the development of the Seldon Plan.' (re: Isaac Asimov, 1/19/2011 ) |
See Jesus? There's An App For That AppTech intends to 'offer religious themed content through the various Smartphone operating platforms.' (re: Roger Zelazny, 1/2/2011 ) |
Medical Researcher 'Discovers' Integration Updated! Do we need a specific type of scientist or researcher that specializes in knowing the specifics of many different fields of knowledge? (re: A.E. van Vogt, 12/14/2010 ) |
Synthespian Wannabe: Tron Legacy's Jeff Bridges Jeff Bridges enjoyed being scanned into the movie Tron: Legacy. His original character did not enjoy being scanned into the video-game Tron. (re: William Gibson, 11/30/2010 ) |
Virtual Star Hatsune Miku In 3D Hologram Concert Video Amazing HD video of this live concert presented by an idoru, a personality-construct famous in Japan. (re: William Gibson, 11/13/2010 ) |
E-Voting Simple And Verifiable Does David Bismark have the best idea for a simple, verifiable and transparent means of electronic voting? (re: John Brunner, 11/4/2010 ) |
First Cashless Society - In Somaliland? Leave your wheelbarrow of cash at home. (re: Frederik Pohl, 9/5/2010 ) |
Vivos Shelter Network Survivalist Luxury 'A family would be safe, even comfortable, during the most severe H-bomb and bacterial-spray attack.' (re: Philip K. Dick, 8/10/2010 ) |
Google Adjustable Television Google wants you to have the greatest possible freedom of choice in selecting programming. Philip K. Dick also wanted you to have freedom of choice _within_ programming. (re: Philip K. Dick, 5/21/2010 ) |
Google Goggles Translates Pictured Text The Goggles application just gained a new feature that could be a big hit in European restaurants. (re: Hugo Gernsback, 5/6/2010 ) |
'Healing Blade' Game Of Sorcery And Modern Medicine Amazing new table-top card game by two physicians teaches medical strategy in a world of apothecaries and lords of pestilence. (re: Various, 5/2/2010 ) |
Conservation Of Tweets Think carefully when you tweet - future generations are waiting for your 140 character masterpieces. (re: Frank Herbert, 4/14/2010 ) |
Marvel's iPad Battery-Powered Comic Book SF fans, at least, are not surprised or unprepared by Marvel's new comic book app for the iPad. (re: Philip K. Dick, 4/3/2010 ) |
Dark Cloud: The Future Of (Anti-)Social Networking In which two books, read at the same time, coincidentally make each other more interesting. (re: Barnes/Lanier, 4/2/2010 ) |
HLYWD Migratory Anagram Unusual art project suggests that the HOLLYWOOD sign letters should be allowed to roam at will. (re: Alan Nelson, 3/23/2010 ) |
Chinese Netizens Demand Info To Achieve Doublethink It should be obvious that you can't be expected to censor yourself unless you have access to information to which you shouldn't have access. (re: George Orwell, 3/21/2010 ) |
Repo Men, Artiforgs And Health Care I just wanted to make sure everyone knew where all this was coming from. And one other thing. (re: Various, 3/19/2010 ) |
A Timeline of Science Fiction Inventions: Weapons, Warfare and Security Lots of people wondered if there was a place where you could get more information about these sf inventions and ideas. (re: Various, 3/7/2010 ) |
Twitter 360 Augmented Reality It's funny, but I just read about this in Daniel Suarez' new novel. (re: Daniel Suarez, 2/27/2010 ) |
Augmented Reality Tattoo Flaps Wings Well, if you can't implement it in hardware, maybe you can make it work in software. (re: Samuel R. Delany, 2/21/2010 ) |
Steam Infrastructure-Powered Music What happens when city steam infrastructure is dedicated to the production of music? (re: Allan Dean Foster, 1/30/2010 ) |
James Cameron's Avatar Synthespians Updated with comment by Jeff Kleiser and a video. Is the world ready for artificial actors? James Cameron's technology in Avatar may make this long-delayed idea a reality. (re: William Gibson, 1/19/2010 ) |
Time Inc. Digital Magazine Video Compare this video of Time's prototype digital magazine with an earlier tongue-in-cheek video of a real-world handheld device. (re: Stanislaw Lem, 12/3/2009 ) |
Best Handheld Device? Is this device the most usable handheld ever created? You be the judge after watching a short and informative video. (re: Various, 11/30/2009 ) |
Man Marries Anime Game Character See this video of an unusual marriage between a guy and his favorite anime character from the Love Plus dating simulation game for Ninendo. (re: Various, 11/24/2009 ) |
Facebook Online Memorial Service Anthropologists often point to ceremonies surrounding the treatment of the dead as evidence of civilization. What does this current news story say about us? (re: Gene Roddenberry, 10/27/2009 ) |
Silicon Sunshine - Data Transparency In Government Should the government be forced to put every last bit of information it has online, every minute of every day? Lawrence Lessig has comments, and so does John Brunner. (re: John Brunner, 10/15/2009 ) |
First Bank Of Antimatter Issues Anti-Money Interested in trading currency? Have you thought about antimatter depository notes? (re: Various, 10/14/2009 ) |
Eigenharp Favored By Mos Eisley Musicians Too good to be kept in a galaxy far, far away, the Eigenharp lets you perform complex synthesized music onstage without cumbersome keyboards. (re: George Lucas, 10/10/2009 ) |
The Periodic Table Of Science Fiction Now Online Very short stories that are somehow centered around an element are now available online from sf author Michael Swanwick. (re: Michael Swanwick, 10/8/2009 ) |
Surviving In Zombieland Do physicists hold the key to surviving zombie attacks? Probably not, but I'd take any excuse to learn more about random walks. (re: Various, 10/1/2009 ) |
Jedi Persecution In Wales: General Order 66 Or 'Sith Happens'? Jedi religion founder Morda Hehol accuses Tesco of persecution; the retail empire srikes back. (re: George Lucas, 9/20/2009 ) |
Physicists Predict Shanghai Exchange Plunge What would it be like if a culture sublimated the energy that usually goes into scientific discovery into advancing capitalism? (re: Gene Roddenberry, 9/17/2009 ) |
The Whuffie Bank: Reputation-Based Currency This new startup will track your online reputation for you. (re: Cory Doctorow, 9/16/2009 ) |
Library Removes All Books It's a radical move, getting rid of all of the books in your school library. Will they be missed? (re: Vernor Vinge, 9/8/2009 ) |
'Virtual Iraq' Therapy For PTSD This program allows the therapist to return someone suffering from post-traumatic stress disorder to the scene of the trauma, for healing. (re: Roger Zelazny, 8/18/2009 ) |
Emotion Tracking Big Comedy Brother Finally, Big Brother will have a software option for making sure that you are really participating in the Two Minutes' Hate. (re: George Orwell, 8/17/2009 ) |
Zombie Math - Modeling The Attack What happens when professional mathematicians and statisticians get together to analyze fictional situations? (re: Various, 8/15/2009 ) |
Shrink Wrapped Psychiatric Help For Avatars Short video presents an interesting case for the therapist; Second Life avatars have complicated presentations for the therapist. (re: Roger Zelazny, 8/13/2009 ) |
iPhone-Based Augmented Reality In Development Superimpose your viewpoint on reality - not just for yourself, but for others too. Some in concept, some in beta and some in reality. Oh, and some in sf. (re: Various, 8/12/2009 ) |
Therapists Plan World Of Warcraft Raid Interesting proposal to have mental health professionals enter the game and attempt to work with players while online. (re: Roger Zelazny, 7/30/2009 ) |
Asimov's Psychohistory May Be Possible Many of us enjoyed the Foundation stories; did you think that psychohistory might actually be a workable discipline? (re: Isaac Asimov, 7/29/2009 ) |
Perky Pat-Style Unemployment Layout If you don't like your present circumstances, and long to return to the life of an employed cubicle-dweller, take this tip from Philip K. Dick. (re: Philip K. Dick, 7/27/2009 ) |
Undersea UFOs Seen By Russian Navy Interesting stories surface from the declassified files of the Russian Navy. During the Cold War, the Russians found more than they bargained for underwater. (re: Various, 7/26/2009 ) |
Tweet Your Prayers To Jerusalem's Western Wall This unusual site will accept your tweets and pass them on; it's an electronic extension of a practice that dates back hundreds of years. (re: Various, 7/24/2009 ) |
Kindle Orwellian Nightmare Comes True! Literary irony was substituted for e-book versions of 1984 and Animal Farm on Kindles all over America today. (re: George Orwell, 7/17/2009 ) |
'Precrime' Parole System In Philadelphia A machine learning system in Philly tries, with considerable success, to predict which inmates should be paroled. (re: Philip K. Dick, 7/14/2009 ) |
Smile Machines Scan and Rank Workers Daily Message from your mechanized boss - 'I'm afraid your smile has fallen off from a 91 to an 83. Bring up the corners of that mouth, won't you?' (re: Various, 7/8/2009 ) |
Self-Portrait Machine - Robotically Compelled Art Art project prototype puts the use of machines into sharp perspective. (re: Various, 7/2/2009 ) |
Google Earth Typography What do aliens see when they look at Earth from afar? Maybe letters. (re: Jules Verne, 6/30/2009 ) |
NewsXperiment Combines All Your News Why monitor hundreds of tedious newsfeeds when you can read them all in one blog post? (re: Various, 6/6/2009 ) |
Geek Saints In worshipful adoration, we humbly present our saints for worship. (re: Neal Stephenson, 5/22/2009 ) |
The Longest Story Ever Told? Updated with interview. This story will take many generations of human beings to believe and yet it fits on the cover of a standard magazine. (re: Various, 5/20/2009 ) |
Walk-In Cocktail Available In London What appears to be the first walk-in cocktail is now available in a pub in Britain. (re: Frank Herbert, 4/23/2009 ) |
Iceland's Krona Worth More In MMORG EVE Online? As we move back and forth between real and virtual worlds, it gets harder to tell where the real money is. (re: Various, 4/10/2009 ) |
Plant Is First Person Shooter Who knows, perhaps border vegetation has more of a role to play in Homeland Security than we thought. (re: Various, 4/10/2009 ) |
Wrong Tomorrow - A Brin Predictions Registry? This site keeps track of predictions, and might help us separate the seers from the blowhards. (re: David Brin, 4/2/2009 ) |
Watchmen Science Physicist Jim Kakalios discusses the science of Watchmen in this video; he uses science fiction to sneak in a lot of interesting science. (re: Various, 3/27/2009 ) |
Information Age Prayer Pray-O-Mat Can a machine say prayers for you? Now, you can test it out. (re: Roger Zelazny, 3/22/2009 ) |
UK SF Writers On Science Fact Science fiction writers discuss science and science fiction. (re: Various, 3/18/2009 ) |
Your Blade Runner Technology Is Ready, Rick Deckard Take a look at seven! classic science fiction tech items, and their real-life counterparts, in this, your Blade Runner future. (re: Ridley Scott, 3/15/2009 ) |
U.N. Hosts Intergalactic Representatives The United Nations is looking for insight into problems that face its members. (re: Various, 3/15/2009 ) |
TASC - DARPA's Psychohistory Interesting effort to develop 'branch of mathematics which deals with the reactions of human conglomerates to fixed social and economic stimuli.' (re: Isaac, 3/8/2009 ) |
Mii Avatar Wanted Poster For Non-Virtual Manhunt This story could go in either of two ways - not surprisingly, I like them both. With a surprise reference to Michael Crichton's Runaway. (re: Michael Crichton, 2/19/2009 ) |
Reputation As Property Whether you say 'whuffie' or 'strakh,' young and old sf fans understand the value of reputation. (re: Jack Vance, 2/3/2009 ) |
Tetris Reduces Emotional Scars No wonder people in advanced technological societies have been playing so much Tetris - and no wonder it was invented in the former Soviet Union. (re: Philip K. Dick, 1/7/2009 ) |
Cymascope CymaGlyphs - Dolphin Picture Words How can we translate the language of another species? The CymaScope may give the answer. (re: Various, 1/2/2009 ) |
Virtual Body-Swapping Tech Can you accept the illusion of having swapped bodies with someone or something else? Yes you can! (re: William Gibson, 12/19/2008 ) |
'Comical Robot' An Aid To Conversations Ah... how do you fill those awkward silences? This little robot can help. (re: William Tenn, 12/16/2008 ) |
Reactogon Synthesizer - Chain Reactive Performance Arpeggiator Fascinating musical interface is a cross between a board game and an instrument. (re: Jack Vance, 12/6/2008 ) |
The Truman Syndrome An interesting example of the connection between popular culture and mental health. (re: Various, 12/3/2008 ) |
Smule Ocarina First iPhone Instrument This amazing application for the iPhone not only makes the first true iPhone musical instrument possible, it broadcasts your music around the world. (re: Gene Roddenberry, 11/19/2008 ) |
Tivo, Facebook: Online Pizza Deliverators Proliferate Why pause for even a moment from your electronic nirvana; now digital ordering leads to real world satisfaction - pizza-wise. (re: Various, 11/17/2008 ) |
Bach Organ Recital - On Mars Sure, space probes have cameras, and that's great. But what about... microphones? (re: Various, 11/12/2008 ) |
Top Footballers Face 7/7 Testing Top flight soccer players in the UK now face Olympic-style restrictions during the season. What if there was a league that embraced performance enhancement? (re: Chris Nakashima-Brown, 11/11/2008 ) |
Vote Flipping Video Shows Poor Electronic Plebiscite Video of how a voting machine fails to properly register a voter's choices makes me think that paper ballots might have a future. (re: John Brunner, 10/30/2008 ) |
Australia Building Real 'Eureka' Tech City The University of Queensland, in Australia has been watching Eureka, the TV series about a town full of geniuses - or so it appears - because they want to build one for real. (re: Various, 10/28/2008 ) |
Virtual Wife Nags Via Email Solicitous correction and help from your virtual wife, presented with helpful sfnal references. (re: Gene Roddenberry, 10/22/2008 ) |
3rd Space Vests Lets You Feel Game Hits Any engineer will tell you that a system with no negative feedback goes out of control. Feel the pain in your game and stop the spiral. (re: Various, 10/20/2008 ) |
Alien Languages Translated By Computer Program? Interesting effort by British researcher to take a shot at understanding alien languages - when we actually get a sample. (re: Various, 10/18/2008 ) |
Paul Krugman's Asimov Inspiration Dr. Paul Krugman has an interesting connection with sf; his career choice was inspired by a well-known work by Isaac Asimov. (re: Isaac Asimov, 10/14/2008 ) |
Zhu Bot Zhejiang Scrap Metal Transformer Sculptures Transformers are near and dear to the hearts of scrap metal enthusiasts in China. As you can see. (re: Various, 10/12/2008 ) |
NeuroSky MindSet Brainwave-Controlled Game Demoed My son can't wait for the MindSet version of the The Force Unleashed game. Don't think it will happen? I find your lack of faith disturbing... (re: Various, 10/8/2008 ) |
Blogging Houseplant Midori-San Maybe you don't listen to your plants, but you can read what this one has to say. (re: Roger Zelazny, 10/7/2008 ) |
Tributes.com Digital Obituary News Want to live forever on the web? This site intends to bring obituary notices to the web, with the potential to offer multi-media tributes to comfort the bereaved. (re: Rudy Rucker, 9/16/2008 ) |
Atheon Temple To Science Open For Worship Soon Interesting art project that presents a scientific alternative to worship; fans of Neal Stephenson will hear echoes of his new book 'Anathem.' (re: Various, 9/15/2008 ) |
reCAPTCHA Old Manuscripts Now! Humans come to the rescue of the machines; this program takes a human priority (sensing human input) and adds value. (re: Harry Harrison, 8/18/2008 ) |
Tesla Coil Used As Guitar Amp Many uses have been proposed for the Tesla coil; this one seems very fitting for guitar enthusiasts. (re: Various, 8/5/2008 ) |
Bent Pikachu Hellraiser Borg This isn't what you'd call a prediction; it's more of a ghastly mashup. (re: Various, 8/4/2008 ) |
'Pitvertising' Armpit Ad Dispay A really bad idea from the folks in advertising. (re: Various, 7/22/2008 ) |
Wikipedia Encyclopedia And Dick's Book Of The Kalends This book is exceptional not just because of the number of articles or its concept. Phip K. Dick fans might find the general idea familiar. (re: Philip K. Dick, 7/21/2008 ) |
Invasion By Technologically Advanced Civilization Reported A tragic story going on far from your local megaplex. (re: Various, 7/18/2008 ) |
Avatars United: Facebook For Avatars New website promises to bring the avatars together from across all virtual worlds; read the exclusive Technovelgy interview. Sorry, no real people allowed. (re: Various, 6/26/2008 ) |
Space Sportilization Earth-Based Sports In Space Interesting effort to involve kids in doing fitness exercises on Earth while predicting what would happen if you tried it in free fall. It also has a name more dorky than 'technovelgy.' (re: Various, 6/21/2008 ) |
Lessons To Be Downloaded Into Brains Of Schoolchildren Forward-thinking schoolmen get a jolt from the Matrix. (re: James Blish, 6/3/2008 ) |
Ikea Stuff Packs For Sims 2 'Perky Pat' Layouts You may not be able to afford the furniture, or an apartment with enough space to put it, but you can have your Ikea furniture in your Sims 2 'microworld.' (re: Philip K. Dick, 5/29/2008 ) |
Useful Body Modifications - The Ruler Tattoo Do you have a useful body modification? I could really have used a nice ruler tattoo when building decks over summer vacations. (re: Samuel R. Delany, 5/28/2008 ) |
Fortress World Barbarism Via Climate Change Sudden changes in the desirability of land are never a good sign; how will we adapt? (re: Gene Roddenberry, 5/27/2008 ) |
Do Aliens Have Souls? The Vatican's chief astronomer thinks that the existence of aliens would not contradict Catholic belief. But what about their souls? (re: James Blish, 5/18/2008 ) |
First Space Lawyer (2008 and 1941) Michael Dodge may be the first real American space lawyer, but he still has to take a backseat to Kerry Dale, sky-lawyer. (re: Nat Schachner, 5/13/2008 ) |
So You Want To Be A Mentat What does it take to develop yourself into a Mentat, the human computers from Frank Herbert's Dune? (re: Frank Herbert, 5/13/2008 ) |
Keyboard Pants I think I understand the jackets - and even lederhosen - with controls for your MP3 player built into them. But keyboard pants? (re: Murray Leinster, 4/27/2008 ) |
Flogo Clouds Are Floating Ads I know you're going to think that nobody could have predicted this - but you're wrong. (re: Alan Nelson, 4/16/2008 ) |
Plagiarism In Science Fiction When is it plagiarism to borrow from another writer? An aspiring sf writer wants to know. (re: Various, 4/10/2008 ) |
Nokia Shoot-to-Translate Camera This is a pretty neat application; see a sign in Chinese, take a picture and then read the English translation. (re: Various, 4/10/2008 ) |
AND The Kitchen Sync Interesting idea for a different kind of appliance in your kitchen - a more usable cookbook. (re: Neal Stephenson, 4/4/2008 ) |
Zoltan's Fembot Wife Zoltan says that he is not very good with relationships; that's why he built himself a girlfriend that he could get along with. (re: Fritz Leiber, 3/31/2008 ) |
Sajjdah 1426 LED Prayer Rug Has Mecca-Glow This prayer rug always knows how to orient itself. (re: Frank Herbert, 3/26/2008 ) |
Emotiv Headset Mental Gaming Is All In Your Head Not really a spectator sport, mindgaming may come into its own this year with the introduction of a new headset from Emotiv. Almost as cool as those Krell headsets. (re: , 3/25/2008 ) |
DIY Robotic Suicide Booth Used In Australia An Australian man facing life in assisted living chooses to build a suicide robot instead. (re: Various, 3/21/2008 ) |
NovaDreamer Dream Induction This little kit can provide you with some measure of control over your own dreaming sensorium - the ultimate virtual reality device. (re: Peter Watts, 3/21/2008 ) |
Break a Glass With Your Voice If you want your own weirding module, you should start small - on a glass - before testing it out on Sardaukar. (re: Frank Herbert, 3/12/2008 ) |
BodyMod In Old School SF - Quant Suff! Phantasmagoric body modification may be new in the meat space near you, but sf writers have been thinking about it for generations. (re: Samuel R. Delany, 2/15/2008 ) |
Rush Japan Mixes Tourism, Treasure And Nintendo DS Don't throw away that DS - you'll need it to find the treasure. (re: Various, 2/1/2008 ) |
Voxonic Software Lets You Sing, Speak In Any Language This software-based translation method can take a sample of your voice, and then translate you into any of almost 1,500 different languages. (re: Hugo Gernsback, 2/1/2008 ) |
Japanese Water Horse Goes Back To The Future Very striking video of the 3D advertisement created in Japan for the premiere of the film The Water Horse; the idea for 3D ad effects premiered in what movie? (re: Steven Spielberg, 1/29/2008 ) |
Cyberattack Blacked Out Cities, CIA Admits This is apparently the first time that the government has confirmed that cyberattacks have caused a power outage. (re: Various, 1/25/2008 ) |
'Electronic Mufti' May Issue Machine Fatwas A machine intelligence - an artificial intelligence apparatus - could look through thousands of examples to guide individuals. (re: Philip K. Dick, 1/22/2008 ) |
Kraft Programmable Food - With Nano-Capsules! Processed food giant Kraft is at it again, this time with nano-capsules full of flavor. (re: Jeff Noon, 1/4/2008 ) |
Jinsei Ginko Life Bank Brings Virtual Prosperity This nifty little piggy bank lets your virtual family live in virtual luxury - if you can pay the price. (re: Philip K. Dick, 12/27/2007 ) |
Alien Musical Instruments? David Bowie played me, Ringo Starr played me, Brian Eno played me - what am I? (re: Gene Roddenberry, 12/25/2007 ) |
Turbo Toaster Breakfast Blastoff Tired of waiting for your toast? Want to apply simple engineering to a basic human need. Wait no more. (re: Various, 12/20/2007 ) |
Dating Service Uses DNA To Find Best-Smelling Mate Okay, so you're tired of all those endless questions about your likes and dislikes on dating sites. One cheek swab gives you the answer on this site. (re: Various, 12/14/2007 ) |
Get Inside The 100 Foot Piano This unique exhibition, currently going on in NYC, gives you that 'mouse inside the piano' sound you've been yearning for. (re: Alan Dean Foster, 12/14/2007 ) |
'Paranormal State' Ad Billboard Makes You Hear Voices Advertisers are now using an 'audio spotlight' to put their message right into your ears. (re: Ray Bradbury, 12/13/2007 ) |
SenseCam Seems To Help Dementia Patients The SenseCam appears to be of use to at least some patients. (re: Roger Zelazny, 12/12/2007 ) |
Twin Solid State Musical Tesla Coils In Concert Did you know that Tesla coils could be made to produce music? Musical Tesla coils? It's starting to look a little like Christmas. (re: Alan Dean Foster, 12/6/2007 ) |
Virtual Marriages By 2015 If you can't wait to marry a robot by 2050, maybe you could get married in Second Life and enjoy virtual matrimonial bliss. (re: Various, 11/28/2007 ) |
Motion Capture Your Life Anywhere, Anytime I just realized this is just about exactly what William Gibson was talking about in All Tomorrow's Parties. (re: William Gibson, 11/27/2007 ) |
Interactive Apple Store Has Reactive Walls Dance to the images at the Apple store in Berlin. (re: John Shirley, 11/24/2007 ) |
Poker Bots No Limit Texas Turing Poker Poker bots are getting better and better - can you spot the bot when you play online? (re: Various, 11/14/2007 ) |
Magicmirror Augments Your Real Shopping Interesting effort to bring people back into stores by incorporating some of their online experience. (re: Various, 11/14/2007 ) |
Meat Chairs And Chairdogs Think of a genetically engineered chairdog. Now think of a chairdog with it's furry skin removed. Now click. (re: Frank Herbert, 11/14/2007 ) |
Got Big Ears, Large Forehead? Star Trek Needs You If you have any one of these exceptional characteristics, you may have a future in Hollywood! (re: Gene Roddenberry, 11/8/2007 ) |
Mod My Life Site Working On Meat Puppets This is a uniquely disturbing site with a truly bizarre mission - to put you in control of another person. (re: William Gibson, 11/6/2007 ) |
Kuka Robot Bible Calligraphy Can a robot benefit from performing a devotional task? (re: Arthur C. Clarke, 10/30/2007 ) |
BODiBEAT By Yamaha Lets Your Heart Pick MP3s While you listen to the beat, it also listens to the beat - of your heart. (re: Various, 10/25/2007 ) |
Mobile Journalism Toolkit By Nokia And Reuters These companies are not the first to think about what future journalists will need; see what Niven, Varley and Dick had to say. (re: Larry Niven, 10/24/2007 ) |
Blind Haptic Braille Tattoos - HiTek Scarification As a form of communication, this technique (which has ancient origins) now has a modern twist. (re: Various, 10/20/2007 ) |
Eyeball Tattoo Creates Eyes Of The Ibad These guys look like something straight out of a Dune movie casting call. (re: Frank Herbert, 10/18/2007 ) |
Big Brother Test Hall At Penn State Since old-fashioned honor codes don't seem to be working, Penn State turns to newfangled security gadgets - which, it turns out, are an old story too. (re: George Orwell., 10/13/2007 ) |
Bed-Case: Sweet Dreams, Bibliophiles Nifty design from a student lets sf fans combine two essential items of furniture - beds and bookcases. (re: Various, 10/9/2007 ) |
Quasi Universal Intergalactic Denomination (QUID) New Space Currency It's a mouthful - but you can call it a QUID for short. Why can't I just call them 'credits?' (re: Various, 10/7/2007 ) |
Fuji Zerox Copier Automatically Translates Remarkable device lets you copy, translate or both. (re: Various, 9/27/2007 ) |
Scavenge Local Mall CCTV And Make A Movie Remarkable film created entirely from digital movies scavenged from mall CCTVs. (re: Various, 9/27/2007 ) |
Americans Give Up Friends For Net Would you rather get news, information and companionship from the Internet, or from friends face to face? (re: E.M. Forster, 9/20/2007 ) |
Raytheon Creates Pain Box From Dune Raytheon has unwittingly created the pain box straight out of Frank Herbert's Dune novels. (re: Frank Herbert, 9/20/2007 ) |
MotionPortrait Creates 3D Zombified Version Of You From Photo This program may be perfectly fine for creating avatars, but I'd like some control over my own likeness, thanks. (re: Various, 9/19/2007 ) |
Donkey Motorcycle And Giant Lizard Rocket Launcher Can you think of any instances in which animals carried more advanced technology than you would expect? (re: Various, 9/17/2007 ) |
Bibliochaise Chair Book Throne The do-it-yourself spirit still thrives in others - how about you. (re: Various, 9/8/2007 ) |
China To Control Reincarnation Of Tibetan Buddhists Only science fiction fans are unsurprised by this bizarre turn of events. (re: Roger Zelazny, 8/18/2007 ) |
Smart Dressing Mirror RFID-Based mi-tu Fashion This system could make those endless hours of shopping go a lot faster. (re: Harry Harrison, 8/10/2007 ) |
Martians To Receive Great SF On CD Mars now has some reading material, in the event that you should have some down time while exploring there. (re: Various, 8/6/2007 ) |
For Those Who Read In Bed Adjust bed warmth by reading bedtime stories with this unique item. (re: Robert Heinlein, 7/25/2007 ) |
Robot Taiko Drummers Give Up Factory Day Jobs These bots are great on their own, but I know a great front man (robot) for them. (re: Herbert Goldstone, 7/24/2007 ) |
Eos TV - The Death Channel I don't think I would have thought of this one, but if you can get people to watch the weather on TV... (re: Various, 7/20/2007 ) |
RapLeaf, Whuffie and Strakh What is the best way to apportion goods between people in a society? How about starting with a reputation manager? (re: Jack Vance, 7/18/2007 ) |
Notificator Robot Messenger Predates Twitter Social networking is fully automated by the 1930's - didn't you know? (re: Various, 7/3/2007 ) |
Spice Girls Live Digital Enhancement Technology marches on, this time helping bring the Spice Girls up to their usual standard. Such as it is. (re: Ray Bradbury, 6/29/2007 ) |
SuiPo Posters Call Your Cellphone New way for otherwise inanimate objects to get to you. (re: Steven Spielberg, 6/24/2007 ) |
Punched Tape Music Box Hack This reminds me very strongly of something quite different, and yet similar. (re: Various, 5/28/2007 ) |
Anti-Shredder Computer Versus Stasi Secret Police Oh man, does Vernor Vinge have an idea for these people - talk about an anti-shredder! (re: Vernor Vinge, 5/11/2007 ) |
Science Fiction Movie Plus Alt Music Mashups Find herein a diverting trio of mashups - great sf imagery played against contemporary music. (re: Various, 4/17/2007 ) |
Interview With Greg Bear On Quantico This exclusive Technovelgy interview includes Greg Bear's comments on the ideas and devices used in his book Quantico. (re: Greg Bear, 4/16/2007 ) |
Robot Painter 'Action Jackson' Mimics Jackson Pollock This little robotic mechanism does a great job of creating works like those of Jackson Pollock. (re: Anthony Boucher, 3/26/2007 ) |
Science Fiction And The Imagination of Technologists MIT's Technology Review acknowledges the contributions of science fiction writers. (re: Various, 3/17/2007 ) |
Everything Is Toy RFID-Enabled Fun Cool prototype lets you impose music on your environment that makes you part of things, rather than distancing you from your surroundings. (re: Vernor Vinge, 3/10/2007 ) |
eBayaday Sells A View On eBay Slow light concept makes its way into the world of art. (re: Bob Shaw, 3/10/2007 ) |
Pay With Your Cellphone All you really need is your joymaker - I mean, cellphone. (re: Frederik Pohl, 2/16/2007 ) |
Whereabouts Clock Set to 'Unreleased' What ever happened to the Whereabouts Clock? I should have one by now - all my kids have cell phones. (re: J.K. Rowling, 2/5/2007 ) |
Map Of World Happiness - A Global Projection of Subjective Well-Being For the first time, a global projection of happiness is available; how happy are you? (re: Various, 1/9/2007 ) |
Virtual Milgram Experiment In this unusual twist on an iconic psych experiment of the 1960's, humans show what they are made of. (re: Various, 12/26/2006 ) |
Hack Your Reality The Virtual Way Yet another way for us to manipulate ourselves; and for others to manipulate our internal worlds, perhaps. (re: Philip K. Dick, 12/6/2006 ) |
Urban Cactus Architecture This unusual building calls other science-fictional buildings to mind. (re: Jack Vance, 12/1/2006 ) |
Online Magic Wardrobe From Accenture The study that goes along with this thing has some interesting ideas in it. Even if you aren't much for fashion. (re: Philip K. Dick, 11/28/2006 ) |
'Precrime' Database For London Homicide Prevention Unit London's Metropolitan Precrime ... I mean, Police Homicide Prevention Unit are looking for people who will one day commit crimes. (re: Philip K. Dick, 11/28/2006 ) |
Smart Homes And Municipal Darwinism Recycling and self-sufficient, self-fueling homes are one thing, but let's not let this thing get out of hand. (re: Philip Reeve, 11/24/2006 ) |
Dattoo Personal Skinprint Technology Concept Dattoos are a concept now, but they could be implemented with technologies we have now. (re: John Varley, 11/16/2006 ) |
Reactable Electro-Acoustic Tabletop Music Synthesizer This music synthesizer can be played by anyone; it looks as cool as it sounds. (re: Various, 11/8/2006 ) |
Cabrini-Green Windy City Musical Building The partially demolished towers of Cabrini-Green project in Chicago are now playing mournful music appropriate to the Windy City. (re: George R.R. Martin, 11/5/2006 ) |
The Church of Elvis This is not the first online church virtual experience, but you might actually be closer to Elvis. (re: Neal Stephenson, 11/2/2006 ) |
Big Brother Would Like A Word With You In a dubious zero-tolerance policy toward unwanted behavior, Britain lets Big Brother do the talking. (re: George Orwell, 10/27/2006 ) |
Two Human Species In 100,000 Years? Stick With Wells Will the human species bifurcate into Haves and Have-Nots? Eloi and Morlocks? (re: H.G. Wells, 10/26/2006 ) |
Books of Hope Talk to Everyone These talking books from Africa are a first. (re: Harlan Ellison, 10/21/2006 ) |
Second Life Now Has Reporters, Taxes My enthusiasm for an escape to onlife life is waning... (re: Neal Stephenson, 10/16/2006 ) |
AIC-CI Cookingrobot Chinese Robotic Chef Chinese fast foods now prepared by robots - maybe in your home before the end of the decade. (re: Anthony Boucher, 10/16/2006 ) |
Bytes Restaurant With Touchscreen Ordering This modern approach to making food faster meets with customer approval; waiter/waitress bargaining units not so sure. (re: Edgar Rice Burroughs, 10/15/2006 ) |
Color Frequency Video Turntable At NextFest 2006 This is a very cool item; fun to look at, fun to use and great to listen to. (re: Various, 9/30/2006 ) |
Remember Ring From Goldsmith's Unique ring uses a micro thermopile to help you remember important dates - yeah, like that one. (re: Robert Heinlein, 9/24/2006 ) |
Miuro Autonomous Music Robot Rather than outfitting your house with speakers in every room, why not have a stereo that follows you around? (re: Herbert Goldstone, 9/1/2006 ) |
Roentgenizdat: X-Ray Bones Jazz Recordings Amazing find from the old Soviet union - nothing held jazz fans back in those days. (re: Various, 8/30/2006 ) |
Scrollbars and Selections Make User Interface Art Scene Here's an artist who takes graphic user interface items and imposes them on the real world in the name of art. (re: Various, 8/29/2006 ) |
Cyberviolence A Growing Web Trend In South Korea Rumors and attacks on individuals by groups of Internet users is now a serious problem in South Korea. (re: John Brunner, 8/17/2006 ) |
Information-Free Zones Future Vacation Spot Interesting artistic concept - would you pay to keep from drowning in information and connectivity (at least on vacation)? (re: John Brunner, 8/15/2006 ) |
Virtual Piano Keyboard Much easier to carry up and down stairs to your new apartment. (re: Frederik Pohl, 8/13/2006 ) |
Diebold AccuVote-TS Security Flaw Diebold is at it again, this time threatening free and verifiable elections in the US. (re: William Gibson, 7/31/2006 ) |
Buddy On Demand Inflatable Friend To Women Drivers Inflatable dolls can make a real difference to lonely women driving at night, according to Reuters. (re: , 7/26/2006 ) |
Russians Enjoy 'Total Recall'-Style Fake Vacations Philip K. Dick fans will enjoy the story of this Russian tour agency that takes a page from We Can Remember It For You Wholesale. (re: Philip K. Dick, 7/24/2006 ) |
Prayer Antenna Religious Technology Artifact Religious technology takes a step forward with the development of the prayer antenna. (re: Roger Zelazny, 7/15/2006 ) |
Mr. T Pities The Fool Who Won't Turn Left Mr. T pities the fool who won't turn left; and he don't take no back talk, sucka! (re: Various, 7/4/2006 ) |
Invisible Maze Conceptual Holodek You need to squint a little to see this invisible maze - but it really is sort of like a holodek (alpha release, that is). (re: Various, 6/4/2006 ) |
VeriChip Chairman Proposes RFID Chips For Immigrants Looks like VeriChip is looking to expand its market; what works for cattle should work for guest workers, apparently. (re: Jack Vance, 5/31/2006 ) |
Micro Reactor Systems Creates Frank Herbert's Polawindows Frank Herbert wrote about polawindows in 1972; after just thirty short years, you can buy them. (re: Frank Herbert, 5/31/2006 ) |
Her Majesty's 'Web Robot' Catches Tax Dodgers Gadzooks! Loyal subjects concealing e-commerce income from Her Majesty caught by intelligent search agent. (re: Frederik Pohl, 5/30/2006 ) |
TileToy LED Puzzle And Jeff Noon's Randominoes Ever heard of randominoes? Sounds like someone has made something pretty close. (re: Jeff Noon, 5/18/2006 ) |
EtchASound - Picture Your Voice Hands-free Etch-A-Sketch in 3D; looks like great fun. (re: Various, 5/15/2006 ) |
Everybody Will Be Kung Fu Fighting In New Game Get off the couch and into the video - defy gravity without wires - use your own moves and your own weapons. (re: , 5/5/2006 ) |
Religion In Space How can you face Mecca when circling the Earth every 90 minutes? Just one problem faced by Muslims in space. (re: Various, 4/23/2006 ) |
Bibliochaise Armchairlibrary I could sit and read for a year straight in one of these. (re: Various, 4/22/2006 ) |
Banned Xbox Commercial Flash Mob Homebrew Not to be squashed by the bulk of Microsoft, dedicated xboxers use a flash mob to brew their own version of a banned commercial. Live. In public. (re: Larry Niven, 4/21/2006 ) |
Eventful Timebrokers Your Future Science fiction and culture merge in Eventful, a site on which sf writer Paul Di Fillipo's timebrokers would feel right at home. (re: Paul Di Fillipo, 3/26/2006 ) |
US Company Implants Chips In Workers Well, it's finally happened - US workers get chipped like dogs. (re: William Gibson, 2/14/2006 ) |
'Electric Sheep' Gaining On Real Pets Cute, cuddly robotic pets bring humans some of the same benefits as real pets. Electric sheep, anyone? (re: Philip K. Dick, 1/26/2006 ) |
Lucent DVR Sleep Detector Robert Heinlein anticipated Lucent technologies by forty-five years on this one. (re: Robert Heinlein, 1/13/2006 ) |
Sony Reader Electronic Paper Book Sony tries again with the Sony Reader - much improved DRM over its lockdown predecessor the LIBRIe. (re: Arthur C. Clarke, 1/7/2006 ) |
Black MA-1 Jacket Written Into Existence By William Gibson William Gibson writes it, and they make one for him. Damn. (re: William Gibson, 1/1/2006 ) |
National Archives And Dune's House Records Who's thought about records spanning milennia? Frank Herbert, that's who. (re: Frank Herbert, 1/1/2006 ) |
TREETENTS And House Trees Interesting realization of the pod-like dwellings described generations ago by Jack Vance. (re: Jack Vance, 12/23/2005 ) |
USB Bible Tougher Than Filament OC Bible More durable than the filament paper book; good for space travellers. (re: Frank Herbert, 12/15/2005 ) |
Terasem Conference On Law Of Transhuman Persons This past weekend, the First Annual Colloquium on the Law of Transhuman Persons took place in Florida (re: Larry Niven, 12/12/2005 ) |
Virtual Air Guitar Totally Rocks, Dude Awesome virtual air guitar hack lets others hear what you've been playing for years. (re: John Brunner, 11/29/2005 ) |
Space Aliens: The 'Mother' Of All Hallucinations? What do so-called 'abductees' see when they describe that big head alien guy? A psychologist weighs in. (re: Various, 11/22/2005 ) |
AI Software 'Robot' Lawyers Next Year Software lawyers from Brin novel are just around the corner. (re: David Brin, 11/13/2005 ) |
Catholic Belief And Extraterrestrial Intelligent Life Jesuits in fact and in fiction aproach the question of whether aliens might exist, and if they have souls. (re: James Blish, 11/10/2005 ) |
Second Skin Architecture: Mining Deep Mind Architecture students go deep within and bring back visions of second skins. (re: A.E. van Vogt, 9/25/2005 ) |
First Undersea Restaurant Ithaa opened just forty years after Jack Vance wrote about them. (re: Jack Vance, 9/20/2005 ) |
Weather As Art In the aftermath of Katrina, many of us wish that we had greater control over the weather; sf writer John Varley wrote a great story about it. (re: John Varley, 9/13/2005 ) |
WolframTones Cell Phone Tones From Cellular Automata Wintermute back on your cellphone, mon. (re: William Gibson, 9/11/2005 ) |
Animaris Percipiere: Walking Robotic Sculpture Stores Wind Energy Huge clockwork automata beasts roaming the beaches - they live on wind power. (re: Jack Vance, 8/22/2005 ) |
Node Explorer: Part Hitchhiker's Guide, Part Marauder's Map A paperback book-sized location-aware media player designed for use at historical sites. (re: Douglas Adams, 8/1/2005 ) |
Precrime Computer (Minus Precogs) Predicts Robbery Police in Yonkers use a computer to predict a robbery - and it worked. (re: Philip K. Dick, 7/24/2005 ) |
Robotic Singing Benches And Bins With Adam's GPP Robotic benches and bins with Sirius Cybernetics Corporation Genuine People Personalities have been created by Greyworld, a group of London artists. (re: Douglas Adams, 6/13/2005 ) |
Mars Crew Selection Fact And Fiction According to a recent article in The Scientist, psychological factors would seriously challenge the crew of a manned Mars mission. (re: Robert Heinlein, 4/14/2005 ) |
Prairie Dogs Can Talk, Says Scientist According to Dr. Slobodchikoff, Professor of Biology at Northern Arizona University, prairie dogs are capable of referential communication. (re: H. Beam Piper, 4/5/2005 ) |
Transgenic Zoo Needs Herbert's Fences Peter Yeadon has been thinking about a Transgenic Zoo for Toronto; it is an ongoing study of nanotechnology and new medical techniques. (re: Frank Herbert, 3/31/2005 ) |
ShasPod - Compact Talmud Study Aid The ShasPod is a twenty-gigabyte iPod loaded with 2,711 shiurim, one for each page of the Talmud. A shiur is a brief (30-60 minute) discussion by a religious teacher. Each shiur is in English mixed with Aramaic (the language of the Talmud) and some h (re: Frank Herbert, 3/17/2005 ) |
Augmented Reality Cemetery Tour - The Dead Speak An Augmented Reality tour of Atlanta's Oakland cemetery will let the dead speak to visitors. In a recent trial run, users carried laptops in backpacks and used game controllers to navigate the cemetary. (re: Rudy Rucker, 2/18/2005 ) |
Drive To Musical Wege House On Musical Road Wege House is a unique house built along a Lake Michigan beach. The core of the house consists of massive beams forty feet in length. They are the basis for the core musical instruments of the house - two long stringed instruments. When played, the l (re: George RR Martin, 2/3/2005 ) |
Asteroid Named After Douglas Adams Douglas Adams, author of Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy, now has an asteroid to call his own. Asteroid Douglasadams was among the 71 newly named celestial objects announced by the International Astronomical Union this past Tuesday. (re: Douglas Adams, 1/27/2005 ) |
Hit Song Science (HSS): Finetune Your Tracks A computer program called Hit Song Science (HSS) from Polyphonic HMI, is being used to predict success or failure for music. And it is being used by musicians around the world to "finetune" the music to which every one of us listens. (re: William Gibson, 1/19/2005 ) |
A Sleeping Bag That Walks Japanese mail-order magazine Tsuhan Seikatsu offers a new kind of sleeping bag experience for you jaded hikers and backpackers - the Arukeru Nebukuro, literally 'the sleeping bag you can walk in.' (re: Clifford Simak, 1/10/2005 ) |
Shuffle Master Bets On RFID Poker Chips Casinos have sought in vain to accurately track table game bets and rate a player's wagering tendencies - until now. Shuffle Master has acquired two RFID patents that will allow them to track every chip on the table. (re: Bruce Sterling, 1/6/2005 ) |
Biojewelry Bone Ring To Go With Your Jeweleye Looking for an accessory for your Jeweleye eyeball jewelry? Here it is! (re: Frank Herbert, 1/4/2005 ) |
The Loneliest Whale and Ray Bradbury In 1989, a very unusual set of whale calls were noticed in the North Pacific basin; the calls have been consistently recorded since 1992. (re: Ray Bradbury, 12/31/2004 ) |
Gated Communities Flourish - Offline and Online Gated communities are gaining popularity - online and off. (re: Neal Stephenson, 12/31/2004 ) |
Shadow Sculptures Of Shiego Fukuda Sculptor Shiego Fukuda created an apparently abstract three-dimensional object - However, the image that Fukuda wants you to see is the shadow of the sculpture - a motorcycle that can be seen when a light is passed through. (re: Jack Vance, 12/24/2004 ) |
Man vs. Machine: Surviving Compaction In A Garbage Truck In a classic story of man versus machine that took place right in my own home town, a homeless man in Ann Arbor, Michigan survived compaction in a garbage truck. (re: George Lucas, 12/18/2004 ) |
Encyclopedia Googleactica - Google To Put All Human Knowledge Online Google to put ten million books online; thank goodness for google. Of course, we're still waiting for Google Audio (TM) and Google Video (TM)... (re: Robert Heinlein, 12/15/2004 ) |
Skeletar And Dragon Lyre ExoticGuitars - Science Fiction Instruments Luthier Peter McGilton has used his Masters Degree in Fine Arts, and post graduate studies in classical instrument construction, to take the guitar-maker's art to truly science-fictional levels. Jack Vance would love this guy. (re: Jack Vance, 12/7/2004 ) |
iBand Exchanges Data With Handshake But Lacks Hand Jive Recognition As the makers of the new iBand remark, initial meetings and introductions build relationships, but only if you can remember whom you shook hands with. That's why the iBand gathers and processes information automatically when it registers a handshake (re: Neal Stephenson, 11/18/2004 ) |
Beer Drinking Elephants Wish For Draco Tavern Wild elephants shouldn't trample villagers to get at rice beer - they should try the Draco Tavern. (re: Larry Niven, 11/15/2004 ) |
Interactive Face For Big Brother Tired of stiff, unmoving, iconic images of Big Brother? Take a look at Jeremiah, a virtual face that interacts with the people around him. (re: L. Frank Baum, 11/11/2004 ) |
WiFi Hog - Early Xmas For Nihilistic Technofetishists Do you long to stake your claim to the wireless wide open spaces? Here's the tool for the bandwidth hog (cybersquatter?) in all of us. (re: William Gibson, 11/9/2004 ) |
10x10 News Interface Cooler Than Google's By Factor Of 10 I love Google, but 10x10 is a Flash-based news interface created by Jonathan Harris that presents a grid of pictures in the news. (re: Various, 11/8/2004 ) |
Future Face - The Principal Eigenface? Will the widespread use of digital enhancement to "improve" faces in photographs suggest the kind of face that people will have in the future? (re: William Gibson, 10/22/2004 ) |
Using Bad Movies To Teach Good Science Science News has a good article on how bad science movies are being used by good science educators. (re: Various, 10/22/2004 ) |
Alter Ego Exhibit - Avatars Revealed Earlier this month, an exhibition of avatars and their real-life counterparts opened in London. Is there a relationship between the visage of the avatar and the form of the real person? (re: Neal Stephenson, 10/19/2004 ) |
Northwestern Researchers Can Remember It For You Wholesale Researchers are working on making Rekal, Inc. a reality - false memory research is progressing. (re: Philip K. Dick, 10/15/2004 ) |
Is Your Candidate Human? In San Francisco they've been testing candidates for mayor with the Voight-Kampff empathy test from Bladerunner. I think they detected a politician... (re: Philip K. Dick, 10/10/2004 ) |
Smart Tag Art In London This site showcases hundreds of examples of tag art - they're too cool to scrape off. (re: William Gibson, 9/6/2004 ) |
Computer Key Rings Marché Noir's Computer Key Rings are spring mounted to accurately reproduce the action on your favorite key - so you can hit it whenever you need to reboot your cool. (re: Robert Heinlein, 8/29/2004 ) |
The Rapture Of The Avatar The Church of Fools, the Internet's first virtual-reality place of worship, got off to an unusual start when the avatar of Reverend Jem Clines turned to face the sanctuary wall and disappeared, leaving virtual parishioners thinking about The Rapture. (re: Neal Stephenson, 5/13/2004 ) |
Church of Fools: The Coming Of The Avatar? The Church of Fools, an experiment in online, interactive worship, will open its virtual doors this coming May 11th. The service will be lead by real priests or pastors who appear as "avatars." (re: Neal Stephenson, 4/19/2004 ) |
Yumemi Kobo - Lucid Dream Workshop Takara Co of Japan claims to have a machine that allows users to have the dreams they want - a dream factory. (re: Peter Watts, 1/15/2004 ) |
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