Science Fiction Dictionary
A  B  C  D  E  F  G  H  I  J  K  L  M  N  O  P  Q  R  S  T  U  V  W  X  Y  Z

Latest By
Category:


Armor
Artificial Intelligence
Biology
Clothing
Communication
Computers
Culture
Data Storage
Displays
Engineering
Entertainment
Food
Input Devices
Lifestyle
Living Space
Manufacturing
Material
Media
Medical
Miscellaneous
Robotics
Security
Space Tech
Spacecraft
Surveillance
Transportation
Travel
Vehicle
Virtual Person
Warfare
Weapon
Work

"I feel like I've been very fortunate in that I've stuck like a burr to the dog-leg of the next generation of nerdism. I've been carried into the XXIth century on Bill Gates' pants-cuff."
- William Gibson

Ersatz Window  
  A display device used in a room without an actual view of the outside; it shows a projection of a real scene.  

After a day of useless work, Joe Fernwright trudged back to a location that he referred to with the word "home."

"Home" consisted of a room on a subsurface level of a huge apartment building. Once, the Jiffi-View Company of greater Cleveland came by every six months and created a 3D projection, animated, of a view of Carmel, California. This "view" filled his room's "window," or ersatz window. However, of late, due to his bad financial situation he had given up trying to imagine that he lived on a great hill with a view of the sea and towering redwoods; he had become content - or rather resigned - to face blank, inert black glass.
Technovelgy from Galactic Pot-Healer, by Philip K. Dick.
Published by Berkley Publishing in 1969
Additional resources -

This device required another component to be fully functional; see the entry for psycho-lease encephalic gadget.

Compare to Robert Heinlein's simulacrum window from Tunnel in the Sky (1955), the sky ceiling from the 1961 novel Return From The Stars by Stanislaw Lem and the window wavelength from the 1969 novel Super-Toys Last All Summer Long by Brian Aldiss.

Comment/Join this discussion ( 0 ) | RSS/XML | Blog This |

Additional resources:
  More Ideas and Technology from Galactic Pot-Healer
  More Ideas and Technology by Philip K. Dick
  Tech news articles related to Galactic Pot-Healer
  Tech news articles related to works by Philip K. Dick

Ersatz Window-related news articles:
  - Winscape Plasma Monitor Windows
  - LiquidView Ersatz Windows, ala Philip K. Dick

Articles related to Display
iPhone Air Fulfils Jobs' Promise From 2007 - A Giant Screen!
Transparent 4K OLED Wireless TV From LG
DOTPad Braille Device Offers Live Access
Transparent MicroLED Screen From Samsung

Want to Contribute an Item? It's easy:
Get the name of the item, a quote, the book's name and the author's name, and Add it here.

<Previous
Next>

Google
  Web TechNovelgy.com   

 

 

Technovelgy (that's tech-novel-gee!) is devoted to the creative science inventions and ideas of sf authors. Look for the Invention Category that interests you, the Glossary, the Science Fiction Invention Timeline, or see what's New.

 

 

 

 

Science Fiction Timeline
1600-1899
1900-1939
1940's   1950's
1960's   1970's
1980's   1990's
2000's   2010's

Science Fiction in the News

Rigid Metallic Clothing From Science Fiction To You
'...support the interior human structure against Jupiter’s pull.'

Is The Seattle Ultrasonics C-200 A Heinlein Vibroblade?
'It ain't a vibroblade. It's steel. Messy.'

Roborock Saros Z70 Is A Robot Vacuum With An Arm
'Anything larger than a BB shot it picked up and placed in a tray...'

A Beautiful Visualization Of Compact Food
'The German chemists have discovered how to supply the needed elements in compact, undiluted form...'

Bone-Building Drug Evenity Approved
'Compounds devised by the biochemists for the rapid building of bone...'

Secret Kill Switch Found In Yutong Buses
'The car faltered as the external command came to brake...'

Inmotion Electric Unicycle In Combat
'It is about the size and shape of a kitchen stool, gyro-stabilized...'

Grok Scores Best In Psychological Tests
'Try to find out how he ticks...'

PaXini Supersensitive Robot Fingers
'My fingers are not that sensitive...'

Congress Considers Automatic Emergency Braking, One Hundred Years Too Late
'The greatest problem of all was the elimination of the human element of braking together with its inevitable time lag.'

More SF in the News

More Beyond Technovelgy

Home | Glossary | Science Fiction Timeline | Category | New | Contact Us | FAQ | Advertise |
Technovelgy.com - where science meets fiction™

Copyright© Technovelgy LLC; all rights reserved.