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
"In 1977, it took about eight months for a slightly faster more refined mechanism to put punk in the window of Holt Renfrew. It's gotten faster ever since."
- William Gibson
 |
| Garbage Mine | ||
| The idea that recycling can spawn entirely new industries. |
This is an interesting idea; I think the general idea was floating around in the 1970's, but I can't find a reference.
| ...soft-drink cans, ketchup bottles and disposable diapers... engine oil, transmission fluid, and electroplating residue... tires and cars, broken stereos and obsolete computer..
Some suggested leaving the sites exactly as they were, so future archaeologists could find a wealth of detail from the prodigal middens of TwenCen California... It might have been predictable, and yet few saw the answer coming. In a later day of harder times, of short resources and mandatory recycling, it was inevitable that those landfills should draw the eyes of innovators, looking for ways to get rich. Iron, aluminum, silica ... nickel, copper, zinc... Claims were filed, mining plans presented and analyzed.... Excavation began between the ancient hills. Into a past generation's waste, their desperate grandchildren dug for treasure. The garbage rush was on. |
| Technovelgy from Earth,
by David Brin. Published by Bantam in 1990 Additional resources -
|
This is an idea whose time has come; it goes beyond recycling.
If it makes you feel any better, North Americans have always produced trash. According to archaeological studies of a clan of Native Americans who lived around 6,500 BC, each person produced an average of 5.3 pounds of waste per day during the hunting season.
Note: The first municipal dump was established in Athens in around 500 B.C.
Read more about the history of waste.
Comment/Join this discussion ( 0 ) | RSS/XML | Blog This |
Additional
resources:
More Ideas
and Technology from Earth
More Ideas
and Technology by David Brin
Tech news articles related to Earth
Tech news articles related to works by David Brin
Garbage Mine-related
news articles:
- The Garbage Mines Of Ghana
| Has Musk Given Up On Full Self Driving (FSD)? |
| Prufrock-3 'The Monster' Ready To Launch |
| Hybrid Wind Solar Devices |
| BeamBike Solar Power Canopy For Electric Bikes |
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> |
|
|
|
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
'...they moved with the ease of dandelion puffs.'
'...some bored drone pusher in a remote driving centre...'
'These pods were programmed to hang in space in a hexagonal grid pattern...'
'...the meteor caught and halted just as a small boy catches a swift ball in his cap.'
'We have decided that it shall be but one ship... it must contain everything needed to take us through the generations.'
'You’re the robopsychologist of the plant, so you’re to study the robot itself...'
