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"...a market economy is essentially a genetic algorithm for solving resource allocation problems..."
- Charles Stross

High Tech Trash Can  
  The future of waste management.  

It's friendly, it comes when you call, it's - a trash can? If you are really determined to clean up, this is what you need.

She looked up the beach for the local trash can.

She spotted it loitering near a pair of fisherman, who stood in hip boots in the gentle surf. She called out. "Trash can!"

The can pivoted on broad rubber treads and rolled toward her voice. It snuffled across the beach, mapping its way with bursts of infrasound….

The can intoned. "Galveston appreciates good citizenship. ?Would you like to register for a valuable cash prize?"

Technovelgy from Islands in the Net, by Bruce Sterling.
Published by William Morrow in 1988
Additional resources -

Naturally, it is solar-powered.

Compare to the robot trash collectors from The Velvet Glove by Harry Harrison.

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Additional resources:
  More Ideas and Technology from Islands in the Net
  More Ideas and Technology by Bruce Sterling
  Tech news articles related to Islands in the Net
  Tech news articles related to works by Bruce Sterling

High Tech Trash Can-related news articles:
  - Berlin Gets Talking Trash Cans
  - BigBelly Solar-Powered Trash Can - Good/Evil?
  - Sociable Garbabge Can Robot
  - Smartphone Monitoring Trashcans Binned
  - Robotic Trash Can Wants Your Garbage

Articles related to Misc
Is There A Subterranean Ocean?
The Robotic Shopping Cart Of The Future
Arctic Resource Jackpot An Old Wish
Marie Curie's Papers Still Radioactive

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