Millenium by John Varley:
Science Fiction Inventions, Technology and Ideas

This novel gives the reader quite a ride. Time-travelers from the future saving humanity by figuring out how to pull passengers off doomed planes before they crash? Varley excels at alternating the normal world that we know with a very convincing future history. Select an invention:

Big Computer - wide-screen Jehovah
Just like it says; this computer knows it all.

Cerebral Microprocessors
Added boost for maxxed out minds.

Gnome - built into life support
A person who requires so much life support, they are built into the chair.

No Human Programmers
The idea that computers are too complicated and too important to be programmed by human beings.

People-Sorter - catalog them quickly
A device able to sort human beings with incredible speed.

Post Office - special package delivery
A vault used to store time capsules left by travelers to the past; not your usual delivery service.

Revitalizer Console. - perk up your bloodstream
A kind of automated medical marvel; it optimizes your body chemistry for better health, tops off your fluids, etc.

Sherman
A sex robot.

Skinsuit
Wearable artificial, full-body skin.

Skull Alarm
Implanted wakeup call.

Speedcap - late? Go ballistic!
Short for speed capsule (?); sometimes, going ballistic is the fastest way to get there.

Time Capsule - time traveler's use them
A hollow block of metal, impervious to the elements, used by time travelers to send messages to the future.

Timepress - time in a bottle
A device that makes time go more quickly in a limited area.

Twonky - trashes the time stream
A futuristic artifact left by time travelers in the past which, if discovered, could cause a paradox.

Wimp - body without a mind
A special-purpose body; grown without personality, but physically intact.

Wimp Vault
Lots of spare bodies.

 

Technovelgy.com is devoted to the creative inventions of science fiction authors and movie makers. Look for the Science Fiction Invention Category that interests you, the Glossary of Science Fiction Inventions, the Timeline of Science Fiction Inventions, or see what's New.
Find
new authors and technologies - Shop for yourself, your library and your lab.

 

 

 

 

Science Fiction
in the News

Cheap Drunk Driver Detection From UofM
re: Philip K. Dick
(3/4/2024)

Can A Human Land A SpaceX Rocket On Its Tail?
re: Stanley G. Weinbaum
(3/2/2024)

Robot Snakes No Longer Stopped By Stairs
re: Lee Chaytor
(2/28/2024)

Has Turkey Been Stealing Rain From Iran?
re: Neal Stephenson
(2/26/2024)

We Need To Build Anti-Drone Systems For Civilian Spaces
re: Neal Stephenson
(2/24/2024)

SensorWake Scent-Based Alarm Clock
re: Frank Herbert
(2/22/2024)

AI Worms That Spread
re: John Brunner
(2/20/2024)

Challenges Of Two-Armed Robots
re: Various
(2/18/2024)

FlexRAM Liquid Metal RAM And One Particular SF Movie Robot
re: Philip K Dick
(2/16/2024)

Ulm Sleep Pods For The Homeless
re: Larry Niven
(2/14/2024)

Prophetic Offers Lucid Dreaming Halo With Morpheus-1 AI
re: Peter Watts
(2/12/2024)

More Like A Tumblebug Than A Motorcycle
re: Robert Heinlein
(2/10/2024)

Tesla Camera-Only Vision Predicted In 1930's SF
re: Miles J. Breuer
(2/8/2024)

First Ever Proof Of Water On Asteroids
re: Raymond Z. Gallun
(2/6/2024)

More SF in the News

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

Copyright© Technovelgy LLC; all rights reserved.