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
 |
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 cemetery.
(From Augmented Reality)
At specific grave sites, visitors listened to the voices of the first person buried in Oakland, a child who lived during the Civil War and a local historian who died in 2000. The historian's voice was the real thing; the others (obviously) were dubbed.
(From Augmented Reality)
The audio along with information from other sources was delivered via a wireless network in the cemetery.
I don't have a direct tie-in to this story from science fiction (readers?). However, this story reminded me strongly of Babel-17, the award-winning 1967 novel by Samuel R. Delany. Captain Rydra Wong needs to put together a crew; for that, she and a Transport Customs Officer need to go to the Discorporate Sector to pick out a crew by speaking with the dead:
The had moved between the pylons when a flickering coalesced. Silver latticed with red fires glimmered through the industrial smog. Three figures formed; women, sequined skeletons glittered towards them, casting hollow eyes.Kittens clawed the Customs Officer's back, for strut works pylons gleamed behind the apparitional bellies.
"The faces," he whispered. "As soon as you look away, you can't remember what they look like. When you look at them, they look like people, but when you look away - " He caught his breath as another one passed. "You can't remember!" He stared after them. "Dead?" He shook his head. "You know I've been approving the psyche-indexes on Transport workers corporate and discorporate for ten years. And I've never been close enough to speak to a discorporate soul..."
"There's some jobs," Calli's voice was as heavy with alcohol as his shoulders with muscle - "Some jobs on a Transport ship you just can't give to a live human being..."
...Like the Eye, Ear and Nose. A live human scanning all that goes on in those hyperstasis frequencies would - well, die first and go crazy second."
The Eye, Ear and Nose refers to the way in which formerly corporate people perceive the unknowable hyperstasis frequencies, mapping them onto familiar sights, sounds and smells.
I'm not sure what the biggest story is here - "the dead speak", or "they are starting to put WiFi in cemeteries". You be the judge. Read more at Augmented Reality: Another Virtual Brick in the Wall. Also, in Babel-17 Delany has an amazingly accurate prediction of the piercing mania of the last ten years - and pushes the envelope - see decorative implants.
Scroll down for more stories in the same category. (Story submitted 2/18/2005)
Follow this kind of news @Technovelgy.| Email | RSS | Blog It | Stumble | del.icio.us | Digg | Reddit |
Would
you like to contribute a story tip?
It's easy:
Get the URL of the story, and the related sf author, and add
it here.
Comment/Join discussion ( 1 )
Related News Stories - (" Misc ")
Is There A Subterranean Ocean?
'A vast, limitless expanse of water, the end of a lake if not of an ocean, spread before us, until it was lost in the distance.'- Jules Verne, 1864.
The Robotic Shopping Cart Of The Future
'...the machine would carry his bag in its soft plastic jaws and follow him as faithfully as a well-trained hound.'- John Brunner, 1975.
Arctic Resource Jackpot An Old Wish
By inducing climate change, new resources are revealed.
Marie Curie's Papers Still Radioactive
And the half-life of radium's most common isotope is 1,601 years.
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 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
Current News
Wearable Energy Harvester
'... he had tightened the chest to gain maximum pumping action from the motion of breathing.'
Drones Participate In Buddhist Rites
'...a prayer wheel swung into view and began spinning at a furious pace.'
Anna Indiana AI Singer-Songwriter
'She is a personality-construct, a congeries of software agents'
Video Manicuring ala Schismatrix
'The program raced up the screen one scan line at a time'
'Feel the AGI' OpenAI Leader Now OpenWorship
'And are all the people willing to be governed by a machine?'
NASA Tests Prototype Europa Lander
Why have legs if they don't walk around?
Tailsitter Drone Aircraft For SAR
'...it was so easy for me to remain motionless in midair.'
Forward CarePod The AI Doctor's Office
'It's an old model,' Rawlins said. 'I'm not sure what to do.'
Mika The Robot-Boss
'the robot-boss was busy at the lip of the new lode instructing and egging the men on to greater speed...'
Yamaha Motoroid 2 No Handlebars Self-Balancing Motorcycle
'He rode the bike with an intense lack of physical grace...'
San Francisco Autobus
'THE autobus turned silently down the wide street...'
Should Your Car Decide If You Can Drive?
'Okay. Maybe the car was right...'
Lucid Dreams On Demand From Prophetic and Card79
'the peeper did not operate by virtue of its machinery alone, but by the reaction of the brain and the body of its user...'
Honda UNI-ONE Hands-Free Wheelchair Follows 100 Year-Old Design
'Noiselessly, on rubber-tired wheels, they journeyed...'
EBS-260 Handjet Free Hand Dot Matrix Printer
'McKie held a chalf-memory stick over the dusted surface.'
Sensitive, Soft Robot Skin
'...tinted material that had all the feel and appearance of human flesh and epidermis.'
