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"Individual science fiction stories may seem as trivial as ever to the blinder critics and philosophers of today -- but the core of science fiction, its essence has become crucial to our salvation if we are to be saved at all."
- Isaac Asimov
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| Smart Contact Lenses | ||
| Contact lenses that have a built-in computer display. |
In the tomorrow explored in this novella, wearable computers display data right before your eyes.
| "What really makes it possible?"
Juan squinted at him. "My contact lenses? Smart clothes?" Certainly the lens displays would be useless without a wearable computer to do the graphics. "That's just the final output device." |
| Technovelgy from Fast Times At Fairmont High,
by Vernor Vinge. Published by Not known in 2001 Additional resources -
|
Vinge expands on the idea in his 2006 novel Rainbows End, set in the same milieu:
"...Robert, you should be wearing. You look silly walking around with that view-page clutched in your hand..."Miri... leaned her head forward, and stuck a finger close to her right eye. "You already know about contacts, right? Wanna see one?" Her hand came away from her eye. A tiny disk sat on the tip of her middle finger. It was the size and shape of the contact lenses he had known. He hadn't expected more, but... he bent closed and looked. After a moment, he realized that it was not quite a clear lens. Speckles of colored brightness swirled and gathered in it. "I'm driving it at safety max, or you wouldn't see the lights." The tiny lens became hazy, then frosty white. "Uk. It powered down. But you get the idea.."
If you think that this form of display is a bit intrusive, you're right. As one character remarks in Rainbows End:
"Without some control it's like old-time television, but much more intrusive. We wouldn't want you to be hijacked..."
You'd need to go back a ways to find the earliest use of this kind of idea. Try the retinal vid-screen from Philip K. Dick's 1954 story Sales Pitch.
Compare to DreamTime Scleral Contact Lenses from The California Voodoo Game (1992) by Larry Niven (w/S. Barnes).
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Additional
resources:
More Ideas
and Technology from Fast Times At Fairmont High
More Ideas
and Technology by Vernor Vinge
Tech news articles related to Fast Times At Fairmont High
Tech news articles related to works by Vernor Vinge
Smart Contact Lenses-related
news articles:
- Smart Contact Lenses Charges With 3D Printed Antenna
- Vernor Vinge Smart Contact Lens On Wired
- Augmented Reality Humanoid Robot U-Tsu-Shi-O-Mi
- Circuit Smart Contact Lens, Presaged By Niven, Barnes and Vinge
- Samsung Patent For Smart Contact Lens Camera Granted
- The Mojo Smart Contact Lens Experience
- Harvest Power From Tears And Blinking With Smart Contact Lens
| Transparent 4K OLED Wireless TV From LG |
| DOTPad Braille Device Offers Live Access |
| Transparent MicroLED Screen From Samsung |
| Augmented Reality Book Covers Reveal The Inner Book |
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'Hocus-pocus religions and archaic weapons are no substitute for a good blaster at your side.'
'Oscar picked up a trowel. 'I'm the tool for the mortar,' the little trowel squeaked cheerfully.'
'... he waited for the robotrix attendant to finish fueling up his ship.'
The Roujin Z system provides care to fully bedridden patients - and then some!
'Aerostat meant anything that hung in the air. This was an easy trick to pull off nowadays.'
'The Ringworld had no horizon. There was no line where the land curved away from the sky.'
'An adjustment panel outside the door would cause it to extrude various appurtenances in memory plastic...'
'Annealed in any shape for a time, and codified, the structure of that shape is retained down to the molecules.'
It's not really polite to tear the limbs off robots.
'...the imaginary companions discovered by needful children.'
