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"Science fiction is really sociological studies of the future, things that the writer believes are going to happen by putting two and two together."
- Ray Bradbury
 |
| Bibs | ||
| People who are put in cold-sleep because there is no niche for them in society. |
What can you do with your surplus population? Here's one sarcastic suggestion from PKD.
| The young couple, black-haired, dark-skinned, probably Mexican or Puerto Rican... said in a low voice, "Sir, we want to be put to sleep. We want to become bibs."
Lackmore said in a pleasant tone of voice... "Have you thought it over carefully, folks? It's a big step. You might be out for, say, a few hundred years." The boy, glancing at his wife, murmured, "No sir... Neither of us can find a job and we're about to be evicted from our dorm. We don't even own a wheel, and what can you do without a wheel?.." |
| Technovelgy from Cantata 140,
by Philip K. Dick. Published by Fantasy and Science Fiction in 1964 Additional resources -
|
"Bib" is an acronym - it describes how you are stored in a Special Public Welfare warehouse.
Compare to the space capsule from E.R. James' 1954 story of the same name and to the escape pod from George Lucas' 1976 story Star Wars.
Compare to the frigorific process from The Senator's Daughter (1879) by Edward Page Mitchell, cold-sleep from Robert Heinlein's Methuselah's Children (1941), stasis from Heinlein's Door Into Summer (1951), the adiabatic pods from The Lady Who Sailed The Soul (1960) by Cordwainer Smith,
corpsicle from Pohl's The Age of the Pussyfoot (1965), the hibernaculum from 2001: A Space Odyssey (1968) by Arthur C. Clarke, cryosleep from Flight of Exiles (1972) by Ben Bova and the EverRest Cryotorium from Roger Zelazny's Flare (1992).
"Your appeal... is to the dark kid and his wife scared to death their only prospect is winding up bibs in some gov warehouse. 'Bottled in bond,' as they say."
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'What would you do,' Eric asked the robot cabdriver, 'if your wife had turned to stone, your best friend were a toad, and you had lost your job?'
'those suits they wear -- call them 'stillsuits' -- that reclaim the body's own water...'
'Now, except for weight and heat, the same conditions prevail in this chamber as in space.'
'there were so many worms and counterworms loose in the data-net...'
'Now, look, let's start with the three fundamental Rules of Robotics...'
'..the synthetic intellects at the Place of Knowledge had far outstripped the minds of men.'
'But after washing and drying clothes had to be smooth - free from fine lines and wrinkles ...'
