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"Cyberpunk worked when the Internet was in its hand-wound crystal radio phase, when you had to be a sort of hobbyist to do e-mail, and it all had a very steep learning curve. Those days are over."
- William Gibson
 |
| Flex-Wheels | ||
| Special wheels designed for getting around on the Moon. |
| Most of them moved on balloon tires, for this smooth, level plain posed no transportation difficulties; but one tanker rolled on the peculiar flex-wheels which had proved one of the best all-purpose ways of getting around on the Moon. A series of flat plates arranged in a circle, each plate independently mounted and sprung, the flex-wheel had many of the advantages of the caterpillar track from which it had evolved. It would adapt its shape and diameter to the terrain over which it was moving, and, unlike a caterpillar track, would continue to function even if a few sections were missing. |
| From 2001: A Space Odyssey ,
by Arthur C. Clarke. Published by Del Rey in 1968 Additional resources -
|
See also the smartwheels from Neal Stephenson's 1992 novel Snow Crash.
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Additional
resources:
More Ideas
and Technology from 2001: A Space Odyssey
More Ideas
and Technology by Arthur C. Clarke
Tech news articles related to 2001: A Space Odyssey
Tech news articles related to works by Arthur C. Clarke
Flex-Wheels-related
news articles:
- NASA's Spring Tire For Improved Lunar Mileage
- iRing Lunar Flex-Wheel
- RASC-AL Lunar Wheel Design Challenge Is ON!
| UberAIR Asks For Skytaxi Landing Prototypes |
| Boring Tunnel Almost Ready |
| Is Teleportation A Death Sentence? |
| Musk Tweets A Boring Tunnel Pic |
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'A worker replaced by a nubot... had to be compensated.'
'... forcing the energy transfer which allowed him to regrow his lost fingers.'
'The car surged and lifted, clearing its top by a negligible margin.'
Science fiction authors are serious about sleep, too.
'I had explained," said Nessus, "that our civilisation was dying in its own waste heat.'
'Just what did I want Flexible Frank to do? - any work a human being does around a house.'
SF writers have thought about this since the 19th century.
