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"The science fiction method is dissection and reconstruction. You look at the world around you, and take it apart into its components. Then you take some of those components, throw them away, and plug in different ones, start it up and see what happens."
- Frederik Pohl
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| Stereovision Tank | ||
| Three dimensional mass media (the grandson of television). |
In the novel, Heinlein presents an interesting solution to the problem of presenting three-dimensional views without using special glasses. Note that this was written before anyone knew what a hologram was.
| They went to the living room; Jill sat at his feet and they applied themselves to martinis. Opposite his chair was a stereovision tank disguised as an aquarium; he switched it on, guppies and tetras gave way to the face of the well-known winchell Augustus Greaves. |
| Technovelgy from Stranger in a Strange Land,
by Robert Heinlein. Published by Putnam in 1961 Additional resources -
|
As an aside, this is also probably the first reference for the idea of a screen saver. One of the earliest implemented screen savers was an aquarium scene.
There is an earlier mention of stereovision in The Star Beast, published in 1954; this quote is more interesting.
It is important to note that a sterovision tank is different from a "3D" movie or flatscreen projection. The first 3D movie is probably Power of Love, released in 1922. It used the anaglyph process, which involved shooting two views of a scene (each in its own color) and then combining them. The familiar red and green lensed glasses were used to create a stereoscopic effect. The famous movie House of Wax really kicked off the 3D movie craze in the early 1950's.
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Additional
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More Ideas
and Technology from Stranger in a Strange Land
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and Technology by Robert Heinlein
Tech news articles related to Stranger in a Strange Land
Tech news articles related to works by Robert Heinlein
Stereovision Tank-related
news articles:
- Three Dimensional Flat Panel Screen Announced
- Processing Three-Dimensional Video In Real Time
- 3D Holographic Images And Heinlein's Stereovision Tank
- pCubee 3D Display Skips iPad For iCube
| Will Whales Be Our First Contact? |
| NYC/Dublin Portal Fails To Meet 'Guardian Of Forever' Standards |
| Holobox? Who Doesn't Want A Home Hologram? |
| EBS-260 Handjet Free Hand Dot Matrix Printer |
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