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"As a writer, I don't want to chew my cud. I don't want to have to spit out and regurgitate the same stuff again."
- Harlan Ellison
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| Floating Island | ||
| Large artificial islands floating on Earth's seas. |
Putting aside questions about maintenance and seasickness, a floating island makes good sense. If you don't like the weather, just tow it to a new location.
| Xanadu was the second of the Floating Island chain of independent international corporate entities. Ultimately they would be strung along the world's equator; new islands bringing life to a watery desert. Six of the islands were in place, two as mere skeletons. From the air they looked a little like lily pads, a little like snowflakes five kilometers in diameter. Counting ponds and water recreation areas, the farms and breakwaters, each enclosed an area closer to forty square kilometers. |
| From Saturn's Race,
by Larry Niven (w/S. Barnes). Published by Tor in 2000 Additional resources -
|
This is island-building on a grand scale. For something a little smaller (and more intimate), try the float-home, from Frank Herbert's Whipping Star.
If a more permanent sort of island is desired, try Rumoko, from My Name is Legion by Roger Zelazny.
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More Ideas
and Technology from Saturn's Race
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Tech news articles related to Saturn's Race
Tech news articles related to works by Larry Niven (w/S. Barnes)
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| Aequoreas Floating Village 3D Printed From Ocean Junk |
| PassivDom 3D Printed House - What If You Could Live Anywhere? |
| Rosemont Hotel Dubai Has Lobby Rainforest |
| Would Movable Houses Make Cities Better? |
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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.
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'Everyone was aware that the damned platform was wandering around in its own orbit...'
'In the crimson darkness, stewing warm on their cushion of peritoneum and gorged with blood-surrogate and hormones...'
'They plop down on the Red and if the dust is deep enough ... they burrow in...'
Little robots cooperating can do big tasks. Eventually.
Ever wonder how you look when you enter a new part of a spacecraft?
