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"Does it open a new horizon for my thinking? Does it lead me to think new kinds of thoughts, that I would not otherwise perhaps have thought at all? These qualities are what [make] science fiction ...unique."
- Frederik Pohl
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| Centrifuge Room | ||
| A small room on a planetoid that is spun to create artificial gravity. |
| The mess hall was one of the areas that was centrifuged, spinning slowly in a hollow in the rock. There was a larger wheel that was used as a gymnasium for running and weight lifting, and a third which held bunk rooms for those who did not like sleeping in free-fall. |
| Technovelgy from The Ophiuchi Hotline,
by John Varley. Published by Quantum Science Fiction in 1977 Additional resources -
|
Compare to the artificial gravity from Brigands of the Moon (1930 - likely the first reference) by Ray Cummings, the artificial gravity system from Last and First Men (1930) by Olaf Stapledon and the city of space from The Prince of Space (1931) by Jack Williamson. You might also check out Artificial Gravity-Assisted Childbirth from Robert Heinlein's 1973 opus Time Enough for Love.
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More Ideas
and Technology from The Ophiuchi Hotline
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and Technology by John Varley
Tech news articles related to The Ophiuchi Hotline
Tech news articles related to works by John Varley
| Denmark Joins The 'Zero Debris Charter' To Clean Up Space |
| Starship Special Edition For Lunar Shuttle |
| Capturing Asteroids With Nets |
| Project Hyperion - Generation Ship Designers Needed! |
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Science Fiction
Timeline
1600-1899
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2000's 2010's
'... an artificial intelligence equal to the human.'
'Rayno folded up the microterm and tucked it back inside his jumper.'
'Nemourlon armor of reasonable weight resists penetration by most fragments and any bullet that is not both reasonably heavy and fairly high-velocity.'
'Several thousand of them formed the positioning grid on the rubble pile.'
'Its slack walls tightened, bulged, were crossed by ripples and waves of movement.'
'Norman... had never ridden any motorized device that lacked onboard steering and balance systems.'
You will note that HG Wells also figured out the aspect ratio of the future!
'As though a switch had been turned off, the pain stopped...'
'At the ringside opposite them a table had been removed to make room for a large transparent plastic capsule on wheels.'
