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"Looking back through history, I see no evidence for humanity making the best of things, and I think it's a pretty safe bet that's an on-going trend."
- Richard Morgan
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| Lunar Web | ||
| The moon ensnared by cobwebs. |
A fascinating (and fantastic!) visualization of the long afternoon of our Earth.
| The traverser, a gross vegetable-equivalent of a spider, was descending to the Tips…
The traverser was descending slowly, a great bladder with legs and jaws, fibery hair covering most of its bulk… It was like a god, with the powers of a god. It came down on a cable, floated nimbly down the strand trailing up into the sky. As far as could be seen, cables slanted up from the jungle, pointing like slender, drooping fingers to heaven… They all trailed up in the same direction, toward a floating silver half-globe, remote and cool, but clearly visible even in the glare of eternal sunshine… Unmoving, steady, the half-moon remained always in the same sector of the sky. |
| Technovelgy from Hothouse,
by Brian Aldiss. Published by Fantasy and Science Fiction in 1962 Additional resources -
|
Read the discussion about the space elevator, which has a rich history before and after the idea's treatment by sf writers.
This flight of fancy on the part of Aldiss hearkens back to the earliest stirrings of science fiction. Take a look at the entry for weightlessness and the journey of the Gansas to the moon in Francis Godwin's 1638 novel The Man in the Moone.
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and Technology from Hothouse
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and Technology by Brian Aldiss
Tech news articles related to Hothouse
Tech news articles related to works by Brian Aldiss
| SETI Suggests Prospecting The Solar System Without Landing |
| Cislunar Space And The Space Lanes of Golden Age Science Fiction |
| NASA Moonbase Update |
| The Solar Oberth Slingshot |
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'Space-sickness is one of the most unpleasant sensations that a human being can experience. Not all are subject to it...'
'...I saw a nice black heavy-looking cloud sailing by just now, and I can get the electrical machine out in five minutes to draw it down.'
'From a distance it could resolve the cosmic rays reflected from various substances.'
'The answer to the dumb student's prayer.'
'He had travelled the space-lanes of the solar system for the greater part of his life...'
'The dinner was excellent. It was completely vegetarian — grown in specially prepared gardens in this Moon base...'
'Telepaths had their sensitiveness enlarged to an immense range by the pin-sets, which were telepathic amplifiers adapted to the mammal mind.'
'It was a relief to enter one of the comfortable autos, whisper a direction down the tube, and just know that you would be taken to your destination in the quickest, safest, and cheapest manner.'
'But he didn't get very far with it before another noise in his ear radio scattered his thoughts. George winced...'
