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"I can't tell whether or not there's going to be a Singularity. I don't really believe the rapture of the nerds stereotype..."
- Charles Stross
 |
| Vehicle Seeds | ||
| A matrix of materials and instructions that allow vehicles to grow themselves when placed in an environment of plentiful materials. |
It does't make sense to carry all of the materials for vehicles and weapons all the way to Titan, when you can find all the materials you could ever want right there, quick to hand.
| These organic compounds will provide plenty of the raw materials used by our weapon and vehicle seeds to double and even triple their present mass...
"These are your rudimentary seed packages," Bueller says. "Some will combine in place to form more complicated structures, like excavators or centipedes. Others will take more time and grow out to full size by themselves, mostly the vehicles supporting big weapons - zap guns, ionics, penetrators. Once placed in their cradles beside the station, all the seeds will dip from the station storage tanks, and they'll also start pulling in gases and liquids from the local atmosphere... ...visuals of seeds sprouting, growing like carnival balloons plumping out, becoming monstrous, making crew and warrior spaces... |
| From Killing Titan,
by Greg Bear. Published by Orbit in 2015 Additional resources -
|
Compare to biological circuit fabrication from The Official Handbook of the Marvel Universe (1984).
"Seeds are hungry," she says... "Don't get between them and raw material reserves. Don't mess with anything growing. Half-finished product has been known to absorb whatever it touches. Stay the hell away from developing products."
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Tech news articles related to Killing Titan
Tech news articles related to works by Greg Bear
Vehicle Seeds-related
news articles:
- Chemputer To Grow Bespoke Drones Through Chemistry
- Grow Structures Upon Planetfall - Myco-Architecture
| Orbital Manufacturer 'Made in Space' Gets $73 Million NASA Contract |
| CNSILK Robotic Spider Builder |
| NASA 3D Printed Habitat Challenge Won By AI SpaceFactory |
| Superfast Replicator: Volumetric Additive Manufacturing |
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''... major cities of Earth have free electrical power conveniently processed from their own noise.'
'The appearance was enough like a giant witch's broom to justify the nickname.'
'A vast circle of scarlet stars came up into the greenish desert dusk.'
'He had constructed an organ, a brain, of metal, entirely inorganic and lifeless...'
'I shall never forget the sight... when the yellow gleam of the precious metal appeared under the star dust.'
Oh, and now I suppose someone will develop the robotic porch pirate.
'This thing will start at one end of ...a house and build it complete to the other end, following drawings only.'
