Science Fiction Dictionary
A  B  C  D  E  F  G  H  I  J  K  L  M  N  O  P  Q  R  S  T  U  V  W  X  Y  Z

Latest By
Category:


Armor
Artificial Intelligence
Biology
Clothing
Communication
Computers
Culture
Data Storage
Displays
Engineering
Entertainment
Food
Input Devices
Lifestyle
Living Space
Manufacturing
Material
Media
Medical
Miscellaneous
Robotics
Security
Space Tech
Spacecraft
Surveillance
Transportation
Travel
Vehicle
Virtual Person
Warfare
Weapon
Work

"One could imagine a very ascetic sort of life ... where the body is ignored. This is something I've played with in my books, where people hate to be reminded sometimes that they have bodies, they find it very slow and tedious."
- William Gibson

Sleep Machine  
  A device guaranteeing a good night's sleep.  

An early description of this idea; I can't think of an earlier reference for the phrase "sleep machine".

When Jim Eiler entered the bedroom, he saw that Marta was stretched full-length in the anti-gravity energies flowing upward over the mattress of her bed. She sprawled there in the careless abandon of a person who had dropped all of the world’s cares, at least for one night, the cords from the sleep machine looping down to her head from the elastic holder at the top of the bed. His first impulse was to turn off the sleep machine and awaken her, his second impulse was to let sleeping wives lie...

If sprawling in the anti-gravity energies was heaven, turning on the sleep machine was paradise. He always had the vague impression just at this point that blessed angel wings materialized under him, and that as they lifted him up, he slipped away into some paradise of wonderful delight.

Technovelgy from Short Trip to Nowhere, by R.M. Williams.
Published by IF in 1965
Additional resources -

Compare to sleep generator from 2001: A Space Odyssey (1968), by Arthur C. Clarke and the napcap from Saturn's Race (2000), by Larry Niven (w/S. Barnes).

Comment/Join this discussion ( 0 ) | RSS/XML | Blog This |

Additional resources:
  More Ideas and Technology from Short Trip to Nowhere
  More Ideas and Technology by R.M. Williams
  Tech news articles related to Short Trip to Nowhere
  Tech news articles related to works by R.M. Williams

Articles related to Medical
MIT Computerized Bionic Leg Is Part Of The User
Bone-Building Drug Evenity Approved
BrainBridge Concept Transplant Of Human Head Proposed
Natural Gait With Prosthetic Connected To Nervous System

Want to Contribute an Item? It's easy:
Get the name of the item, a quote, the book's name and the author's name, and Add it here.

<Previous
Next>

Google
  Web TechNovelgy.com   

 

 

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 Science Fiction Invention Timeline, or see what's New.

 

 

 

 

Science Fiction Timeline
1600-1899
1900-1939
1940's   1950's
1960's   1970's
1980's   1990's
2000's   2010's

Science Fiction in the News

Ridiculous 'Ghost Murmur' Tech Still Science Fiction
'...it rears and spreads its fan. It can pick one man out of a crowd.'

Infrared Contact Lenses To See In The Dark
'I can see in the dark, Case.'

What'll You Have? Extinct Animals Returned, Or Synthetic Eggshells?
'...a new plastic with the characteristics of an avian eggshell.'

Sunbird Pulsar Fusion Like Leinster's Space Tug
'It was a pushpot, which could not possibly be called a jet plane because it could not possibly fly. Only it did.'

RentAHuman App Lets AI Agents Hire Humans
'She wouldn't stop until Antar had told her everything he knew about whatever it was that she was playing with on her screen.'

Unitree CEO Wang Xingxing Runs With His G1 Robot Army
'Does thinking you're the last sane man on the face of the Earth make you crazy?'

AIs Turn Marxist Under Bad Management
'It was a general strike of the robots...'

Moscow Attacked By Hundreds Of Drones
'It hurtled on down with inconceivable speed until it was visible as thousands of tiny robot planes...'

Nifty Folding Electric Bicycles!
'Separate paths were provided for them...'

More SF in the News

More Beyond Technovelgy

Home | Glossary | Science Fiction Timeline | Category | New | Contact Us | FAQ | Advertise |
Technovelgy.com - where science meets fiction™

Copyright© Technovelgy LLC; all rights reserved.