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"We're about 20 minutes away from the point where Clarke's law kicks in and technology becomes indistinguishable from magic."
- Peter Watts
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| Mechanical Cow (Nibbler) | ||
| An autonomous mechanism that performs some of the actions of an ordinary bovine. |
| The hard, irregular shape of the self-adjusting Nibbler moved over the grassland like a gigantic mechanical cow, only it had caterpiller traction bands instead of legs. Its thirty-two jaws, working alternately in echelons of eight, opened . . shut . . . nipped . . . tore . . . rhythmically. Professor Obinson had well remembered the importance of achieving conditions as identical as possible with those produced by the teeth and jaw action of herbivorous animals before the fodder went into the Metabolisers.
 (Mechanical Cow [Nibbler] from 'Down on the Farm' by Simpson Stokes) |
| Technovelgy from Down on the Farm,
by Simpson Stokes. Published by Thrilling Wonder Stories in 1937 Additional resources -
|
Fans of the science fiction and fantasy webcomic Gunnerkrigg Court welcome this reference to a laser cow:
(Laser cow from Gunnerkrigg Court)
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Additional
resources:
More Ideas
and Technology from Down on the Farm
More Ideas
and Technology by Simpson Stokes
Tech news articles related to Down on the Farm
Tech news articles related to works by Simpson Stokes
Mechanical Cow (Nibbler)-related
news articles:
- SwagBot Robotic AI Cattle-Herding From Down Under
| Robot Hand Creeps Along, Separate From It's Owner |
| Korean Exoskeleton Suit F1 Helps You Put It On |
| Humanoid Robots Spotted In Homes Performing Household Chores |
| Bambot Open Source Cheap Delivery Robot |
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Science Fiction
Timeline
1600-1899
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2000's 2010's
'ZARNAK, YOU'RE TO COMMAND A SCOUTING EXPEDITION --- FIND OUT WHAT THIS IS ALL ABOUT!'
'These are your rudimentary seed packages... Some will combine in place to form more complicated structures.'
'The crawling... object was V-Stephen's surgeon-hand...'
'Joe got out the gravity-simulator harnesses...'
'You couldn't have the capstone without the pyramid to hold it up.'
'the unobtrusive inspections with tiny remote-cast snoopers...'
I'm hoping that this procedure becomes a normal part of medical practice!
'... nothing was perfected until M. Pantalon announced the completion of his automatic valet.'
