Science Fiction
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"I think engineering will supply our demand for a "spiritual" life after meat death."
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The protagonist of this set of stories is a man who does not exist. Present when the countries of the world pooled their data, he arranged to leave his data out of the world's data sphere. He can also get back in to manipulate information, becoming whoever he wants to be.
In this story, he is investigating a murder at an undersea park; the park has an unusual means of keeping unwanted large predators out while welcoming friendlier animals.
This is remarkably similar to a known behavior of humpback whales called bubble feeding. Humpback whales blow air from their blow holes while slowly spiraling to the surface; the sound and bubbles concentrate their small prey in a small area. The whales then swim through this narrow spiral, gulping their prey more efficiently.
I don't know if this is an original idea of Zelazny's or not. The patent for the Infraacoustic/electric fish fence wasn't filed until 1995.
See also this idea, which uses infrasound, which are acoustic signals with frequencies below 20 Hz, which alarm fish.
For another example of an adjustable animal barrier, see the sonobarrier from Frank Herbert's 1977 novel The Dosadi Experiment.
From the marvelous short story 'Kjwalll'kje'k'koothailll'kje'k in the collection noted in the citation above. Comment/Join this discussion ( 0 ) | RSS/XML | Blog This | Additional
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Science Fiction
Timeline
Brin's 1990 Novel Earth Still Full Of Predictions
'... making the point that their likenesses, every move they made, were being transmitted.'
Gaia - Why Stop With Just The Earth?
'But the stars are only atoms in larger space, and in that larger space the star-atoms could combine to form living matter, thinking matter, couldn't they?'
Microsoft VASA-1 Creates Personal Video From A Photo
'...to build up a video picture would require, say, ten million decisions every second. Mike, you're so fast I can't even think about it. But you aren't that fast.'
Splendid View Of Eclipse From Orbit Visualized And Repurposed By Arthur C. Clarke
'The area affected was five hundred kilometres across, and perfectly circular.'
Goldene - A Two-Dimensional Sheet Of Gold One Atom Thick
'Hasan always pitched a Gauzy - a one-molecule-layer tent, opaque, feather-light, and very tough.'
SpaceX Wants A Moonbase Alpha
'And he had been sent with troops, supplies and bombs to command Russia's most trusted post, the Moonbase.'
Vast Apartment Living Will Get Even More Vast
'What is your population', I asked. 'About eighty millions.'
NASA Wants Self-Driving Or Remote-Controlled Vehicles For Lunar Astronauts
'THE autobus turned silently down the wide street of Hydropole. Robot-guided, insulated from noise and cold...'
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