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"Another reason why privacy could be just a passing fad, terrorism is going to get too good. [1997]"
- Larry Niven
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| Flat Cat | ||
| A nearly two-dimensional furry little beast. |
| "Say, Mr. Angelo, what is this? At first I thought it was a fur cap; now I see it's alive." Castor pointed to the furry heap on the counter. It was slowly slithering toward the edge.
The shopkeeper reached out and headed it back to the middle. "That? That's a 'flat cat.' ...It has a Latin name but I never bothered to learn it. Angelo tickled it with a forefinger; it began to purr like a high-pitched buzzer. It had no discernable features, being merely a pie-shaped mass of sleek red fur... [Castor] looked down and three beady little eyes stared trustfully back up at him, then closed and disappeared completely. |
| Technovelgy from The Rolling Stones,
by Robert Heinlein. Published by Scribner's in 1952 Additional resources -
|
Okay, this isn't really a piece of technology, and it wasn't a bioengineered beast, either. However, if I included Clifford Simak's hunting robes, I should certainly put this one in, too.
(Cover art by Darrell K. Sweet)
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Tech news articles related to The Rolling Stones
Tech news articles related to works by Robert Heinlein
Flat Cat-related
news articles:
- Flatcat Robot Recalls Both Heinlein And Simak
| Lunar Biorepository Proposed For Cryo-Preservation Of Earth Species |
| Let's Make Slaver Sunflowers! Engineering Plants To Reflect Light |
| Machete-Wielding Philodendron Isn't Going To Take It Anymore |
| Tsunami Forecasts Improved By Ionosphere Signals |
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'Hocus-pocus religions and archaic weapons are no substitute for a good blaster at your side.'
'Oscar picked up a trowel. 'I'm the tool for the mortar,' the little trowel squeaked cheerfully.'
'... he waited for the robotrix attendant to finish fueling up his ship.'
The Roujin Z system provides care to fully bedridden patients - and then some!
'Aerostat meant anything that hung in the air. This was an easy trick to pull off nowadays.'
'The Ringworld had no horizon. There was no line where the land curved away from the sky.'
'An adjustment panel outside the door would cause it to extrude various appurtenances in memory plastic...'
'Annealed in any shape for a time, and codified, the structure of that shape is retained down to the molecules.'
It's not really polite to tear the limbs off robots.
'...the imaginary companions discovered by needful children.'
