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"Concepts of religion may now be goals of science and engineering."
- Bart Kosko
 |
| Gravity Train | ||
| An underground railway system that utilizes gravity for acceleration. |
This same idea is a major plot 'device' in the 2012 version of the Total Recall movie.
| They joined the line for the gravity train to Archimedes. The four of them boarded, the car was sealed, and Lilo's weight dropped away as the car fell down the inclined tunnel for almost four hundred kilometers. Somewhere under the Appenines the tunnel begain to slope up again, gradually slowing their speed to a crawl as the car nosed into the elevator which took them up to inhabited levels. |
| Technovelgy from The Ophiuchi Hotline,
by John Varley. Published by Quantum Science Fiction in 1977 Additional resources -
|
This idea was also used in Hugo Gernsback's 1911 novel Ralph 124c 41 + - see the entry for Sub-Atlantic Tube.
And what is the best shape or curve for this tunnel to follow? See the discussion in the article for gravity-assisted subway from Larry Niven's 1976 story A World Out of Time.
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More Ideas
and Technology from The Ophiuchi Hotline
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and Technology by John Varley
Tech news articles related to The Ophiuchi Hotline
Tech news articles related to works by John Varley
| Futuristic Transit Elevated Bus Never Really Worked |
| Japan Automated Cargo Transport |
| Tesla Electric 'Giga Train' Operational In Germany |
| San Francisco Autobus |
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'My chemists are all working on the preparation of the artificial blood.'
'The image on the Trimagniscope tube was an enlarged view of one of the pocket-size books found on the body...'
'Another thing space suits should have is rearview mirrors.'
'... an artificial intelligence equal to the human.'
'Rayno folded up the microterm and tucked it back inside his jumper.'
'Nemourlon armor of reasonable weight resists penetration by most fragments and any bullet that is not both reasonably heavy and fairly high-velocity.'
