The flagship has:
data lines;
computer banks;
worldwide visiphone service;
a ReaderFax that can print books from libraries elsewhere;
a Mitsui Sculptor that can reproduce, e.g., statues, ceramics or paintings whose scans are filed.
Thus, the Sculptor is a 3D printer. This technology began ten years after the novel was published.
4 comments:
Kaor, Paul!
While technically feasible, visiphones have still not yet come into widespread use. Soon, I wonder?
Sean
I'm not sure. Skype has been fairly successful, but a visual add-on makes a number of ways of using a telephone impossible -- you have to commit totally, the way you do to a face-to-face conversation. That's sometimes good, but often not.
3-D printing was predictable once full digital imaging of solid objects was recognized as possible -- but it wasn't -easily- predictable. Poul was very good at extrapolation like that.
Dear Mr. Stirling,
Because I have very bad hearing, ordinary telephones are difficult for me to use. But in 2016 I got a CAPTEL phone, in which I read on a monitor what people are saying to me. For the first time in my life, that has made a phone something I can use with out struggling. And probably better than a visiphone!
Agree, what you said about Anderson's skills as an extrapolator and 3-D printing.
Sean
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