I’d have to say stasis fields. SO many applications - time travel (forwards only) - indestructible force field - food preservation (turn it on when the food is hot out of the oven, eat it fresh and hot years later) - weaponry (the good old Variable Sword or a nuclear explosion preserved picoseconds after detonation to be used later).
That would be a handy-dandy present for an ex-wife.
“Honey, I’m sorry that things were so diffic–BOOM!!!”
Whatever the Star Trek crew uses to survive on alien planets. It must be some sort of an invisible life-support and temperature control system, right?
Badtz Maru, Myron von Horowitski, bump and Indiana Jones:
We’re all forgetting Niven’s greatest invention: boosterspice. I could use a little this morning. And I’m just the right age to start taking it – either that or tree-of-life. Of course, I’m already more intelligent than all of you breeders; I just want to lose my teeth, grow a big beak, and have superhuman strength. Nyaaah!
Some of the best inventions I have seen stem from the writings of Iain Banks.
For example: the lazy gun. Set the size of the target from person to city, pull the trigger and the gun searches through other dimensions for an appropriate object, (eg a safe that has just been dropped, a spear that has just been thrown, a piece of sun, etc) and transports it at the target. Great for random deaths.
Also the concept of GSVs and Orbitals, and the Culture in general. Oh and the wierd nano-dust entity at the end of “Look To Windward.”
Another one I forgot:
Arthur C. Clarke’s “space elevator”.
I can’t quite remember what the book was called at the moment, but the plot centered around the building of an elevator to move Cargo into space. the cables were made of ultra-thin carbon mono-filament so the cable wouldn’t break under it’s own weight. It was attached to a satellite in geo-synchronous orbit.
Anybody remember this book?
That would be The Fountains of Paradise.
I disagree. I prefer the “immortality booth” in “A World Out of Time” (is that the right title?)
You step into some kind of transport booth that removes from your body the dead cells, detritus etc… that cause aging (OK so maybe the science behind it isn’t 100% correct) so with regular treatments you would remain physically young and never die of old age.
Inth is the coolest drug ever, isn’t it? “A most puissant alkaloid”–and minty fresh besides!
I would agree, though, that Niven’s stasis fields are the coolest invention overall. Did anyone else ever think of making articulated body armor out of them? Not a full body stasis (hard to accomplish anything in that), but a suit like plate armor made of stasis “plates” around lightweight frames–it would weigh almost nothing, and if properly designed would be proof against almost anything. If you could extrude stasis “blades” on a molecule chain frame, that would be even better.
I also like the molecular cables (you find them in almost all stories involving skyhooks), but my favorite is Niven’s Sinclair chain–just because he showed how versatile it could be.
Thanks Myron. That would have bugged me and ruined my Thanksgiving weekend.
From “Red Dwarf”
The Justice Zone - anything you do to someone comes back on you - if you hit someone, you feel the blow, if you steal someone’s wallet, your’s disappears, etc. Fully discourages criminal behavior
Total Immersion Video - virtual reality games
Legion - a gestalt being created by the minds of everyone on the space station
From the works of Cordwainer Smith:
Stroon - the immortality drug produced by giant mutant sheep on Old North Australia (Norstrilia)
Planoform ships - almost instantatious movement between star systems, using the minds of the Go-Captain & Stop-Captain, avoiding all the messy issues of FTL travel.
the Norstrilia planetary defense system (“Mother Hitton’s Littul Kittons”) - a highly sophisticated system using crazed weasels and a powerful psychic amplifier. Very nasty, 100% effective.
Pinlighters - human and enhanced cats in telepathic partnership whose job is to protect passengers & crews of planoform ships from insanity and death produced by creatures existing in the space between the starting & stopping points in space. Uses the speed & predatory instincts of the cats with the direction of their human partners. (“The Game of Rat and Dragon”)
Yeah, and the “torture” scene is one of the funniest things I’ve ever read.
(For those who haven’t read it, the badguys have our hero Retief captured and “torture” him by showing him clashing colors. They’re impressed that he doesn’t break, even after the mauve and puce (or whatever) combination.)
Fenris
How 'bout Vinge’s Zones of Thought in A Fire Across the Deep.
While we’re at it, the Blight is a pretty cool invention.
“Hexapodia is the key insight!”
Fenris
The Omega 13.
How many times in your life would you have really, really liked to undo the last 13 seconds?
The Babel Fish. It may not be mechanical, but what an aid in travel! No more “Learn to speak Hungarian in 5 Easy Lessons” kind of cassette tapes. I’d definitely endure the irritating “Slorp!” feeling just to have one…
I had many fantasies about this watch…
How about a light sabre? Got a problem getting into that bank? HAving trouble with the neighbour’s fence? Need a light or bottle opener? Have a father who is ruthlessly evil and needs to be stopped? Nothing better.
The ansible would be great, the amount of trouble I’m having with phones at the moment this would be a huge boon.
I have nothing really new to add, though Greg Bears police in Queen of Angels (? the country of the mind one) would be good to have. They had microscopic detectors that could tell what had happened in the apartment for the previous month (well week anyway). They even dated the cum stains to know which order they went in!
I would also like a Hitchhikers guide to the galaxy. Tremendously useful book.