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Mar 10, 2010 12:00 PM
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These days it's become a truism to say that it feels like "we're living in the future" because we have smart phones and 4chan. But SF writer David Levine says techno-snot is a sign that tomorrow has arrived.
Over at Laptop Magazine, Tempest Bradford asked several science fiction authors what technologies made them feel like they were living in the future. Almost everybody mentioned smart phones and computer networking applications. A couple people said we really are about to have flying cars. And then Levine opined:
One other amazing futuristic technology - and you'll laugh, but think about it for a minute - is the various kinds of "techno-snot" that we use to hold credit cards to mailers, close packages that need to be re-opened, and stick things to walls. These amazing new materials hold fast, but release cleanly when you want them to, with no damage or residue. Other new adhesives set faster, hold tighter, and are stronger and more flexible than ever before. When I was in college, Krazy Glue was brand new and we still had a heated pot in the theatre scene shop for use with animal glues; the advances in adhesives in the last fifty years are just astonishing.
He's absolutely right - materials science is one of the invisible but world-changing areas of innovation, and techno-snot is just one way this field has transformed everybody's lives without us even realizing it.
Check out the full story and see what Charles Stross, Tobias Buckell, Nisi Shawl, and several other authors had to say.
via Laptop Magazine
Send an email to Annalee Newitz, the author of this post, at annalee@io9.com.
Original material is licensed under a Creative Commons License permitting non-commercial sharing with attribution.
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