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Speaker-to-Animals
This is a list of fictional characters featured in the ''Known Space'' novels by Larry Niven. Individual characters Sigmund Ausfaller Sigmund Ausfaller, a native of Earth, is a member of the Amalgamated Regional Militia ("ARM"), working in the Bureau of Alien Affairs on Earth. To protect puppeteer (and Earth) interests, in "Neutron Star" Ausfaller plants a bomb in the lifesystem of Beowulf Shaeffer's ship, the ''Skydiver'', so that Shaeffer will not attempt to steal it. Years later, in ''The Borderlands of Sol'', when Shaeffer encounters him on Jinx, he offers Shaeffer and Carlos Wu a ride home to Earth on his ship, ''Hobo Kelly'', in hopes of attracting the attention of whoever or whatever was causing ships to disappear when entering or leaving Sol system. Some years later, Ausfaller, having almost caught up with Shaeffer on Fafnir, is killed by Ander Smittarasheed in order to protect Smittarasheed's interest in the special nanotechnology autodoc developed by Carlos Wu, left ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Louis Wu
Louis Gridley Wu, a fictional character, is the protagonist in Larry Niven's ''Ringworld'' book series. Louis Wu was born in 2650 to Carlos Wu and Sharrol Janss. When he appears in ''Ringworld'', Louis is 6′2″ (188 cm) tall. Without " Flatlander" bodypaint, his brown eyes show no discernible slant and his yellow-brown skinned features are a blended fusion of Earth's many races. Born a "Flatlander", Louis is best known among his friends for inventing the "Sabbatical"—going off alone in a spaceship outside the boundaries of known space until one can tolerate human company again. Louis was the first human being to make contact with the Trinoc species. He is also the only hominid ever to become a Protector and return to normal (Breeder) state afterward. Birth and childhood Louis Wu is the second of two children born to Carlos Wu and Sharrol Janss. Sharrol was married to Beowulf (or "Bey") Shaeffer at the time but the Fertility Board of the United Nations of Earth ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Pak Protector
Pak Breeders and Pak Protectors are two developmental stages of fictional life in Larry Niven's Known Space universe. The Pak first appeared in "The Adults", which appeared in ''Galaxy'' in 1967; this story was expanded into the novel ''Protector'' by Larry Niven (1973). The Pak also appear in several of Niven's later novels, notably those set in the Ringworld. '' Destroyer of Worlds'' depicts a confrontation between the Pak and the Puppeteers. Narrative purpose Niven has written that he invented the Protectors as a thought experiment to explain the common effects of aging on humans and to create a fictional evolutionary explanation for humans' long lives after females have passed reproductive age. Accordingly, most of the positive attributes of Protectors are based on negative human aging effects: swollen joints, decreased muscle-fat ratio, weakening heart, invariant diet, decreasing height, facial atrophy, leathery skin, hair loss, lack of sex drive, and tooth loss are all ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Psychic
A psychic is a person who claims to use powers rooted in parapsychology, such as extrasensory perception (ESP), to identify information hidden from the normal senses, particularly involving telepathy or clairvoyance; or who performs acts that are apparently inexplicable by natural laws, such as psychokinesis or teleportation. Although many people believe in psychic abilities, the scientific consensus is that there is no proof of the existence of such powers, and describes the practice as pseudoscience. Psychics encompass people in a variety of roles. Some are theatrical performers, such as stage magicians, who use various techniques, e.g. prestidigitation, cold reading, and hot reading, to produce the appearance of such abilities for entertainment purposes. A large industry and network exist whereby people advertised as psychics provide advice and counsel to clients. Some famous psychics include Edgar Cayce, Ingo Swann, Peter Hurkos, Janet Lee, Miss Cleo, John Edward ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Detective
A detective is an investigator, usually a member of a law enforcement agency. They often collect information to solve crimes by talking to witnesses and informants, collecting physical evidence, or searching records in databases. This leads them to arrest criminals and enable them to be convicted in court. A detective may work for the police or Private investigator, privately. Overview Informally, and primarily in fiction, a detective is a licensed or unlicensed person who solves crimes, including historical crimes, by examining and evaluating clues and personal records in order to uncover the identity and/or whereabouts of criminals. In some Police, police departments, a detective position is obtained by passing a written test after a person completes the requirements for being a police officer. In many other police systems, detectives are college graduates who join directly from civilian life without first serving as uniformed officers. Some argue that detectives do a compl ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
The Defenseless Dead
''The Defenseless Dead'' is a science fiction novella by American writer Larry Niven, set in the ''Known Space'' universe. It is the second of five '' Gil Hamilton'' detective stories. It was published in 1973 in the Roger Elwood anthology '' Ten Tomorrows''. Science fiction philosopher Stephen R. L. Clark, in his work ''How to Live Forever'' (1995), mistakenly credits this story with inventing the term " corpsicle". The term had already appeared in Frederik Pohl's '' The Age of the Pussyfoot'' (1969), after an earlier spelling by Pohl was published in a 1966 ''Worlds of Tomorrow'' essay, "Immortality Through Freezing". Plot summary In the story, Organlegging is rampant on Earth in the early 22nd century. In an attempt to alleviate the problem, the UN had passed the first "Freezer Law", declaring paupers in cryogenic suspension to be dead in law, allowing their organs to be harvested and made available for transplant. A few years later with the organ banks running low, the s ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Protector (novel)
''Protector'' is a 1973 science fiction novel by American writer Larry Niven, set in his Known Space universe. It was nominated for the Hugo in 1974, and placed fourth in the annual Locus poll for that year. The work fleshes out a species called the Pak, originally introduced in a 1967 story called "The Adults", which forms the first half of the novel (there titled ''Phssthpok''); the second half is titled ''Vandervecken''. The Pak also appear in several of Niven's later works, including the later volumes of the ''Ringworld'' series and the novel '' Destroyer of Worlds'' which serves as a semi-sequel to ''Protector''. Plot summary The novel comprises two phases in the same space that are separated by 220 years of time. Its central conceit is that Humans evolved from the juvenile stage of the Pak, a species with a distinct adult form ("Protectors") that has immense strength and intelligence and cares only about younger Pak of their bloodline. A key plot point is that tra ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
World Of Ptavvs
''World of Ptavvs'' is the first novel by American science fiction writer Larry Niven, published in 1966 and set in his ''Known Space'' universe. A “much shorter version” was originally published as a novella in ''Worlds of Tomorrow'' in March 1965. The plot is largely unchanged, but most of the Belter narration is new, as is the date of the action, 2106. The original title for the novella submitted to editor Frederik Pohl was “Relic of Empire”; Judy-Lynn Benjamin (later Del Rey) renamed it “World of Ptavvs.” Pohl sent it to Ballantine Books, suggesting it could become a novel, where it was purchased by Betty Ballantine. Niven later recycled his original title for the novelette “A Relic of the Empire” published in '' If,'' December 1966. Plot summary A reflective statue is found at the bottom of one of Earth's oceans, having lain there for 1.5 billion years. Since humans have recently developed a time-slowing field and found that one such field cannot func ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Narrativium
The Discworld is the fictional world where English writer Sir Terry Pratchett's ''Discworld'' fantasy novels take place. It consists of an interstellar planet-sized disc, which sits on the backs of four huge elephants, themselves standing on the back of a world turtle, named Great A'Tuin, as it slowly swims through space. The ''Disc'' is the setting for all forty-one Discworld novels; it was influenced by world religions which feature human worlds resting on turtles, as a setting to reflect situations on Earth, in a humorous way. The Discworld is peopled mostly by the three main races of men, dwarfs and trolls. As the novels progress, other lesser known races are included, such as dragons, elves, goblins and pixies. Pratchett first explored the idea of a disc-shaped world in the novel ''Strata'' (1981). Great A'Tuin Great A'Tuin is the Giant Star Turtle (of the fictional species ''Chelys galactica'') who travels through the Discworld universe's space, carrying four giant ele ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Indeterminacy (literature)
Indeterminacy in literature is a situation in which components of a text require the reader to make their own decisions about the text's meaning. (Baldick 2008) This can occur if the text's ending does not provide full closure and there are still questions to be answered, or when "the language is such that the author’s original intention is not known". Baldick further describes the concept as "a principle of uncertainty invoked to deny the existence of any final or determinate meaning that could bring to an end the play of meaning between the elements of a text". Therefore, indeterminacy is the belief that it is not possible to decide entirely what a word means when used in a certain circumstance, so the meaning of the whole text must remain open to interpretation. Indeterminacy is not ambiguity In literature, indeterminacy is sometimes confused with the idea of ambiguity, as the two are very alike. However, as opposed to ambiguity, indeterminacy is "applied by its practitioners ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Gene
In biology, the word gene has two meanings. The Mendelian gene is a basic unit of heredity. The molecular gene is a sequence of nucleotides in DNA that is transcribed to produce a functional RNA. There are two types of molecular genes: protein-coding genes and non-coding genes. During gene expression (the synthesis of Gene product, RNA or protein from a gene), DNA is first transcription (biology), copied into RNA. RNA can be non-coding RNA, directly functional or be the intermediate protein biosynthesis, template for the synthesis of a protein. The transmission of genes to an organism's offspring, is the basis of the inheritance of phenotypic traits from one generation to the next. These genes make up different DNA sequences, together called a genotype, that is specific to every given individual, within the gene pool of the population (biology), population of a given species. The genotype, along with environmental and developmental factors, ultimately determines the phenotype ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Fringe War
Fringe may refer to: Arts and music * "The Fringe", or Edinburgh Festival Fringe, the world's largest arts festival * Adelaide Fringe, the world's second-largest annual arts festival * Fringe theatre, a name for alternative theatre * Purple fringing, an unfocused purple or magenta "ghost" image on a photograph * Fringe Product, a defunct Canadian record label Television and entertainment * ''Fringe'' (TV series), an American science fiction television series * The Fringe, the setting for the 2000 computer game '' Tachyon: The Fringe'' * "The Fringe" (short story), a short story by Orson Scott Card * "The Fringe" (''Smash''), a television episode Science * Fringe science, scientific inquiry that departs significantly from mainstream or orthodox theories in an established field of study * Fringe search, a graph search algorithm that finds the least-cost path from a given initial node to one goal node * Fringe of a relation, a particular sub-relation of a binary relation in ma ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
