Islands in The Net - Hightech Inventions

Hightech Inventions

• The Net: similar to today’s Internet.
• Running shoes: used by Laura with indicators of mileage covered by the runner similar to the latest product of the Nike and iPod companies.
• Trash cans: on Galveston beach, these move towards the person who calls them. After one puts refuse into them, they respond by saying “Thank you!”
• Watchphone: a device used as a watch, a phone and an organizer.
• Videoglasses: sunglasses with a video camera. Used by Laura and David on Grenada in conjunction with custom made earphones. Rather heavy and awkward.
• Scop: a single cell protein that is mass produced cheaply in “protein vats swarming with bacteria.”
• Sticky: Michael Thompson/Nesta Stubbs – a man whose digestive system has been modified to contain special bacteria which, after he eats a carton of yogurt, produces drugs turning him into professional hitman who feels no pain or empathy.
• Suntan lotion: changes the structure of a person's skin and turns its color black. Invented by Brain Prentis; used by David and later mass produced by Rizome.
• Romance: red capsules containing hormones similar to those produced synthetically by the brain of a person in love; produced by gene-spliced bacteria and used by prostitutes from The Church of Ishtar, a religious organization providing sexual services to men.
• Synthetic THC: produced legally in Grenada in the form of small paper plasters stuck to the skin and releasing THC, the active substance in marijuana.