Science Fiction Lingo

Someone even suggests that Sandy was abducted by aliens that swooped down and stole him away into the stars. King and the Dragonflies

She moved away from him, paced slowly, with measured steps, about the room. “—see, we lived on Mars. That’s how come I know androids.” Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep?

“With data. For a while now, I’ve been working on developing the perfect artificial intelligence, an algorithm that, when implemented through the NeuroLink, can fix our flaws better than any human police force.” Warcross

MacGregor had created a clone so he could have transplants when he needed them. The House of the Scorpion

I flashed the cyborg doorman my invitation, then mounted the long crystal staircase leading up into the club. Ready Player One: A Novel

“You know, sometimes it does feel like we’re in one of those trendy dystopian novels,” she admitted. Anger Is a Gift

How would we explain the global arms race to a dispassionate extraterrestrial observer? Cosmos

If TimeStar really was from the future, and really was a fan, then it was clear which Legendary Alston Boy was his favorite. The Last Last-Day-of-Summer

It is now very clear that we live some 30,000 light-years from the galactic core, on the fringes of a spiral arm, where the local density of stars is relatively sparse. Cosmos

What is necessary is a program of artificial selection and genetic engineering of dark plants—perhaps lichens—that could survive the much more severe Martian environment. Cosmos

A closely related problem that is also of concern to writers of science fiction is rapid interstellar or intergalactic travel. A Brief History of Time: And Other Essays

Thousands of flying avatars and ships continued to buzz around the shield, occasionally firing bullets, lasers, missiles, and other projectiles at it, all of which impacted harmlessly on the surface. Ready Player One: A Novel

To geeks, subjects like nanotechnology are like sports for other people. Geeks: How Two Lost Boys Rode the Internet Out of Idaho

But then, advances in robotics these days were tremendous. I, Robot

“How can you possibly lose the one and only patient you’ve got? What happened—did aliens beam him up to their spaceship while you were on your coffee break?” Hoot

“But if I had telekinesis, I could just move myself around. Then I could fly too,” I say. Free Lunch

When the ring began to glow, I said the name of the planet where I wished to teleport. Ready Player One: A Novel

The researchers realized that the machines people were building—those mechanized tools of productivity, war, and science—were so powerful that they were moving faster than people could keep up. A Deadly Wandering: A Mystery, a Landmark Investigation, and the Astonishing Science of Attention in the Digital Age