Holocubes in science fiction

Science fiction writers have used the name "holocube" to denote three related, yet quite different, types of futuristic imaginary technology.

The first, and most common, type of holocube is a three-dimensional holographic projection device. Essentially, a holocube is a cube of transparent or translucent material, or even simply an empty cubical space, within which a holographic projection, either a recording or a transmission, appears. In this vision of the future, people don't watch flat-screen televisions, they watch "tri-v" or "3V channels" on holocubes. This idea can be found in the works of Brian W. Aldiss, amongst others, such as Supertoys Last All Summer Long: And Other Stories of Future Time and The Eighty-minute Hour: A Space Opera. Similarly, holocubes, in which a full three-dimensional image of one's interlocutor appears, replace the humble telephone.

The second most common, but obviously much smaller, type of holocube is simply a cube of some unspecified material, that is used as a holographic storage device. This is simply the classic "data crystal" motif.

A third, and less common still, type of holocube is simply a three-dimensional photograph. In David Weber's Honor Among Enemies, for example, the eponymous Honor Harrington carries around a holocube containing a three-dimensional image of Paul Tankersley.


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