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The term ansible refers to a category of fictional technological devices capable of superluminal or faster-than-light (FTL) communication. These devices can instantaneously transmit and receive communicative and informational data streams across vast distances and obstacles, including between star systems and even across galaxies. As a name for such a device, the term ansible first appeared in the 1966 novel Rocannon’s World by Ursula K. Le Guin. Since that time, the broad use of the term has continued in the works of numerous science-fiction authors, across a variety of settings and continuities. Related terms are ultraphone and ultrawave.