The author of several popular "hard" science fiction novels, Venor Vinge is responsible for many happy hours spent reading and daydreaming. The theme of a "technological singularity" runs through many of his works. The technological singularity, or simple "The Singularity" is the notion that, if scientific advances keep coming at a faster and faster pace, then eventually you reach a point where advances are essentially simultaneous. At that point it's hard to say what happens, but in his books, races in that situation seem to "ascend," vanishing from the world of mortals.
In 1993 Vinge is quoted as saying:
Within thirty years, we will have the technological means to create superhuman intelligence. Shortly after, the human era will be ended.
Given that this is 2008, that means that we have 15 years to go. At that point he will be 79, so that still gives his books a decent amount of time to sell :-)
Some of the ideas that I found interesting about Vinge's works are:
- The timespans involved: Marooned in Real Time for example takes place over the course of 50 million years.
- The approaches he takes to super-human intelligence: rather than out-and-out replacement, his works gravitate towards gradual enchancement.
- The notion of The Singularity.
At the end of the day, it
is just reading a book or daydreaming. A far more rewarding activity would be to
do something like going out and
living. But, as silly activities go, I find it enjoyable :-)
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