Category: Science Fiction

from the okay-who-talked dept.
Our secret is out: what some of us knew but didn't talk much about, except quietly among ourselves. German newspaper Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung reveals the influence science fiction has had on nanotechnologists and other high-tech researchers: "I was a dyed-in-the-wool Trekkie," says Freitas. And those who want to get an idea of what is currently going on in the twilight zone between science, fantasy and politics must take such confessions seriously. Just as the German archeologist Heinrich Schliemann's generation was obsessed with Homer, so all the great sci-fi epics, especially those on celluloid, have left their mark on these 40-something scientists. And they now have the education and — thanks to the new economy — the enormous financial resources they need to pursue their version of reality. Er, some of us have the financial resources.

from the here-comes-Singularity dept.
Vernor Vinge, author of some of the best — many would say THE best — novels on highly advanced coming technologies, will speak at the Sept 8-10 Foresight Gathering. It was Vernor who came up with the term Singularity; come hear about it from the man himself. The good news is that Vernor has stopped teaching in order to write full-time, so we should be seeing more work from him. You need to read his writing whether you like sf or not: books such as his are some of the most useful future scenarios around.