Noted Scifi writers Alastair Reynolds, Vernor Vinge, Karl Schroeder, and Charles Stross discuss the Singularity. Who better to ask about the future than the guys who make it up everyday?
Let’s face it. Most what we think we know about the Universe may come from science, but most of what we think we know about the future comes from science fiction. So it only makes sense that the New England Science Fiction Association’s annual convention, Boskone, featured a great panel of scifi writers discussing our favorite topic: where the exponential growth in technology is leading us, AKA, the Singularity. On hand was Alastair Reynolds, scientist and author of the Revelation Space series , Vernor Vinge mathematician, computer scientist, and author of A Fire Upon the Deep, Charles Stross, author of Accelerando, and Karl Schroeder, co-author of The Complete Idiot’s Guide To Writing Science Fiction. The panelists sought to not only explain how the concept of accelerating technologies has affected their work, but also to take a stab at what might actually happen in our real future. It’s a lot of fun to watch people who spend their lives describe the far flung future scramble to try to understand the next few decades. Hilarity and insight abounds. A video of the panel in its entirety is below courtesy of Michael Johnson, jump past 3:00 if you want to skip much of the preamble.
Winter break is almost over, so it’s time to start thinking about going to school, even if you’re years past your college graduation. Singularity University, based out of NASA Ames center in Silicon Valley, is a unique collection of forward-thinking faculty at the heads of their fields. The 
Where have all the forward thinking business executives gone? They’re in school. 
Lots of people talk about the future, but few can reliably predict trends. 
4 Comments