A kind friend, who reads a lot more science fiction than I do, gave me a copy of Charles Stross’s novel Accelerando for Christmas, on the grounds that after all my pondering on the Singularity last year I ought to be up to speed with what he considers the definitive fictional treatment. I’ve nearly finished it, and I must say I especially enjoyed the role of the uploaded lobsters. But it did make me wonder what Stross’s own views about the singularity are these days. The answer is on his blog, in this entry from last summer: That old-time new-time religion. I’m glad to see that his views on nanotechnology are informed by such a reliable source.
A belated Happy New Year to my readers.
You might enjoy Rudy Rucker on the singularity also. His book “Post Singular” was inspired I believe in part by Charles Stross’s Accelerando.
http://www.rudyrucker.com/blog/
http://www.google.com/search?rawq=singularity&q=site:www.rudyrucker.com+singularity&submit=Search+Site
Since it is now 2009, it is useful to look at what Kurtzweil predicted in 1999 for the kind of computing technology and applications we would have in 2009. His predictions for hardware advances have been largely correct. His predictions for software advances have turned out to be totally out the window.
I love the expression “rapture of the nerds” as a description of the “singularity”.
If you want an SF depiction of what biologically-based nanotechnology can lead to, I recommend John Varley’s “Gaia” trilogy (Titan, Wizard, and Demon). These stories are rather old (published in the early 80’s), but they are the best depiction of “wet” nanotech that I have ever read.
Thanks rs and kurt for the reading suggestions, which I’ll try out later perhaps (I may need to take a bit of a rest from science fiction authors, as before the Stross book I’d got through 3000 pages of Neal Stephenson).