I'm going to steal my own comment on Alex J. Kane's blog post because it applies to the remainder:
/My theory goes as follows:
Bam! The Singularity occurs. That is, humans can shed their bodies for more immortal coils. It’s very expensive so only the very rich can afford it at first.
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So, there’d be rich immortals, middle class techs, and poor laborers for a while. The Singularity continues, becoming cheaper and cheaper at a faster and faster rate until everybody can afford it.
And since the technology also improves, it’s possible that the late adopters might be the best off in the eternity that lies ahead.
Ah, but is not delayed poetic future social justice future poetic social justice denied?/
Ah, but is not delayed poetic future social justice future poetic social justice denied?/
After I finish this ghost story, I'm going to settle into writing the book-provisional title "The Apocalypse of Frank Evers"-taking off from the cast of characters I wrote in a novelette that failed to satisfy me. I'm calling this the expansion of what was Meant To Be.
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Here's the highlights: Independent Space Scouts, the Singularity "Incomplete Utopia" Revolution, Clipper Ships, Fast Zombies, Post-post-Apocalypse, Persistent Virtual World, Romance?!?
Combining my love of the Singularity with my love of clipper ships is my idea of a good time. Also, both concepts have a small carbon footprint.
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500 words? Yes
Short Story "Moving In, Moving On" - slow but steady, in progress (~2/5?)
Short Story "Moving In, Moving On" - slow but steady, in progress (~2/5?)
I've heard tell that if, in Thailand, a man says "tapestrontaneity" three times fast, a black hole monster will, in a spin, release energy.
ReplyDeleteI've got conceptual beef with "singularity fiction;" you could say we have a beefceptual relatioship. From time to time I read stuff that I think espouses its... je-ne-sais-quoi. Rahul Kanakia's got a pair of stories up on Clarkesworld ("The Association of the Dead") and Redstone Science Fiction ("Death's Flag is Never At Half-mast") that are so technoweird as to generate that singular emotion in me, and to generate a sufficient amount of it so as to cause me to think, "This is perhaps a view of singularity."
HOWEVER. From a logical point of view, I don't believe you can capture the concept of singularity in fiction. As soon as you do, it is no longer the singularity. I've always been under the impression that the defining aspect of singularity is not techsplosion, but, rather, such a techsplosion as to create a world that is not recognizable to our retro-current-primitive brains. However, statements such as, "The idea of singularity precludes grasping singularity" are usually unsatisfying in an existential sense.
Anyway, I could be wrong. And whatever my thoughts on singularity, I TOO AM GREATLY ENAMOURED OF CLIPPERS.
-bn
P.S. Iain M. Banks "Culture" culture (i.e., the culture known as "The Culture") and the stories about them do a good job on the singularity front, also.
My strategy is to build a tall glass of two parts intellectual arrogance that allows me to believe I can envision the Singularity to one part cynicism that assumes that it will lead to an apocalyptic scenario. And a dash of "Hey look sailboat zombie" to distract the reader from over-analyzing it.
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