Re: Prelude to a Singularity? Science and Science Fiction
Alexander 'Sasha' Chislenko (sasha1@netcom.com)
Tue, 03 Feb 1998 18:32:07 -0500
At 04:28 PM 2/3/98 -0500, DOUG.BAILEY@ey.com wrote:
>What does it mean when science begins to appear more stimulating that science
>fiction? Lately, I have found the most enjoyment from reading nonfiction
>science books. This may be because I have read most of the science fiction out
>there already (though I am preparing to read the Zindell books). Does this
>mark some crucial point where the discoveries of science are beginning to catch
>up (dare I say outpace) the imagination of science fiction writers? Is this
>phenomenon a precursor to the alleged Singularity (virtually infinite
>scientific progress)? Does it at least indicate that scientific progress is
>beginning to proceed at a such a pace that our imagination does not have time
>to investigate its implications thoroughly?
>
I think it means that the science finally ran ahead of the imagination and
interests of the slightly-smarter-than-mundane layer of the population that
constitutes the bulk of SF readership. SF writers mostly write techno-fairy
tales, I wrote abut this in 1991 - see
<http://www.lucifer.com/~sasha/articles/ScienceFiction.txt>
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Alexander Chislenko <http://www.lucifer.com/~sasha/home.html>
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