>Mac Tonnies (AIintelbot) wrote:
>>
>>Natasha Vita More mentioned in an unrelated post that she was not, for the
>>most part, influenced by science fiction. As an avid sf reader, I find
this
>>interesting. Could you elaborate on your influences? Sf has always
>>functioned as a sort of memetic fountainhead for me; transhumanism came
>>along
>>as a very happy coincidence...though not entirely as a surprise.
>It is interesting. I, too, am not primarily influenced by science
>fiction. That is not to say that I haven't read quite a few sf novels, but
>their overall effect on how I live my life is quite minimal. The two
>exceptions are David Zindell's quartet, and Neal Stephenson's _The Diamond
>Age_. My influences come from reading about new breakthroughs and studies
>which are actually being done. Conceptual progress is a fabulous thing...
>particularly for those new to transhumanism, but actualized progress is far
>more preferable in my mind. It is an exciting time to be alive.
I couldn't agree more! I honestly think my generation (I'm 23) will be one of the first to reap the benefits of some of the staggeringly complex biomedical leaps that are in the works. My taste in science fiction has changed (not "matured," by any means) from an interest in hard science to more "literary" sf (whatever the hell that means).
"The Diamond Age" is a fabulous book about a future that I can actually see happening. "Holy Fire" by Bruce Sterling is another with this quality (which is rarer than some might think). Other "hard" sf novels that have seeded me with progressive ideas: "Red Mars" by Kim Stanley Robinson, "Timescape" by Gregory Benford, "Childhood's End" by Arthur C. Clarke, "Sterling's "Schismatrix"...these are books that seethe with thought-food--and they're of "literary" quality to boot.
Lately I've been reading a lot of J.G. Ballard. Steve Erickson ("Amnesiascope") is another author with an appropriately millennial perspective.
Mac Tonnies
alintelbot@aol.com