Re: Failure of AI a prediction of Neal Stephenson's "The Diamond Age"

Michael S. Lorrey (retroman@together.net)
Tue, 22 Dec 1998 10:01:06 -0500

DouglasWhitworth wrote:

> Eliezer wrote
> >I've seen the word "extropian" used in science fiction on three
> >occasions: "Slant" by Greg Bear, "Voice of the Whirlwind" by Walter John
> >Williams, and "Wang's Carpets" by Greg Egan. In the last two cases, the
> >"Extropians" are a cult. In the first book, the "Extropians" are
> >mentioned as justification by a member of a cult.
>
> To that you can add Alexander Besher's "Mir", and its opening reference to
> the "Extropian Library of Congress". Only just bought the book and am still
> to read it, so I can't comment further.

You can add Allen Steele's novel "A King of Infinite Space" which portrays extropians initially as a mafia/pirate/underworld organization based in the asteroid belt, opposed by the autocracies of the innner solar system. In they end they turn out to be the good guys. It is heavy on cryonics.

Mike Lorrey