My education is perhaps similar to yours...(I've got an BS,and an MS but they
were in business...and I feel effectively useless)..and I work for a living
as a Truck Driver. (owner operator).
However I since childhood I have been reading Science Fiction....and when I
was experienced enough to understand the difference I concentrated on the
"Hard" variety...
Check out any books you can find by,..... (remember...this is from memory
only...so some errors are probable)......
Vernor Vinge, Neal Stephenson, W.T. Quick, James Hogan,John Cramer,Larry
Niven, and several more but can't remember their names
Read:
"Engines of Creation" and "Unbounding the Future" by Erick Drexler
"The Lucifer Principle" Howard Bloom
Use the net...go to websites of the Transhuman Alliance, the millenium
foundation,
Home page of James Hogan, John Cramer, Linda Nagata,
key words nanotechnology, Augmented Reality, Extropian, ....
This is but a bare smidgin...hope it helps a little.
EvMick