<< [Aside: Greg Bear likely made it expensive to tone it down in his
story (which wasn't about nanotech) - cheap, ubiquitious nanotech
changes things too much, and most authors realize they cannot handle
all the implications. Linda Nagata and Neal Stephenson are so far the
only authors I have read who have tried to explore the possibilities. >>
It appears so...isn't that irritating? One of the reasons I love science
fiction is that it's fiction about science...speculative fiction about the
changes in in culture brought about by the advances in technology.(..if this
then .....what?)....<imho..much of what poses for SF today is not...I don't
know WHAT it is...(fantasy? nursery ryhmes?)..but it doesn't meet my
requirements for SF...hence I ignor it).
In the novel.."Arostoi"..Walter Jon Williams (i think hes the author)..does a
credible job of combineing many emergent technologies . I read it the first
time and was a little confused...later I read it again and thourghly enjoyed
it...I guess some of the ideas had to ferment for a while.
And it IS hard...it's easy to be glib and talk about "Singularities" and
"Technological Revolutions" and "The Third Wave"...but i think...(as has been
mentioned earlier)..that most people haven't ..."internalized"...just what
that means..
Hell...most people don't even have a clear idea of what MONEY is...now try to
imagine a culture that has no need for it? (James Hogan wrote a novella that
addressed that subject...don't recall the title...had to do with interstellar
colinization..via vat grown embryos under computer control).
The transition period is what's intriguing...anything beyond a few years gets
TOO fantastic.. but how will nanotech...cold
fusion...biotech...uploading...virtual and augmented reality be
implemented...in the next few years? SOON
I...personally...think it will destroy governments as a concept...and a
society of self-reliant individualists will emerge like a butterfly from a
cocoon...
EvMick