X-Message-Number: 29127 From: "Mark Plus" <> Subject: Vernor Vinge relinquishes the Singularity? Date: Mon, 12 Feb 2007 17:10:30 -0800 This sounds like a potentially good talk; I wish I could attend. And it provides yet more evidence for the dragged-out, non-arrival of the "futuristic" world envisioned by 20th Century science fiction and futurology [Mark Plus]: http://www.longnow.org/projects/seminars/ Seminars About Long-term Thinking Thursday, February 15, 02007 Vernor Vinge What If the Singularity Does NOT Happen? Technology acceleration is like what happens approaching the singularity in the center of a black hole - everything is transformed utterly and unpredictably. That metaphor was invented by science fiction writer Vernor Vinge in 1980's and has entered standard usage as a way of thinking about the near future. In this talk Vinge challenges his own idea, investigating scenarios of "a human-scaled world with long time horizons," and how that might play out over ten or twenty thousand years. _________________________________________________________________ Laugh, share and connect with Windows Live Messenger http://clk.atdmt.com/MSN/go/msnnkwme0020000001msn/direct/01/?href=http://imagine-msn.com/messenger/launch80/default.aspx?locale=en-us&source=hmtagline Rate This Message: http://www.cryonet.org/cgi-bin/rate.cgi?msg=29127