Verner Vinge & other Dystopias

[zero]

I'm looking to BradM here or other resident braniac sci fi guys. I've been really getting into Verner Vinge and his book Rainbows End lately. Perhaps not surprisingly there's a similar theme in David Foster Wallace's Infinite Jest (which is a bit of a dystopic vision)- the theme being the creation of a mysterious super weapon.

Wondering what other recommendations people might have along these lines. I'm presuming I should read some Spider Robinson and some of the more obscure Philip K. Dick (Emily Haines mentions a great one in Exclaim! this month).

Here's some cool futuristic shit I just found of Karl Kofoed's in Galactic Geographic in a Nov. 2001 issue of Heavy Metal.

[bradm]

I've read some Vinge: the novels "A Fire Upon The Deep" (one of the best SF novels I've ever read) and "A Deepness In The Sky" (which I don't think is nearly as good "A Fire Upon The Deep"), and the collections "Across Realtime", "Threats...and Other Promises", and "True Names...and Other Dangers", but not "Rainbow's End". I wouldn't call any of them dystopic, though "Across Realtime" deals with a new technology which can be used as a weapon. I've never read any David Foster Wallace, though.

The main dystopic novel I've read is John Brunner's "The Sheep Look Up", but it's an environmental dystopia (based entirely on Earth, and one we easily recognize), not based around weapons. His other big "non-linear" novel, "Stand On Zanzibar", presents and takes place in a pretty dysfunctional society, but I'm not sure I'd call it dystopic.

Which Spider Robinson do you mean? I haven't read a lot of his early novels (except for maybe "Stardance"), but I know his short fiction (especially the "Callahan's Bar" stories) is, if anything, more down the humourous end than the dystopic end.

Does that help?

Aloha,

Brad

[Alexis]

so does this mean that you've actually finished infinite jest?

[zero]

NO I HAVE NOT FINISHED INFINITE JEST. Spoiler warning.

For the record it's not that I am the slowest reader in the world quite the opposite. I am also not finished Greil Marcus' Old Weird America and Michel Foucault's Discipline and Punish, last weeks newspapers, yesterdays newspapers and everything from today (it's only 9:26).

I'm not certain I am going to be as disappointed with the Jest ending as you were or seemed to be.

BradM I think the best term for Vinge's vision of the future is Extropian as opposed to Singularitarian.

Singularitarianism is a moral philosophy based upon the belief that a technological singularity — the technological creation of smarter- than-human intelligence — is possible, and advocating deliberate action to bring it into effect and ensure its safety. While many futurists and transhumanists speculate on the possibility and nature of this type of singularity (often referred to as just the Singularity; capitalized and objectivized to indicate its sheer magnitude as a historical event), Singularitarians believe it is not only possible, but desirable if and only if guided safely. Accordingly, they "dedicate their lives" to acting in ways they believe will contribute to its safe arrival.

Extropianism, also referred to as extropy, is an evolving framework of values and standards for continuously improving the human condition. Extropianism describes a pragmatic consilience of transhuman thought guided by a conscious, pro-active, self-directed approach to human evolution and progress. (Extropians were once concisely described as libertarian transhumanists, and some still hold to this standard.)

Edited October 5, 2006 by Guest