Charles Stross Interview

An anonymous reader writes "I'm surprised nobody mentioned this yet: a very interesting interview with author Charles Stross, whose current cycle of singularity-based stories Accelerando (featuring character Manfred Macx) is as tightly-packed with cutting-edge speculations as Bruce Sterling's work. An excerpt from the first of those stories is currently available on the Asimov's Science Fiction Magazine website."

Comments

has anyone here actually read the story?

[Anonymous Coward]

duh,
i can't believe that people are saying that this story is dead, based on it's alleged "low" numbers.
based on the interview that i read i would have to say the dude sounds pretty intersesting and well read. that and his experience as a writer lead me to believe that this could be a kewl read.
it sounds to me as if the above posts, in the majority, have not read the actual story.
what gives. i thought we were supposed to be smart.

Re:Singularity

[eyepeepackets]

Well, I haven't yet read through all of his paper (I'll work on it) but his base proposition that super A.I. will take over the universe is a bit of a stretch considering we can't even make A.I. that can match wits with a lab rat and pull a draw.

Of course, once we can make an A.I. as smart as a lab rat, progress should be happen really, really fast thereafter, so maybe he's right.

All this reminds me of some old Chinese curse having to do with living in interesting times.

What will the universe allow?

[invid]

The most significant factor in singularity is determining what is actually possible under the constraints of physical laws. In all likelihood the universe is not infinitely maliable to our will. Eventually, what is technically possible will reach a plateau, where nothing more advanced can be made.

The most straightforward example is faster than light travel. The universe seems to have a set limit for allowing an object from going from point A to point B. There may be ways around this by warping space. But there are limits on how much space you can warp. Eventually we will reach a point where we cannot travel faster from point A to B.

There are probably some people out there saying "But we don't know what the limits are. People used to say it was impossible to go faster than the speed of sound." That's true, we don't know what the limits are, therefore we should act like there are no limits ... yet. But someday we will figure this universe out and then we'll know the limits. We'll know the fastest speed. We'll know the bountries of what is possible, and we will build to those bountries. We'll travel as fast as possible. We'll make ourselves as intelligent as beings can be under the constraints of the universe. We'll live as long as possible. And technology will be at a plateau from which it cannot grow any higher.