Stephenson Bounced off the Singularity

There was some talk yesterday on Slashdot about how SF authors are having trouble predicting past the Singularity.
And how it all started happening in the ’90s, right as cyberpunk was losing it’s luster.

For me this puts into perspective the trajectory of topics that one of my favorite authors, Neal Stephenson, has been on. He’s bounced off the Singularity and is steadily going back in time. He’s sorta stated as much. Expect his next trilogy to be set in Sumerian times.

I think mirrorshades and leather jackets will always be cool.
And cybernetic implants are becoming more of a reality every day.
You just wait.

On a totally different author, how perfect is the opening

The sky above the port was the color of television, tuned to a dead channel

Sure it’s a little wrong for the setting (digital communications typically don’t have ‘dead channel’s that show static), but it’s so damned cool.

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