From: Mitch Howe (mitch_howe@yahoo.com)
Date: Sat Mar 09 2002 - 23:42:16 MST
Damien Broderick wrote:
> The book exists. As of last month, it's been out there in trade paperback
> from Forge/Tor. It's called THE SPIKE. Buy it and give it to your favorite
> auntie. Well, maybe not. Your favorite teacher or geek pal. (I'm not
saying
> this for the royalties, pleasant as those are. I spent a lot of effort on
> that book, and I believe it's a good, lively general introduction to a
> range of relevant issues.)
And as soon as my local library gets a copy I'll be able to afford to read
it. I can't wait to do away with poverty!
Books are great, and I'm glad to see that the Singularity message has now
been given quality air-time in this medium. But as you yourself admit, it's
not going to help my auntie. Even many people who read books will not
neccessarily pick up an entire paperback about topics so "obviously" (to
SL0-2) fanciful -- no... Grandiose!
"You mean you want me to read a *whole* book??"
To get greater exposure (with the ultimate aim of adequate funding for the
right projects) we need more than books. We need Singularity: The Magazine,
Singularity: The Multimedia Experience, Singularity: The TV Documentary,
Singularity: The Motion Picture, Singularity for the Mac and the PC, and
yes, even Singularity: The Jiggling Plush Novelty. (I'm thinking fluffy
bunnies here)
I personally am planning to script a multimedia experience, but to organize
my thoughts I recently decided that I needed to give a Singularity FAQ a
shot first. If there's one adjective I'm going for with this document it is
"inviting." The design is multi-layered (one "durantula" suggested this on
Wednesday), with the main FAQ page being just four concisely answered
questions. "The Spike" is even mentioned in the third paragraph! Follow-up
questions on this page are links to a couple layers of progressively more
detailed and technical responses to equally technical concerns. The
structure branches out into what will eventually be short summaries and
introductions to some of the best -- and often most difficult -- source
materials out there. I may need to request help on this last part, since
unlike some on this list I can't yet claim to have read the complete body of
Singularity-related works. Stay tuned, everyone, and feel free to offer me
some suggestions on which source materials are the best (offlist is probably
best for everyone else's sake). Feel free to offer me employment, too --
I've been dying to read "Transcension."
--Mitch Howe
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