I've been too pessimistic in my projections.
I imagined a world with battle cyborgs that could take the terminator in a fight. I gave it ubiquitous augmented reality (and the surveillance that requires) and fantastical software constructs that seemed human. There are 3D printers for everything from clothes to food to organs, and its all cheap and easily accessible.
This future seemed too soon at a mere twenty years from now.
I underestimated it. Because of course I did.
I imagined a world with battle cyborgs that could take the terminator in a fight. I gave it ubiquitous augmented reality (and the surveillance that requires) and fantastical software constructs that seemed human. There are 3D printers for everything from clothes to food to organs, and its all cheap and easily accessible.
This future seemed too soon at a mere twenty years from now.
I underestimated it. Because of course I did.
First, something I got exactly right:
The Microsoft Hololens is Realmware V1. Watch some of the tech videos and the interviews with people who've used it and compare it to the descriptions throughout Isaac's Story. It's the same damn thing, and it's awesome. Right now it's stuck (more or less) in one place but they'll move it out into the world soon enough.
Here's the thing I missed - EMDrive
At worst this is a misunderstanding of test results. At best it's a fucking warp drive.
Assuming there is an effect, and assuming three or four different teams of scientists aren't all wrong, my guess is it'll fall somewhere in the middle. But somewhere in the middle utterly changes the future in almost every conceivable way, and in the near future. Right in the middle of the timeline for my series. Because of course it does.
If this thing works as well as the teams are tentatively saying it does (note: they haven't released a paper and this hasn't been properly peer reviewed, which means it isn't true and is probably a load of crap) then we get to go interplanetary, and soon. We can think about doing crazy things like sending probes to other star systems. We can put things in orbit for less and keep them there indefinitely for practically nothing.
We basically get a first generation Star Trek Impulse drive, and I'm going to be a space pirate haunting the asteroid belt mining colonies, because we'll have those and we'll have them within my lifetime.
The Microsoft Hololens is Realmware V1. Watch some of the tech videos and the interviews with people who've used it and compare it to the descriptions throughout Isaac's Story. It's the same damn thing, and it's awesome. Right now it's stuck (more or less) in one place but they'll move it out into the world soon enough.
Here's the thing I missed - EMDrive
At worst this is a misunderstanding of test results. At best it's a fucking warp drive.
Assuming there is an effect, and assuming three or four different teams of scientists aren't all wrong, my guess is it'll fall somewhere in the middle. But somewhere in the middle utterly changes the future in almost every conceivable way, and in the near future. Right in the middle of the timeline for my series. Because of course it does.
If this thing works as well as the teams are tentatively saying it does (note: they haven't released a paper and this hasn't been properly peer reviewed, which means it isn't true and is probably a load of crap) then we get to go interplanetary, and soon. We can think about doing crazy things like sending probes to other star systems. We can put things in orbit for less and keep them there indefinitely for practically nothing.
We basically get a first generation Star Trek Impulse drive, and I'm going to be a space pirate haunting the asteroid belt mining colonies, because we'll have those and we'll have them within my lifetime.
Let's play with the narrative of this fever dream a little more, shall we.
Let's say the warp bubble they think they've detected is real. This means we've found another way of creating a warp field that doesn't require Alcubierre drive energy weirdness, and that changes every-damn-thing. It might not happen in my lifetime, but we'll go to the stars. Shit, if I eat right and exercise I might get to be a space pirate in another star system.
What's actually going to happen is this: they're all going to find out they were wrong or lying (as odd as that would be) and this is going to end up being a fun thing we thought about for a bit before moving on to making better rockets.
But if it isn't, if it's true and works as described...
They're running more and better tests at Nasa in a few months, at which point things get boring again or they get really interesting. My future might be implausible because I wasn't seeing Star Trek on the horizon.
Quick, go buy my shit before it becomes hilariously short sighted.
Let's say the warp bubble they think they've detected is real. This means we've found another way of creating a warp field that doesn't require Alcubierre drive energy weirdness, and that changes every-damn-thing. It might not happen in my lifetime, but we'll go to the stars. Shit, if I eat right and exercise I might get to be a space pirate in another star system.
What's actually going to happen is this: they're all going to find out they were wrong or lying (as odd as that would be) and this is going to end up being a fun thing we thought about for a bit before moving on to making better rockets.
But if it isn't, if it's true and works as described...
They're running more and better tests at Nasa in a few months, at which point things get boring again or they get really interesting. My future might be implausible because I wasn't seeing Star Trek on the horizon.
Quick, go buy my shit before it becomes hilariously short sighted.
Briefly, on the topic of my shit:
The next book out the gate is a novella prequel to Isaac's Story: London, called The Deal. It's done editing and waiting on a cover, but I'm going to send it to the mailing list in a bit. Should be released in a couple of weeks. It'll be followed by the gigantic The Line about a month later.
Go read a book.
The next book out the gate is a novella prequel to Isaac's Story: London, called The Deal. It's done editing and waiting on a cover, but I'm going to send it to the mailing list in a bit. Should be released in a couple of weeks. It'll be followed by the gigantic The Line about a month later.
Go read a book.
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