Vernor Vinge Concepts

The Collected Stories of Vernor Vinge

by Vernor Vinge · 30 Sep 2001 · 659pp · 203,574 words

one-author collections—with happy exceptions, such as the Baen collections in the 1980s and now this Tor collection in 2001. The Collected Stories of Vernor Vinge contains almost all my published short fiction to date. For the record, the omissions are: • True Names, which is included in True Names and the

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novel, Tatja Grimm’s World. Finally, this Tor collection contains a first appearance, the novella Fast Times at Fairmont High (hot off the word processor). —VERNOR VINGE August 2001 “BOOKWORM, RUN!” I was a child in the 1950s, a little boy who could talk and write better than he could think, but

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ready for the programming task, some cross-corporate integration nonsense. He was out by noon, with an A. Copyright Acknowledgments “Bookworm, Run!” Copyright © 1966 by Vernor Vinge. First published in Analog Science Fiction Science Fact. “The Accomplice” Copyright © 1967 by Galaxy Publishing Corporation. First published in Worlds of If Science Fiction. “The

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Peddler’s Apprentice” Copyright © 1975 by Joan D. Vinge and Vernor Vinge. First published in Analog Science Fiction Science Fact. “The Ungoverned” Copyright © 1985 by Vernor Vinge. First published in Far Frontiers, Baen Books. “Long Shot” Copyright © 1972 by Vernor Vinge. First published in Analog Science Fiction Science Fact. “Apartness” Copyright © 1965 by

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New Worlds SF. “Conquest by Default” Copyright © 1968 by Vernor Vinge. First published in Analog Science Fiction Science Fact. “The Whirligig of Time” Copyright © 1974 by Random House, Inc. First published in Stellar One, Ballantine Books. “

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Bomb Scare” Copyright © 1970 by Vernor Vinge. First published in Analog Science Fiction Science Fact. “The Science Fair” Copyright © 1971 by Vernor Vinge. First published in Orbit 9, G. P. Putnam’s Sons. “Gemstone” Copyright © 1983 by Vernor Vinge. First published in Analog Science Fiction Science Fact. “Just Peace” Copyright

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Other Dangers and Threats … and Other Promises appeared in substantially similar form in those collections. Vernor Vinge’s commentary for “The Accomplice” appeared in substantially similar form in the program book of the 64th Anniversary Philadelphia Science Fiction Conference (Philcon 2000). BY

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VERNOR VINGE Tatja Grimm’s World The Witling True Names and Other Dangers (collection) Threats … and Other Promises (collection) Across Realtime comprising: The Peace War “The Ungoverned”

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Marooned in Realtime *A Fire upon the Deep *A Deepness in the Sky *The Collected Stories of Vernor Vinge *True Names and the Opening of the Cyberspace Frontier (forthcoming) *denotes a Tor book This is a work of fiction. All the characters and events

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portrayed in these stories are either fictitious or are used fictitiously. THE COLLECTED STORIES OF VERNOR VINGE Copyright © 2001 by Vernor Vinge All rights reserved, including the right to reproduce this book, or portions thereof, in any form. Edited by James Frenkel. An Orb Edition

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Jane Regina eISBN 9781429915106 First eBook Edition : March 2011 Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data Vinge, Vernor. [Short stories. selections] The collected stories of Vernor Vinge / Vernor Vinge. p. cm ISBN 0-312-87373-5 (hc) ISBN 0-312-87584-3 (pbk) 1. Science fiction, American. I. Title. PS3572.I534 A6 2001 2001053966

The Children of the Sky

by Vernor Vinge · 11 Oct 2011 · 746pp · 221,583 words

Chapter 36 Chapter 37 Chapter 38 Chapter 39 Chapter 40 Chapter 41 Chapter 42 Chapter 43 Chapter 44 Chapter 45 About the Author Books by Vernor Vinge Copyright Two years after the Battle on Starship Hill CHAPTER 00 How do you get the attention of the richest businessperson in the world? Vendacious

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year two. Pray I have Jefri and the Tines and the time to prepare. Down Here, we have the edge. The End ABOUT THE AUTHOR Vernor Vinge is the author of the Hugo Award–winning novels A Fire Upon the Deep, A Deepness in the Sky, and Rainbows End. His other novels

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Best Libertarian Fiction. A mathematician and computer scientist noted as a visionary proponent of the Technological Singularity, he lives in San Diego, California. BOOKS BY VERNOR VINGE ZONES OF THOUGHT SERIES A Fire Upon the Deep* A Deepness in the Sky* The Children of the Sky* Tatja Grimm’s World* The Witling

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(collection) Across Realtime comprising: The Peace War “The Ungoverned” Marooned in Realtime True Names and the Opening of the Cyberspace Frontier* The Collected Stories of Vernor Vinge* Rainbows End* *Available from Tor Books This is a work of fiction. All of the characters, organizations, and events portrayed in this novel are either

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products of the author’s imagination or are used fictitiously. THE CHILDREN OF THE SKY Copyright © 2011 by Vernor Vinge All rights reserved. Edited by James Frenkel Map by Ellisa Mitchell A Tor® eBook Published by Tom Doherty Associates, LLC 175 Fifth Avenue New York

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.com Tor® is a registered trademark of Tom Doherty Associates, LLC. Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data Vinge, Vernor. The children of the sky/Vernor Vinge.—1st ed. p. cm. “A Tom Doherty Associates book.” ISBN 978-0-312-87562-6 (hardback) 1. Life on other planets—Fiction. I. Title. PS3572

Fast Times at Fairmont High

by Vernor Vinge · 1 Nov 2001

Fast Times at Fairmont High Vernor Vinge Vernor Vinge Fast Times at Fairmont High Juan kept the little blue pills in an unseen corner of his bedroom. They really were tiny, the custom creation

Rainbows End

by Vernor Vinge · 1 May 2006

him were the worlds of art and science that humankind was busy building. What if I can have it all ? The End ABOUT THE AUTHOR Vernor Vinge is a four-time Hugo Award winner (for novels A Deepness in the Sky and A Fire Upon the Deep, and novellas “Fast Times at

Across Realtime

by Vernor Vinge · 1 Jan 1986 · 665pp · 207,115 words

Vernor Vinge Across Realtime Book I. The Peace War - Flashback - One hundred kilometers below and nearly two hundred away, the shore of the Beaufort Sea didn't

Singularity Rising: Surviving and Thriving in a Smarter, Richer, and More Dangerous World

by James D. Miller · 14 Jun 2012 · 377pp · 97,144 words

PRAISE FOR SINGULARITY RISING “There are things in this book that could mess with your head.” —Vernor Vinge, computer scientist; Hugo Award-winning author, A Fire Upon the Deep; essayist, “The Coming Technological Singularity” “The arrow of progress may kick upwards into a

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of economics, I admit that sometimes I get confused when thinking about a Singularity civilization. In the most important essay ever written on the Singularity, Vernor Vinge, a science fiction writer and former computer scientist, explained that accelerating technology was making it much harder for him to write science fiction because, as

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could create an ultra-AI), the support he receives from these men is impressive. Eliezer initially encountered the idea of the Singularity when he read Vernor Vinge’s True Names . . . and Other Dangers.93 He knew at once that “this was what I would be doing with the rest of my life

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be grateful to receive an e-mail explaining which of my arguments you found convincing. ACKNOWLEDGMENTS A big thank you to Robin Hanson, Ray Kurzweil, Vernor Vinge, and Eliezer Yudkowsky—whose ideas and scholarship form the base on which this book stands. Debbie Felton—for spending so much time helping her husband

The Transhumanist Reader

by Max More and Natasha Vita-More · 4 Mar 2013 · 798pp · 240,182 words

computer system” (Sun Microsystems, 1997); and with Norman Hardy, Linda L. Vetter “System and method for generating unique secure values for digitally signing documents” (2000). Vernor Vinge, PhD, is former Professor of Mathematics, University of California San Diego. He authored A Fire Upon the Deep (Tor, 1993, 2011); “The Coming Technological Singularity

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perspective. 11 This project resulted through the collaborative advice of Drs. Robert Freitas, Michael Rose, Greg Fahy, Marvin Minsky, Roy Walford, Max More, Robin Hanson, Vernor Vinge, Hans Moravec, and Gregory Benford. 12 In this essay, the desire for technological enhancement relates to proponents of human enhancement, which include those who seek

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. Good, back in the 1960s, called the “intelligence explosion” (Good 1965). The dramatic potential consequences of this sort of intelligence explosion led science fiction writer Vernor Vinge, in the early 1990s, to speak of a coming “technological Singularity” (Vinge 1993). Ray Kurzweil has done a huge amount to bring the Singularity meme

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than on how people will perceive it. Some of these features will require full-scale future artificial intelligence, such as “sentient translation programs” described by Vernor Vinge in “A Fire Upon The Deep”). In the meantime, they could be successfully emulated by human agents. Surprisingly, even translations between different measurement systems can

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. To clearly separate specific singularitarian expectations from the philosophy of transhumanism requires first defining the former. The original meaning of “technological singularity”, as coined by Vernor Vinge in his 1993 essay (the first in this section) is the Event Horizon view. This view links to Alan Turing’s seminal writing about intelligent

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and starts, eventually leading to a posthuman condition, but without any singular event. Part VIII clarifies and critically examines thinking about the singularity, starting with Vernor Vinge’s seminal essay. Anders Sandberg analyzes models of technological singularity in detail, looking for their commonalities and differences. The final essay in Part VIII collects

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of a number of transhumanist thinkers to critically discuss the singularity, as initially defined by Vinge, in its technological and economic aspects. 35 Technological Singularity Vernor Vinge I. What is the Singularity? The acceleration of technological progress has been the central feature of this century. We are on the edge of change

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, Vernor (1983) “First Word.” Omni 10 (January). Earlier essay on “the Singularity.” “The Coming Technological Singularity: How to Survive in the Post-Human Era,” by Vernor Vinge, was presented at the VISION-21 Symposium sponsored by NASA Lewis Center and the Ohio Aerospace Institute, March 30–31, 1993. Copyright

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the role of artificial intelligence, others refer to more general technological change. These multiple meanings can overlap and many writers use combinations of meanings: even Vernor Vinge’s seminal essay (Vinge 1993) that coined the term uses several meanings. Some of these meanings may imply each other but often there is a

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Singularity Concept David Brin, Damien Broderick, Nick Bostrom, Alexander “Sasha” Chislenko, Robin Hanson, Max More, Michael Nielsen, and Anders Sandberg Comment by David Brin: Singularities Vernor Vinge’s “singularity” is a worthy contribution to the long tradition of contemplations about human transcendence. Throughout history, most of these musings have dwelled upon the

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to create superhuman intelligence. Shortly after, the human era will be ended. (Vinge 1993) Around 2050, or maybe as early as 2020, is when Dr. Vernor Vinge’s technological Singularity is expected to erupt, in the considered opinion of a number of scientists. Call such an event “the Spike,” because technology’s

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intelligent machine could design even better machines; there would then unquestionably be an “intelligence explosion” … more probable than not … within the 20th century. (Good 1965) Vernor Vinge’s 1993 elaboration on I.J. Good’s reasoning has captured many imaginations. Vinge says that probably by 2030 and occurring “faster than any technical

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of Vinge’s fans even regularly rebuke others for considering such analysis. Vinge, would you please rebuke them? Comment by Max More: Singularity Meets Economy Vernor Vinge presents a dramatic picture of the likely future: And what of the arrival of the Singularity itself? What can be said of its actual appearance

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a great increase in the rate of growth. Other factors may bias the situation more, such as improved forms of trade, communication, and education. Note Vernor Vinge responded to many of the comments collected above. His thoughts and other comments posted on Extropy Institute’s Extropians email list in 1998 can be

Rise of the Machines: A Cybernetic History

by Thomas Rid · 27 Jun 2016 · 509pp · 132,327 words

print between 1978 and 1995. Many futuristic ideas were either born or buried in Omni’s brightly illustrated pages. One example was science fiction writer Vernor Vinge’s word “singularity.” Having read Good, Vinge chose to describe the British scientist’s intelligence explosion as a “singularity,” the expected future moment when machines

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writers. Perhaps the single most influential book on the imaginary space inside the machines isn’t Gibson’s first and famous novel, Neuromancer, but rather Vernor Vinge’s novella True Names,33 published in 1981, the same year the VCASS was switched on in secret. Vinge is often credited with being the

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’s personal account. Each day the player logged in to the game, the money grew by 100T. The game was inspired by science fiction, “notably Vernor Vinge’s novel, True Names,” the game designers explained.95 ATMs, which in Habitat stood for “automatic token machines,” gave avatars access to their money. One

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so new and so radical in its implications that inspiration simply couldn’t come from science, he thought; it could only come from science fiction. Vernor Vinge’s novella True Names came to May’s attention in 1986. “You need to read this,” a friend told him, giving him a dog-eared

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thought. No, the recommended sources were novels—namely, George Orwell’s 1984, John Brunner’s The Shockwave Rider, Ayn Rand’s Atlas Shrugged, and especially Vernor Vinge’s True Names. In fact, Vinge’s work is referenced about twenty times in the Cyphernomicon, a sprawling three-hundred-page log that is perhaps

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in Anguilla, where he had met Lackey. After inspecting Sealand that November, the entrepreneurs were inspired. They decided to move forward. “The biggest inspiration was Vernor Vinge, True Names,” recalled Lackey.92 The vision was to have individuals acting in the Other Plane, able to “live on hardware and transact stuff on

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data havens make many of the most important aspects of True Names realizable today, now, on the Net. Mr. Slippery is already here and, as Vernor [Vinge] predicted, the Feds are already trying to track him down.99 May need not have spoken in oblique science fiction metaphors. He didn’t know

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a small step to see that sentient, self-reproducing machines could not only outperform their own creators, but outcreate them. Once this moment was reached, Vernor Vinge later predicted, humankind would experience a “singularity,” a point beyond which nobody could even imagine the future. Man, in short, could in theory not only

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Grindal, Juan Andrés Guerrero-Saade, Phillip Guddemi, Ralph Langner, Jaron Lanier, Robert Lee, Charles Levinson, David Omand, Barry Schwartz, Wolfgang Seibel, Tim Stevens, Fred Turner, Vernor Vinge, Cameo Wood, Graeme Wood, Thomas Zimmerman, as well as the staff at MIT Libraries; the Museum of Innovation and Science in Schenectady, New York; and

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altered forever. See the recollection of Stanislaw Ulam: “Tribute to John von Neumann,” Bulletin of the American Mathematical Society 64, no. 3 (1958): 5. 89.Vernor Vinge, “First Word,” Omni 5, no. 1 (January 1983): 10. For Vinge’s weak scientific output, see his Google Scholar profile, http://bit.ly/vinge-scholar

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Virtual Space,” Digest of Technical Papers (SID International Symposium), 1988, 4–7. 32.Ibid. 33.Vernor Vinge, True Names, in Binary Star #5, ed. George R. R. Martin and Vernor Vinge (New York: Dell, 1981). 34.James Frenkel and Vernor Vinge, True Names and the Opening of the Cyberspace Frontier (New York: Tor, 2001). 35.Vinge

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and F. Randall Farmer, “The Lessons of Lucasfilm’s Habitat,” in Cyberspace: First Steps, ed. Michael Benedikt (Cambridge, MA: MIT Press, 1991), 273–77. 94.Vernor Vinge, interview by the author, April 18, 2014. 95.Morningstar and Farmer, “Lessons of Lucasfilm’s Habitat,” 275. 96.Ibid., 279. 97.Chip Morningstar and Randy

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, Crypto, 213. 19.Andy Greenberg, This Machine Kills Secrets (New York: Dutton, 2012), 55–56. 20.Ibid., 56. 21.Vernor Vinge, True Names, in Binary Star #5, ed. George R. R. Martin and Vernor Vinge (New York: Dell, 1981), 35. 22.Timothy May, interview by the author, April 17, 2014. 23.Ibid. 24.Timothy

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C. May, “True Nyms and Crypto Anarchy,” in True Names and the Opening of the Cyberspace Frontier, ed. James Frenkel and Vernor Vinge (New York: Tor, 2001), 83. 25.Ibid. 26.Timothy C. May, “The Crypto Anarchist Manifesto,” e-mail to cypherpunks@toad.com, November 22, 1992. The

Our Final Invention: Artificial Intelligence and the End of the Human Era

by James Barrat · 30 Sep 2013 · 294pp · 81,292 words

artistic—of every advance in automation is so compelling that passing laws, or having customs, that forbid such things merely assures that someone else will. —Vernor Vinge, The Coming Technological Singularity, 1993 This quotation sounds like a fleshed-out version of I. J. Good’s biographical aside, doesn’t it? Like Good

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, two-time Hugo Award-winning science fiction author and mathematics professor Vernor Vinge alludes to humans’ lemminglike predilection to chase glory into the cannon’s mouth, to borrow Shakespeare’s phrase. Vinge told me he’d never read

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biographical paragraphs, or learned about his late-in-life change of heart about the intelligence explosion. Probably only Good, and Leslie Pendleton, knew about it. Vernor Vinge was the first person to formally use the word “singularity” when describing the technological future—he did it in a 1993 address to NASA, entitled

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all that technology may do for us. More and more, these writers felt an opaque wall across the future. AI researcher Ben Goertzel told me, “Vernor Vinge saw its inherent unknowability very clearly when he posited the notion of the technological singularity. It’s because of that that he doesn’t go

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devices. So, the singularity will be “neither utopian or dystopian” but we’ll get to play quidditch! Obviously, Kurzweil’s Singularity is dramatically different from Vernor Vinge’s singularity and I. J. Good’s intelligence explosion. Can they be reconciled? Is it simultaneously the best time to be alive, and the worst

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after, the human era will be ended. Is such progress avoidable? If not to be avoided, can events be guided so that we may survive? —Vernor Vinge, author, professor, computer scientist Each year since 2005, the Machine Intelligence Research Institute, formerly the Singularity Institute for Artificial Intelligence, has held a Singularity Summit

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Google’s search engine and you’ve got a team that’s smarter than human—a human whose intelligence is augmented. IA instead of AI. Vernor Vinge believes this is one of three sure routes to an intelligence explosion in the future, when a device can be attached to your brain that

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tandem. Then, when AGI comes into being, its control system already exists. Unfortunately for all of us, AGI researchers have a huge lead, and as Vernor Vinge says, a global economic wind fills their sails. * * * If the software problem turns out to be intractably complex, there are still at least two more

Wired for War: The Robotics Revolution and Conflict in the 21st Century

by P. W. Singer · 1 Jan 2010 · 797pp · 227,399 words

things as mass literacy, the Reformation, or the Sports Illustrated swimsuit issue. The idea of a singularity in relation to computer technology first came from Vernor Vinge. Vinge is a noted mathematician and computer scientist, as well as an award-winning science fiction writer. His most recent novel, Rainbows End: A Novel

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. He notes that many high school labs now have greater sophistication and capability than the Pentagon’s top research labs did in the cold war. Vernor Vinge, the computer scientist turned award-winning novelist, agrees: “Historically, warfare has pushed technologies. We are in a situation now, if certain technologies become cheap enough

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May 30, 2007); available at http://www.itworld.com/Tech/3494/070503ai2020/. 103 “the Internet-based cognitive tools” Vernor Vinge, Rainbows End (New York: Tor Books, 2006), 5. 103 “The Coming Technological Singularity” Vernor Vinge, “The Coming Technological Singularity: How to Survive in the Post-Human Era” (paper presented at the VISION-21 Symposium

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. 272 “It feels like all ten billion of us” Garreau, Radical Evolution, 101. 272 “It is no exaggeration” Ibid., 207. 272 “Historically, warfare” Vernor Vinge, “Shaun Farrell Interviews Vernor Vinge,” Shaun Farrell, April 2006; available at http://www.farsector.com/quadrant/interview-vinge.htm. 272 “The future is manhunting” Special forces officer, interview, Peter

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