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Vernor Vinge, Father of the Tech Singularity, Has Died At Age 79 (arstechnica.com) 67

Posted by BeauHD from the rest-in-peace dept.
"Vernor Vinge, who three times won the Hugo for best novel, has died," writes Slashdot reader Felix Baum. Ars Technica reports: On Wednesday, author David Brin announced that Vernor Vinge, sci-fi author, former professor, and father of the technological singularity concept, died from Parkinson's disease at age 79 on March 20, 2024, in La Jolla, California. The announcement came in a Facebook tribute where Brin wrote about Vinge's deep love for science and writing. "A titan in the literary genre that explores a limitless range of potential destinies, Vernor enthralled millions with tales of plausible tomorrows, made all the more vivid by his polymath masteries of language, drama, characters, and the implications of science," wrote Brin in his post.

As a sci-fi author, Vinge won Hugo Awards for his novels A Fire Upon the Deep (1993), A Deepness in the Sky (2000), and Rainbows End (2007). He also won Hugos for novellas Fast Times at Fairmont High (2002) and The Cookie Monster (2004). As Mike Glyer's File 770 blog notes, Vinge's novella True Names (1981) is frequency cited as the first presentation of an in-depth look at the concept of "cyberspace." Vinge first coined the term "singularity" as related to technology in 1983, borrowed from the concept of a singularity in spacetime in physics.

When discussing the creation of intelligences far greater than our own in an 1983 op-ed in OMNI magazine, Vinge wrote, "When this happens, human history will have reached a kind of singularity, an intellectual transition as impenetrable as the knotted space-time at the center of a black hole, and the world will pass far beyond our understanding." In 1993, he expanded on the idea in an essay titled The Coming Technological Singularity: How to Survive in the Post-Human Era.
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Vernor Vinge, Father of the Tech Singularity, Has Died At Age 79 More

Vernor Vinge, Father of the Tech Singularity, Has Died At Age 79

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  • In 1993, he expanded on the idea in an essay titled The Coming Technological Singularity: How to Survive in the Post-Human Era.

    • Re:Ha ha! (Score:5, Interesting)

      by Geoffrey.landis ( 926948 ) on Friday March 22, 2024 @10:54AM (#64336251) Homepage

      In 1993, he expanded on the idea in an essay titled The Coming Technological Singularity: How to Survive in the Post-Human Era.

      I was the technical chair who invited him to NASA for the symposium [nasa.gov] where he presented that!

      (The presentation by Hans Moravec, "Pigs in CyberSpace", is pretty good, too).

  • Vernor Vinge & Ray Kurzweil foresaw the destruction of millions of jobs, but the pie-eyed technorati declared people who lost their jobs would be "freed up" and find other "better" jobs. Bullshit!

    • What are you blathering about, there are more jobs now, doomer zoomer.

      • For the moment, but anyone can see what's coming. And it's gonna be a bloodbath.

        • Re: (Score:2)

          by Meneth ( 872868 )
          Unless UBI.
          • The only UBI will be bugs to eat while living in Terrafoam. IT WILL NOT BE A PLACE YOU WANT TO LIVE.

          • nonsense, more jobs than ever, per person.

            The doomsday won't be about income for anyone who is willing to work.

            I'm guess as an UBI hopeful you're slacking.

        • I've been hearing that for over half a century; computers and robots were going to take all our jobs when I was teen in 1970s. Instead everyone at work has a computer, and things made by robots, like cars, need all kinds of engineering and design, supply logistics, sales, marketing, management, distribution, certifications and testing... and then we get into what people that buy those things need... computers and robots are pumping the economy harder than a boar humping a sow

      • What are you blathering about, there are more jobs now, doomer zoomer.

        Not all jobs are real [slashdot.org]. Besides, Americans don't want to work in certain jobs [cnn.com], so those people have to work in them.

        Hans Kristian Graebener = Stonetoss

        • Re: (Score:3)

          by Jhon ( 241832 )

          "Besides, Americans don't want to work in certain jobs [cnn.com], so those people have to work in them."

          Of course Americans want to work those jobs. They have historically worked those jobs. They don't want to work them for what they are getting paid for them now with the import of mass amounts of unskilled labor.

          40 years ago in CA, the entire plaster/painting industry was predominantly black. They saw their pay go for $20/hour, down to $15, per hours and eventually down to $9 per hour until they count e

          • Re: (Score:2)

            by whitroth ( 9367 )

            Right. And that has nothing at all to do with the GOP all-out war on unions.

            Then there are the people who actually work in the fields picking some crops. You going to work there, with limited-to-no breaks? Like is now allowed in Texas?

            • Re: (Score:2)

              by Jhon ( 241832 )

              Follow the link provided by the GP. It focused on construction jobs.

              Regarding farm hands -- again, same idea. Ever hear of Cesar Chavez? He felt the same way about mass importation of unskilled labor for the migrant farmers.

              Blaming the GOP is idiotic. It could have been stopped by any administration. Carter, Reagan, Bush, Clinton, Bush, Obama (Hell, he had s supermajority in both houses!). As much as I don't like Trump, he slowed it down. He was also the only candidate back in 2016 who actually TALKE

      • Re: (Score:1)

        by Anonymous Coward

        What are you blathering about, there are more jobs now, doomer zoomer.

        If you look purely at population numbers and employment numbers, you're not wrong.
        https://united-states.reaproje... [reaproject.org]
        https://www.macrotrends.net/gl... [macrotrends.net]
        If you look at median wages adjust by inflation, wages have been fairly flat.
        https://www.statista.com/stati... [statista.com]
        We started to see an improvement during the last two years of the Obama administration but since Covid, it's been trending down back to historical levels. Why does this matter? It means that despite job growth being better than population growth, wages

        • And the real problem is bad policy from both parties and fiscal irresponsibility from both parties. But since both parties are the same party, and policy is set by the dumbing down of the populace, you'll never see that fixed.

          • Re: (Score:2)

            by whitroth ( 9367 )

            Right, "fiscal irresponsibility from both parties". You mean, the borrow and borrow and borrow and spend GOP, or the Dems, who have to fight tooth and nail to raise taxes on the wealthy, and wealthy corporations?

            • Last I've noticed we're running a $1tn deficit every 100 days, so yes, both parties. And as for raising taxes on the ultra wealthy (which isn't a bad thing), it's not enough money. And, don't make $601 in an ebay transaction or the Obama armed IRS agents will swarm your home and shoot your dog.

        • I'll agree wages are a whole 'nother kettle of fish, but I did say "jobs"

      • Re: (Score:2)

        by whitroth ( 9367 )

        Shut up, you ignorant idiot. Sorry, entitled, spoiled ignorant idiot.

        • You sound like a lazy-ass trying to blame his deficiencies on others.

          I learned and worked hard for everything I have. Do likewise.

  • Is this "tech singularity" a thing already?

  • Rainbows End (Score:5, Interesting)

    by Orgasmatron ( 8103 ) on Friday March 22, 2024 @04:52AM (#64335581)

    If you haven't read Rainbows End in the last few years, you need to re-read it now. That book is fucking wild after COVID.

  • RIP (Score:4, Insightful)

    by christoban ( 3028573 ) on Friday March 22, 2024 @05:19AM (#64335609)

    RIP to a great writer. He enriched the lives of so many!

  • Very good SF. Recommended! (Score:5, Informative)

    by Qbertino ( 265505 ) <moiraNO@SPAMmodparlor.com> on Friday March 22, 2024 @06:18AM (#64335655)

    Read "A Fire upon the Deep" and "A Deepness in the Sky" by him. Awesome SF reads. He's widely regarded for some of the most imaginative aliens and alien cultures. If SF is your thing, definitely check those out.

    • Agreed, I've already read them a few times, now's a good time to do it again.
      "A Fire upon the Deep", in my opinion, was groundbreaking. "A Deepness in the Sky" seemed a bit forced and not as enthralling, shadowed by the first one, but a good book nevertheless.

      • Agreed, I've already read them a few times, now's a good time to do it again. "A Fire upon the Deep", in my opinion, was groundbreaking. "A Deepness in the Sky" seemed a bit forced and not as enthralling, shadowed by the first one, but a good book nevertheless.

        I loved both books, and just re-read them a year or so ago. I'm saddened that now there is no available follow-up to find out what went down with all the loose threads left hanging at the end of that story.

        Great author, and his impression on the far-flung-future sci-fi realm will be felt for centuries, whether any of it comes close to true or not. His presence on this realm was appreciated by me and many other voracious readers. I gotta think as an author, that's the thing you'd want to leave behind.

        • Never read Children of the Sky? Didn't feel quite the same, and left it open at the end to continue, but it does exist

          • Never read Children of the Sky? Didn't feel quite the same, and left it open at the end to continue, but it does exist

            Actually, I was thinking of Children of the Sky. I always read the whole group together so it hits me as one story. There was a LOT hanging at that ending that I'd be very curious about where he saw it going.

      • Re: (Score:2)

        by Agripa ( 139780 )

        Agreed, I've already read them a few times, now's a good time to do it again.
        "A Fire upon the Deep", in my opinion, was groundbreaking. "A Deepness in the Sky" seemed a bit forced and not as enthralling, shadowed by the first one, but a good book nevertheless.

        Maybe you should read it a few more times. I was not clear to me until I reread it what Sherkaner Underhill was really up to after his children were kidnapped.

    • Amazing books, the hive mind dog-like creatures was such an interesting idea.

  • I recommend everything he wrote (Score:3)

    by twms2h ( 473383 ) on Friday March 22, 2024 @06:58AM (#64335703) Homepage

    Vernor Vinge is one of my favorite SF writers. May he rest in peace.

  • I met Vernor Vinge at the San Diego Comic Fest in 2018, and had a wonderful conversation with him. We ended-up having lunch together at the hotel where the convention was being held. He was one of the nicest people you could possibly meet. He had tremors in his hands and other parts of his body, so I suspected he had Parkinson's (which turned out to be correct). We discussed how amazing it was that AlphaZero was able to trounce AlphaGo by 100 games to 0. He told me that he still believed the technological s

  • I used to hang out with some hard core Singularity types on occasion. They lived their lives in a "fuck the future, it doesn't matter, we only have to make it to the Singularity" way. *eye roll*

    I can't recall if it was 2030 or 2035 when this magical event/situation would come to fruition, we'd all retire to our hobbies and art, the robots and AI would take care of everything, all diseases cured, we'd live forever in tech utopia and then reach for the stars.

    Maybe right after my flying car and personal jet

    • Re: (Score:2)

      by whitroth ( 9367 )

      Oh, we'll make it. That is, after we tax the wealthy and wealthy corporations into being mere millionaires, instead of billionaires and trillionaires (coming soon).

      Got that covered in my new novel, Becoming Terran...

      • No need to tax anyone. Just keep inflation going and we can all be poor together.

        Watch some old black n white movies. A million dollars used to be super rich.

  • Very sorry to hear this (Score:3)

    by timholman ( 71886 ) on Friday March 22, 2024 @08:41AM (#64335875)

    Vinge was one of the most imaginative sci-fi authors that I ever read. I am very sorry to hear of his passing, but especially sorry because he never had a chance to finish the sequel to "The Children of the Sky".

    Here's hoping that he left behind copious notes, and that someday another writer will finish his work.

  • If I remember correctly, Eve Online has a star system named "Vernor Vinge" -- can any current players confirm that for me? I remember playing years ago and thinking that I needed to look him up just because of that.

    • I would love that to be true, but does not look like it. This website will allow you to search all system names, player names, etc... and nothing is coming up for vernor.

      https://evemaps.dotlan.net/sea... [dotlan.net]

      Quite a few corps that are named a variation of "Qeng Ho" though. However none are major players, most having less than 5 members.

      Would be cool if they had an on off star system too!

      • Re: (Score:2)

        by MobyDisk ( 75490 )

        I was thinking of the "Verge Vendor" region. I would love to know the origin of that name. Vernor Vinge --> Vinge Vernor --> Verge Vendor...? Okay, that's probably a stretch.

    • There are few systems named by famous people who died.
      Vernor is not amoung them, but I would not wonder if they rename one or make a new system somewhere.

  • It was the first one in the series I read. I later went back and read the first book and the short stories. The idea of a technological singularity was new and fascinating concept for me as I'm sure it was for many.

    • Re: (Score:2)

      by qeveren ( 318805 )
      The Realtime series was my first introduction to Vinge's work, and will always hold a special place for me. Sadly gets overlooked a lot when people talk about his work.

  • Saddened to hear of his passing. His Zones of Thought series is some of the best science fiction ever written, and all of his works are worth reading. He will be missed.

  • All of the folks who talk about the inevitable singularity fail to make their case based on one really obvious and important assumption which --may-- be flawed.

    To understand the assumption, though, requires understanding a concept related to intelligence, namely, the "theory of mind". Right now, most computer scientists and cognitive scientists believe that the mind is an emergent or contingent property of physics, chemistry, biology and evolution. However, this is not proven any more than the existence of

    • p.s. I'm not a cognitive scientist so I may be unaware of recent research proving a theory of mind which validates the concept of unlimited intelligence. I'm happy to be informed if such a theory of mind does exist.

    • Re: (Score:2)

      by eriks ( 31863 )

      Totally. We don't currently have a workable theory of mind, maybe we never will, which goes to a point: there is (most likely) a vast amount of knowledge that we currently do not have. Perhaps there is knowledge that will forever elude us.

      However, it's possible that whatever intelligence is, even if we (or our machines) never gain substantially "more" of it from where we are now, the amount of knowledge that we possess will increase, perhaps, at some point, exponentially, which could be interpreted as "the

      • Totally. We don't currently have a workable theory of mind, maybe we never will, which goes to a point: there is (most likely) a vast amount of knowledge that we currently do not have. Perhaps there is knowledge that will forever elude us.

        I love this distinction between knowledge and intelligence. Very important!

        However, it's possible that whatever intelligence is, even if we (or our machines) never gain substantially "more" of it from where we are now, the amount of knowledge that we possess will increase, perhaps, at some point, exponentially, which could be interpreted as "the singularity" that could "save" us, or annihilate us, depending on what we do with all that knowledge.

        I agree. And, I think we have a long way to go before we exhaust our ability to discover new knowledge. Yes, that could be a type of singularity, but I don't think it is what is normally considered for the concept.

        So it may not be "intelligence" that is the limiting factor in human (and machine) evolution, but sufficient wisdom to avoid falling victim to the "great filter".

        Looking at current human activity, especially "AI" (such as it is) it would seem that as limited as our current knowledge of the universe (and ourselves) is, our ability to apply that knowledge (particularly at scale) is sorely lacking in understanding and wisdom.

        Yup. But I think we are growing there too. We just haven't had to face the kinds of global challenges that we are now facing, and/or, we haven't truly solved the root causes that led to previous global challenges (e.g. worl

        • Re: (Score:2)

          by eriks ( 31863 )

          Yes, the concept of "the singularity" usually hinges on exponentially-increasing FLOPS or transfer speed or metrics like that in people's minds, but what good (other than as entertainment) are blazing-fast calculations moving massive amounts of data around if we're not actually generating new information and advancing general knowledge and understanding? GPT-n is unlikely to spontaneously develop creativity, at least in the sense of being able to develop truly original ideas.

          I think it's useful to look at

    • Re: (Score:2)

      by erice ( 13380 )

      So, the flaw then, at least potentially, is that without a proper theory of mind that makes that connection... and even with a validated theory of mind, we may discover that there is a fundamental LIMIT to the level of intelligence possible. We may discover that humans already represent the maximum possible level of intelligence in our given universe.

      The mediocrity principle would go against us being at or near the maximum intelligence possible. If is more plausible that we are near the limit on naturally evolved intelligence, however. The reasoning is that once a species reaches the level required to start building technology, the game is over. To get significantly higher intelligence, evolving species would have to keep encountering obstacles to tool usage that even higher intelligence can not work around.

      The singularity might still be impossible i

      • So, the flaw then, at least potentially, is that without a proper theory of mind that makes that connection... and even with a validated theory of mind, we may discover that there is a fundamental LIMIT to the level of intelligence possible. We may discover that humans already represent the maximum possible level of intelligence in our given universe.

        The mediocrity principle would go against us being at or near the maximum intelligence possible. If is more plausible that we are near the limit on naturally evolved intelligence, however. The reasoning is that once a species reaches the level required to start building technology, the game is over. To get significantly higher intelligence, evolving species would have to keep encountering obstacles to tool usage that even higher intelligence can not work around.

        The singularity might still be impossible if turns out to be impossible for a intelligence to design an intelligence greater than itself. We see hints of this the last AI winter and the current summer. The last round got stuck because no one could purposefully design intelligence. We still can't but we've made progress by loosening the controls and allowing emergent structures that evolve from training do the heavy lifting.

        Good points. I guess one question which a theory of mind might help us answer: are we optimized or are we mediocre WRT intelligence. And the AI winter stuff is also interesting because until AI tools can make better AI tools without human intervention, then I would say we aren't anywhere near a singularity anyway.

  • Pretty much my favourite author. The localizers, the baubles, the spider people, the pocket pal... So many great concepts and ideas came out of that man. He was as great as authur C clark in my opinion. Every single one of his books is great and full of novel ideas and concepts. The whole idea of how he organized the universe into zones was just amazing to wrap your head around and solved so many conceptual problems regarding the age of the universe and why it appears to empty to us.

    I was actually just reco

  • True Names (Score:3)

    by neoRUR ( 674398 ) on Friday March 22, 2024 @04:37PM (#64337225)

    True Names was the best Hacker story ever! He will live on in the Singularity and far corners on the Internet.

  • Go read it. It's an epic tale of transhuman and superhuman intelligences. One of my favorite books of ANY genere. "True Names" is also pretty fantastic, a visionary short story that describes an immersive VR world that has not yet come to exist. https://www.amazon.com/Fire-Up... [amazon.com]

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