I'll probably become a senior member of the Foresight Institute next
year and get to meet Dr. Drexler eventually. My father-in-law has a PhD
in Physics and plans to present a paper at the Fifth Foresight
Conference on Molecular Nanotechnology. I will be a co-presenter with
him (I'm helping some. I only have an MSEE). We're going to define
"bands of phenomena" for nanotechnology applications (if the paper's
accepted).
Take Care.
Daniel F. Van Der Werken, Jr.
Escalation Engineer, Critical Problem Resolution
> BOOK REVIEW: THE DIAMOND AGE
>
> The Diamond Age, or A Young Lady's Illustrated Primer
> by Neal Stephenson
> (Bantam, 1996)
> http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/ISBN=0553573314/memecentralA/
>
> I haven't been a Fan of anyone for a long time. But I am now
> officially a Neal Stephenson Fan. Stephenson, who is my age and lives
> in my town and whom I am looking forward to meeting as soon as both of
> us can clear our schedules sufficiently, is a Good Writer who Gets
> Memetics. Such folks are rare as a sunny day in Seattle in April, and
> as such ought to be cherished, nourished, and all their books bought
> by the dozen and given to everyone you know with more than three
> firing neurons left.
>
> The "Diamond Age" of the title refers to the diamond fibers used in
> building materials in the coming age of nanotechnology (see Drexler,
> Engines Of Creation,
> http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/ISBN=0385199732/memecentralA/). The
> Primer refers to a one-on-one Artificial-Intelligence (AI) teaching
> tool that could conceivably solve what Stephenson and I both perceive
> as the biggest underlying problem in the world today: how to give any
> and all children the best possible education.
>
> As in Snow Crash, Stephenson illuminates a future as likely as any and
> as shocking to our complacent selves as it is realistic. The world of
> The Diamond Age is one in which deliberate memetic engineering has
> given birth to designed cultures, most noteworthy the neo-Victorians,
> in which philosopher-kings worthy of Plato decide not what values are
> True, or God-given, but what values make up a workable society. When a
> bootleg copy of the Primer accidentally falls into the hands of slum
> urchin Nell, she embarks on a solitary Pygmallion-esque adventure, her
> transformation a metaphor for the awakening of infant billions to
> higher consciousness.
>
> While the pages don't turn nearly as quickly as those of the
> fast-paced and comic Snow Crash, these pages are to be savored. Great
> literature isn't so much in the reading as in the recollecting. This
> is a book the memetic engineers of the next millennium will all have
> on their shelves.
>
>
> All the best memes,
>
> Richard
>
> Richard Brodie RBrodie@brodietech.com +1.425.688.8600
> CEO, Brodie Technology Group, Inc., Bellevue, WA, USA
> http://www.brodietech.com/rbrodie
> Do you know what a "meme" is?
> http://www.brodietech.com/rbrodie/meme.htm
>
>