I did like the book but I also thought they solved huge problems in a single short chapter with minimal detail.
In one chapter it’s mentioned that one of the characters is working on some open source social media. A few chapters later it becomes the dominant social media in the world… oh and also payment method… Oh and blockchain…
Being a big fan of Lemmy, I think the book is a bit optimistic.
KSR is probably my favorite living author.
I think the book is supposed to be more “this is what is possible” than an actual roadmap.
His optimism is what I really like about his work; anyone can throw up their hands and give up, but that’s a dereliction of duty. Believing that a better world is possible and worth fighting for is the point, in my opinion.
I’ll have to read more of their stuff. Which of their books is your favorite?
My favorite is probably Aurora, in which a generation ship makes a voyage to Tau Ceti to set up a colony.
After that, I really enjoyed Galeleo’s Dream, a time-travel story about the famous polymath and a plot to reshape the history of scientific thought.
And Shaman is also great: it’s about the paleolithic people who painted the chauvet cave and their struggle to thrive in an impossibly harsh time.
And finally I also just finished The Years of Rice and Salt recently, and it’s one that I know I’ll have to re-read sometime. It’s an alternate history about how the world would shake out if the population of Europe was wiped out by a plague in the 1400s and follows a set of characters reincarnating over the centuries.
Sweet! Thank you!