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Vernor Vinge has died

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Re: Vernor Vinge has died

#261

Post by samatman »

topynate wrote: post #245
samatman wrote: post #241

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Yes, that's the relevant distinction in fact. Cryonics are the former, not the latter. Multicellular cryonic suspension is an unsolved problem after roughly the blastocyst stage.

As of last year we're up to doing rat kidneys. They're "heavily" damaged but they recover within a few weeks. To be sure, there's a long way from that to near-perfectly preserving a human brain, let alone a whole body. https://www.statnews.com/2023/06/21/cryogenic-organ-preserva...

Yes, that is a living rat-sized kidney. Not a dead human-sized brain. And on a pass-fail grade, I'm giving that experiment a fail. Promising, yes.

Cryopreservation of corpses is a scam designed to fleece rich people with an extraordinary fear of death. Some justify it to themselves as supporting research which might lead to effective corpsicles, but to support such research they could simply donate to it. Not waste their money on an elaborate and expensive embalming with no hope of salvation.

Re: Vernor Vinge has died

#262

Post by webmaven »

stormking wrote: post #239
NoMoreNicksLeft wrote: post #126

Earlier quoted context omitted.

It's not bad. It looks to be what would have become the first of a trilogy. It's just slow and sets the stage for something that culminates in another Fire Upon the Deep tier finale.

People wanted to read how Pham Nuwen defeated the Emergents, learn more about the Zones of Thought or see the Blight finally destroyed once and for all. No one wanted more Game of Dogs.

Well, I wanted more "Game of Dogs".

But it turned out that I didn't want that much more.

Re: Vernor Vinge has died

#263

Post by webmaven »

bosquefrio wrote: post #140
throw1234651234 wrote: post #119

Earlier quoted context omitted.

VV is up there with Stephenson and Gibson as the top 3. I don't put Asimov, etc in there since Asimov was hard sci-fi to the max and couldn't write a character to save his life, much like later Stephenson. I wish I could find something else like VV's work that's sort of under-the-radar. I do have to mention that things like The Three Body Problem get hype, but are several tiers below VVs work.

Vinge is certainly one of the greats but so is David Brin. I would not consider him under the radar though. Some of his best are Earth, The Heart of The Comet, Glory Season.

"The Heart of the Comet" was co-authored with Gregory Benford. It is one of my favorite books, and I wish they would collaborate again.

Incidentally, Brin and Benford along with Greg Bear, are collectively known as the "Killer Bs". Practically everything written by any of the three is likely to be a great read.

Re: Vernor Vinge has died

#264

Post by adastra22 »

samatman wrote: post #261
topynate wrote: post #245

Earlier quoted context omitted.

As of last year we're up to doing rat kidneys. They're "heavily" damaged but they recover within a few weeks. To be sure, there's a long way from that to near-perfectly preserving a human brain, let alone a whole body. https://www.statnews.com/2023/06/21/cryogenic-organ-preserva...

Yes, that is a living rat-sized kidney. Not a dead human-sized brain. And on a pass-fail grade, I'm giving that experiment a fail. Promising, yes. Cryopreservation of corpses is a scam designed to fleece rich people with an extraordinary fear of death. Some justify it to themselves as supporting research which might lead to effective corpsicles, but to support such research they could simply donate to it. Not waste t…

Scam implies intent and someone benefiting. These cryonics organizations are nonprofits run by members.

Re: Vernor Vinge has died

#265

Post by mr_toad »

dingnuts wrote: post #214
jart wrote: post #92

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> Within thirty years, we will have the technological means to create superhuman intelligence. Blackwell. > o Develop human/computer symbiosis in art: Combine the graphic generation capability of modern machines and the esthetic sensibility of humans. Of course, there has been an enormous amount of research in designing computer aids for artists, as labor saving tools. I'm suggesting that we explicitly aim for a grea…

>> > Within thirty years, we will have the technological means to create superhuman intelligence. > Blackwell. I'm fucking sorry but there is no LLM or "AI" platform that is even real intelligence, today, easily demonstrated by the fact that an LLM cannot be used to create a better LLM. Go on, ask ChatGPT to output a novel model that performs better than any other model. Oh, it doesn't work? That's because IT'S NOT I…

> an LLM cannot be used to create a better LLM

By that logic most humans are also not intelligent.

Re: Vernor Vinge has died

#266

Post by pontifier »

niplav wrote: post #112
pontifier wrote: post #26

Oh man, I sincerely hope he was signed up for cryonics. If there was someone who deserved to see what the future holds, it was him.

Checking Alcor¹ and the Cryonics Institute² suggests no :-/ ¹: https://www.alcor.org/news/ ²: https://cryonics.org/case-reports/

I doubt either site would be updated with info about an ongoing cryopreservation.

Re: Vernor Vinge has died

#267

Post by at_a_remove »

adamgordonbell wrote: post #71
nl wrote: post #70

One of the true greats. True Names is a better cyberpunk story than anything Gibson or Neal Stephenson wrote. Everyone mentions A Fire Upon the Deep and A Deepness in the Sky which are some of the best sci fi ever written, but I think The Peace War is way underrate too (although it was nominated for a Hugo award which it lost to Neuromancer ). RIP

The Bobbler was a strange idea. It made for a fun concept. I think there was more than one story in that world, if I'm remembering correctly. Rainbow's End was very good!

He had the Bobbler and he also had the Babbler, the later being a short story involving the Tines ...

Re: Vernor Vinge has died

#269

Post by shostack »

adamgordonbell wrote: post #71
nl wrote: post #70

One of the true greats. True Names is a better cyberpunk story than anything Gibson or Neal Stephenson wrote. Everyone mentions A Fire Upon the Deep and A Deepness in the Sky which are some of the best sci fi ever written, but I think The Peace War is way underrate too (although it was nominated for a Hugo award which it lost to Neuromancer ). RIP

The Bobbler was a strange idea. It made for a fun concept. I think there was more than one story in that world, if I'm remembering correctly. Rainbow's End was very good!

Rainbows End was very prophetic and changed how I view technology.

Re: Vernor Vinge has died

#270

Post by objectivetruth »

mr_toad wrote: post #265
dingnuts wrote: post #214

Earlier quoted context omitted.

>> > Within thirty years, we will have the technological means to create superhuman intelligence. > Blackwell. I'm fucking sorry but there is no LLM or "AI" platform that is even real intelligence, today, easily demonstrated by the fact that an LLM cannot be used to create a better LLM. Go on, ask ChatGPT to output a novel model that performs better than any other model. Oh, it doesn't work? That's because IT'S NOT I…

> an LLM cannot be used to create a better LLM By that logic most humans are also not intelligent.

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