Robert J. Sawyer

TVO Debate: A Bright and Shining Future or Progress to Nowhere

by Socrates
Thumbnail image for TVO Debate: A Bright and Shining Future or Progress to Nowhere

One of my favorite TVO shows is the Agenda with Steve Paikin. This episode features Robert J. Sawyer - sci fi author of WWW, James Hughes – author of Citizen Cyborg, Madeline Ashby – futurist and sci fi author of vN, and Jesse Hirsh – founder of metaviews.ca. The issue at stake is if we are moving towards a bright and shining future of Abundance or progress to nowhere? The debate kicks off with a short clip from the upcoming documentary Surviving Progress (see full trailer at the bottom) and goes on to cover topics such as: what is progress and have we made any, why we fear technology; the real and imaginary threats of our future, longevity and transhumanism. Program Synopsis: We’ve looked into the future, and it’s dark. Increasingly, we’ve lost a progressive view of our future. Instead of seeing promise [...]

Read the full article →

Robert J. Sawyer on Humanity 2.0

by Socrates
Thumbnail image for Robert J. Sawyer on Humanity 2.0

Robert J. Sawyer is one of my all-time favorite science fiction writers. Thus, when I heard that the Literary Review of Canada and TV Ontario’s Big Ideas are co-hosting a talk by Robert at the Gardiner Museum, I simply had to attend. Robert J. Sawyer is one of those very rare people who truly know a lot about everything and — even rarer ones — who can communicate clearly and convincingly about what they know. Below you can watch the recording of Sawyer’s very engaging, eloquent and empassionate presentation touching up on a variety of issues such as cosmology, SETI, transhumanism, the singularity, longevity, mind uploading and other ways of upgrading humanity to version 2.0. The event was held on November 21, 2011 in Toronto and it took a couple of months before it was eventually aired on TVO and posted online. Program Synopsis: When [...]

Read the full article →

The WWW Trilogy: Wake, Watch and Wonder Book Review

by Socrates
Thumbnail image for The WWW Trilogy: Wake, Watch and Wonder Book Review

A few months ago I was taking a ride on the Toronto subway and couldn’t help it but notice the posters for Robert J. Sawyer‘s novel WWW: Wake. The idea of a blind girl seeing the internet and connecting with an emerging virtual intelligence peaked my curiosity so I had to read the book. I thought it was so captivating and brilliant that I went ahead and got book 2 (WWW: Watch) and 3 (WWW: Wonder) as soon as I finished book 1. After finishing the complete trilogy I can honestly say that the story only gets better and better as one moves through the different parts. I recommend it highly because in contrast to the well-known Matrix or Terminator-type apocalyptic plots, the WWW trilogy explores a near-unique post-singularity scenario of peaceful coexistence between a super-smart artificial intelligence and humanity. This phenomenon [...]

Read the full article →

Robert J. Sawyer on Singularity 1 on 1: The Human Adventure is Just Beginning

by Socrates
Thumbnail image for Robert J. Sawyer on Singularity 1 on 1: The Human Adventure is Just Beginning

Last Sunday I interviewed Robert J. Sawyer for Singularity 1 on 1. I have to admit that, despite the fact that he is a very well known and successful best-selling science fiction writer, I only recently stumbled onto Robert’s work. I was taking a ride on the Toronto subway and couldn’t help it but notice the posters for his novel WWW: Wake. The idea of a blind girl seeing the internet and connecting with an emerging virtual intelligence peaked my curiosity so I had to read the book. I thought it was so captivating and brilliant that I went ahead and got book 2 (WWW: Watch) and 3 (WWW: Wonder) as soon as I finished book 1. After finishing the complete trilogy I can honestly say that the story only gets better and better as one moves through the different parts. I [...]

Read the full article →