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> Human knowledge of the universe has widened and deepened since Verne's day, but for sheer intellectual and adventurous wonder about what that universe might c
by komali2 7y ago
> Human knowledge of the universe has widened and deepened since Verne's day, but for sheer intellectual and adventurous wonder about what that universe might contain, has any writer, from any era or land, outdone him since?
No, I don't think so. It seems sci fi went the way of the graduate thesis: hyper specialized, hyper focused. I think this might have been out of necessity. Maybe Stephenson has come close though.
He's covered nonfictional history, space travel (anathem, seven eves), colonization of Earth orbit and the moon (seven eves), generational space travel (anathem), multiple universe theories (anathem), and to come back down to earth, cryptography (cryptonomicon, reamde, fall), AI (diamond age), wetware hacking (snow crash), VR (snow crash, fall), post mortem VR (fall), nanotech (fall, diamond age), and layered simulated universes (fall).
So beyond Stephenson I don't think anyone comes close to fantastical exploration at the level of Verne. Crichton didn't. Watts is highly focused in biology. Banks deals with cosmic horror, AI, and a touch of multiverse. Doctorow is fantastic "realistic near future" exploration but he never takes us to space, and I don't think he really even explores AI.
- nsajko 7y agoWith names aready being dropped, here are some oldies: Clarke, Asimov, Stanislav Lem.
- komali2 7y agoAh, you're right, Asimov definitely tops the list. He explored the fuck out of AI and then jumped straight into the question of whether human psychology is deterministic. Space travel, galaxy colonization, hell even telekinesis and other wild shit. I think he doesn't have the breadth of topic of Neal Stephenson but he's definitely prolific.
- jfengel 7y agoHis nonfiction work is even broader: he wrote books on history, the Bible, and Shakespeare, as well as every kind of science. Not always very well, mind you: my youthful adoration of his breadth has been replaced by am embarrassed coughing as I realize just how far out of his depth he often was. Still, who I am today owes a lot to him.
- MagnumOpus 7y agoAsimov’s breadth tops NS’s by far. He is famously the only author who has published works in every single category of the Dewey Decimal System, fiction and non-fiction. And his books feature another theme that NS never explored: coherent endings.
- Apocryphon 7y agoWhy not Crichton? Too much techno-thriller horror, despite his fantastical imaginings and settings?
- webmaven 7y agoEver notice that most Crichton plots end with things going back to the status quo?
- Apocryphon 7y agoThey're a little like Indiana Jones adventures except with technological terrors instead of ancient artifacts.
- komali2 7y agoI haven't read all of Crichton, but from what I remember, he covered Nanotech/grey goo Genetic engineering Aliens and their freaky orbs Time travel As far as I know, he's not really explored the possibilities of space exploration, AI, VR, transhumanism, etc. I mean he's great but I don't think he covers all that much ground.
- ZguideZ 7y agoAlso Heinlein explored some pretty far out things.
- hatenberg 7y agoPhilip K Dick had a pretty broad spectrum
- codeulike 7y agoBanks deals with cosmic horror, AI, and a touch of multiverse. Come on now, there's a lot more to Iain M Banks than that. Anarchist post-scarcity utopias, dirigible behemothaurs, The Shellworld Sursamen, and the mind-boggling purpose it was put to, the immenseness of Syang-un Nestworld, the idea that whole civilizations can sublime, Minds, pure energy creatures, The Girdlecity of Xown, in which a huge airship hosts a five year long two thousand person party to mark the end of a civilization. The Excession. The Affront! The subtle exploration of what people born into a galaxy spanning utopia might want to do with their time. And the fantastic and slighly disturbing idea that super intelligent Minds might give themselves silly names. And his non-Culture novel Feersum Endjinn, although its quite old now, had some startling ideas about cyberspace - that it might move thousands of times faster than base reality, and (major spoilers - ROT13) rfpncrq znyjner zvtug ribyir va uvtu-fcrrq plorefcnpr vagb n pvivyvmngvba infgyl byqre naq zber pbzcyvpngrq guna bhe bja, naq pbzcyrgryl vapbzcerurafvoyr gb hf
- codesnik 7y agoClifford Simak's books all seem to be mainly about evolution of humanity of some sorts, but they are so epic that they touch almost every usual and unusual sci-fi topic.