Digital Rapture: The Singularity Anthology

(Paperback)

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When the Singularity arrives and computers possess superhuman intelligence, will there be an ecstatic merging of machine and mindor an instantaneous techno-apocalypse Will there be the enslavement of humanity or the Rapture of the Nerds The post-human future is here in its wildest science-fictional imaginings and intriguing scientific speculations.
This far-reaching anthology traces the path of the Singularity, an era when advances in technology will totally transform human reality. It travels to the alien far-future of H. G. Wells (Mind at the End of Its Tether), to the almost human near-future of Ray Kurzweil (The Singularity Is Near), from Elizabeth Bears fusion of woman, machine, God, and shark (The Inevitable Heat Death of the Universe), to Isaac Asimovs evolution of ineffable logic (The Last Question). As intelligence both figuratively (and possibly literally) explodes, science-fiction authors and futurists have dared to peek over the edge of the event horizon. Join them there.

Reviews

"Sci-fi stalwarts James Patrick Kelly and John Kessel have assembled a definitive primer on the singularity, with contributions from top-tier scientists, futurists and science fiction writers." -- Cosmos (December 2012) "With its mix of fact and fiction this book rocks for those who are looking for a primer on the subject... The strength of the book lies in this mashing together of the theorists' theories and content creators creations." --www.BookViewCafe.com "Oh, these stories! ... Don't stop until all have been read." -- Booklist , starred review on Feeling Very Strange "Highlight: Lethem's crack-smoking aliens." -- Entertainment Weekly on Feeling Very Strange "Sixteen inspiring, mind-altering stories ... and every story in the bunch is a knockout." -- BoingBoing on Rewired "Everyone from Asimov to Vinge, from Doctorow to Pohl and more appear here, and there are essays, short stories, novellas ... everything a Sci fi reader could ask for... I highly recommend Digital Rapture ." --www.NerdsInBabeLand.com "Full of compelling and controversial stories." -- Publishers Weekly (August 20, 2012)

Author Bio

James Patrick Kelly writes for Asimov's Science Fiction and in 2004 was appointed chair of the New Hampshire State Council on the Arts. He lives in Nottingham, New Hampshire. John Kessel is a Nebula, Sturgeon, Tiptree, and Locus award winner and the author of Corrupting Dr. Nice, Good News from Outer Space, and The Pure Product. He teaches science fiction, fantasy, and fiction writing at North Carolina State University and his criticism has appeared in Foundation, Los Angeles Times Book Review, The New York Review of Science Fiction, and Science Fiction Age. He lives in Raleigh, North Carolina.