Ok, so, I tried to respond to these cricticisms a few days ago but than I got bogged down in work and couldn’t get to it for a while. I’m sorry.
Thanks for your input @Samantha_Atkins1 we really appreciate it.
Before we get to anything, let me just say that the reason why progress is “slow” in this timeline is mostly because of me. Michael originally had more optimistic ideas, but I personally opposed things moving that fast for several reasons. The first was that I wanted to create some dramatic tension in Fractal Cosmos so that the final result, which is quite positive, would feel for meaningful, a hard-won utopia, if you will.
Apart from that, the other reason was that I’m not really on board with the whole Singularity thing. While I am pretty much convinced that AGI is possible and that we’ll have it this century, I don’t really think that things can move as fast as singularitarians think they will. We must remember that technology doesn’t exist in a vacuum, there are plenty of social and economic reasons that can affect its development. That’s why I think that it’s not realistic to expect things to move as fast as they thoerectically can.
Fractal Cosmos is not a story about how our benign AI overlords arrived to usher a new era of progress and prosperity for mankind. Instead, it is a story about how we, (trans)humanity, won that new era ouselves, by means of our own hard labour, dedication and inventiveness. AIs are a part of that, that’s for sure, but we want to paint a more complex picture, one that looks more reasonable and realistic while at the same time telling people that there is bright and marvelous future waiting for them, if they just care enough to fight for it.
Now, I support the changes that Michael has agreed to make. They seem reasonable to me.
Regarding some of your other cricticisms…
New developments in bioinformatics, as well as the CRISPR revolution in biotechnology are already making genetic engineering a lot simpler and more accessible to common people. There are already stories of college kids and artists changing bacteria genomes for all kinds of “funnny” purposes, from bioluminescence to the production of antidepressants. Yes, it’s true that’s genetics are messy, but we’re probably making more progress in that field that in any other at the moment. I think it’s just a matter of time before things like this become possible.
That said, I do admit that DIY biohackers may never get to do anything too important to actually improve the human condition, but you never know…
I find that very hard to believe considering the current pace of pretty much every space program. Space agencies frequently take more than a decade just to prepare a mission that consists of landing a small probe in some insignifficant little asteroid or comet. I know that many people are optimistic about Elon Musk and private space industry in general, but I doubt they’ll get to be that much more efficient than the United Sates, Russia, China, India and Japan combined.
In my opinion, it would take something like a Second Cold War to give a new impetus to space development, which we have in Fractal Cosmos.