More than any other author I've read, Vernor Vinge captures the true flavor of the Internet. I have done remote computing when we had to use teletype. From the beginning to now, every BBS, forum, listserv, and, for all I know, blog has a lone voice from somewhere very, very remote, asking plaintively, "Will someone please tell me what this means" just like in "A Deepness in the Sky".

Web based programs are well positioned to receive feedback by counting the clicks, hits or popularity rating. Measuring the increase in popularity rating can tell if a change in a program is successful.
If a program creates many different versions with minor changes in code then the most popular versions can be propagated. The less popular versions can transfer users to the more popular versions. Since some users will be other programs this process could accelerate.
This is the essence of evolution. It does not require intelligence, but it leads to accelerating improvement without prerequisite of a seed AI.

I read one of his articles in Discover Magazine about the singularity. I quote... "What I mean is that I think that in the relatively near future, we will be able to use technology in order to create, or become, creatures of superhuman intelligence."

This is so stupid I don't know where to begin. Do I talk about the fact that consicousness is a spectrum built on a base of awareness and ability to contain/examine thought and that our conscious experience is dictated entirely by our 5 senses? I could elaborate much more, but why waste my time.

He also seems to be entirely confused by the difference between ready access to knowledge vs intelligence. Just because my brain can be plugged directly into the library of congress and I can access any information in the entire library in a nanosecond, that does not in any way imply that I can comprehend what I am accessing. I'll give you a book on high-level quantum mechanics, and you explain it to me in terms a child could understand. You couldn't... just because you can read it, doesn't mean you understand it, and a computer will in no way make you more intelligent. I think the internet has proven that. You're not more intelligent by access to the internet, you're merely filled with more meaningless content.

Anyway, this is a fan site, so my message won't be posted in any case. I just thought I'd let the moderator of this site have a tiny little quantum-sized sliver of my knowledge to realize that (1) they are stupid for worshipping this guy, and (2), this guy is a friggin moron.

If you want to respond, feel free...
copsaresociopaths@yahoo.com

Was looking forward to reading them all again, but evidently his publisher TOR has some heartburn with Baen about providing them in e-book format for download. I have over 360 downloaded books from Baen that I have purchased at around $6 each,, someone needs to tell TOR to get on the Wagon or for Vernor to renegotiate with TOR and go to BAEN.

http://rebirthofreason.com/Forum/PollDiscussions/0198.shtml

How serendipitous, to happen upon this site! "Across Realtime" has been one of my favorite books for years. It has been my own little private pleasure, a cherished novel read and reread countless times. Until now, I never thought I would discover so many people of like mind! I look forward to delving into the forums to see what ideas of the Singularity the community has shared. Onward, brothers...to the Singularity!