X-Message-Number: 22193
From: "MIKE TREDER" <>
Subject: Re: "Light of Other Days" Novel by Clark and Baxter
Date: Sun, 13 Jul 2003 09:40:13 -0400

>Message #22190
>From: 
>Date: Sat, 12 Jul 2003 22:11:06 EDT
>Subject: Re: "Light of Other Days" Novel by Clark and Baxter
>
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>In a message dated 7/12/2003 5:00:57 AM Eastern Daylight Time,
> writes:
>
> >
> > There is a big difference between observing the past of a distant
> > astronomical object and observing the past that is far inside your own
> > light cone. It is not clear that the hidden, historical past (what does 
>not
> > survive in the historical records) can be observed or recovered, in any
> > usual sense.
> >
> >
>(Rudi writing)
>
>Relevant to the discussion about "realistic" time travel is a wonderful 
>novel
>by noted (but not cryonically signed up, dammit) author Arthur C. CLarke.
>
>"The Light of Other Days" is by Clarke with Stephen Baxter.  As I write 
>this,
>the book is on my desk.  The basic premise is hard science, with reasonable
>extrapolations thereof.
>
>A scientist determines how to initially remotely view items in three
>dimensions, initially in our time.  Over time, this ability is expanded to 
>previous
>times.  While the past cannot be CHANGED, it can be viewed accurately.
>
>From the book jacket:
>
>"The Light of Other Days" tells the tale of what happens when a brilliant,
>driven industrialist harnesses Quantum physics to enable people everywhere 
>to
>see one another at all times: around every corner, through every wall, into
>everyone's most private, hidden, and even intimate moments.  This new 
>technology
>amounts to the sudden and complete abolition of human privacy- forever.
>
>Then, as men and women scramble to absorb this shock, the same technology
>proves able to look backwards in time as well. Nothing can prepare us for 
>what
>follows--the wholesale discovery of the truth about thousands of years of 
>human
>history.  Governments topple, religions fall, the entire edifice of human
>society is shaken to its roots.....
>
>A very thought provoking and enjoyable book, with a great premise.
>
>The premise does not seem to violate the paradoxes mentioned in previous
>postings about time travel.
>
>I wondered if anyone else on this list has enjoyed this book?


Yes, I read that book a few years ago. I think it has a lot to say not only 
about issues surrounding time travel, cryonics, and other transhumanist 
interests, but also about many of the social/political questions we will 
face in the years to come. It's a terrific book to read when considering, 
for example, the impact of nanotech monitoring devices on privacy, or the 
value of transparency in society.

See you in the future!

Mike Treder
Executive Director, Center for Responsible Nanotechnology - 
http://CRNano.org
Director, World Transhumanist Association - http://transhumanism.org
Executive Director, New York Transhumanist Association - http://nyta.net
Founder, Incipient Posthuman Website - http://incipientposthuman.com
Executive Advisory Team, Extropy Institute - http://extropy.org
KurzweilAI "Big Thinker" - http://kurzweilai.net/bios/frame.html

Interests: acting, architecture, art, baseball, bicycling, cosmology, film, 
future studies, hiking, history, music, people, science fiction, technology, 
writing, & more

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