THIS is a book about two men who shaped our generation. The first, Gerard K. O鈥橬eill, drew up more or less workable plans for colonies in space. The second, O鈥橬eill鈥檚 student K. Eric Drexler, dreamed of mastering matter at the molecular scale to build the world and the body anew.
Forty years on, and through the lens of Patrick McCray鈥檚 thoughtful, meticulous history, it is clear that O鈥橬eill and Drexler changed our world more profoundly and completely than their critics thought possible. At the same time, their influence was far less direct and predictable than they or their supporters expected.
In their own ways, and more or less by accident, O鈥橬eill and Drexler laid the ideological groundwork for Silicon Valley. And their essays, published in science fiction and cyberculture magazines 鈥� O鈥橬eill鈥檚 in Omni and Drexler鈥檚 in Mondo 2000 鈥� each promised redemptive and epochal fixes for all our economic, ecological and moral ills.
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But as The Visioneers goes some way towards explaining, cultish enthusiasm and popular incredulity can together squeeze the life out of revolutionary ideas. Those interested in the impact of mavericks and pioneers should read McCray鈥檚 twin-barrelled analysis of what it means to aim for the stars 鈥� and miss.
鈥淐ultish enthusiasm and popular incredulity can together squeeze the life out of revolutionary ideas鈥�
The Visioneers: How a group of elite scientists pursued space colonies, nanotechnologies, and a limitless future
Princeton University Press