Brain Snacks: Tasty Tidbits of Knowledge
Everyone loves Rainbows End: Rainbows End isn't just for people who like science fiction (although, yeah, it's totally that, too). Intel's futurist listed six books that he reads to think about technology and the future and Rainbows End was one of them. (Source.)
Even economists love Rainbows End. It made the "Science Fiction For Economists" list. (Source.)
Seriously, people take Vinge seriously: before he wrote Rainbows End, Vinge wrote two stories that took place in the same world: 2002's "Fast Times at Fairmont High" and 2004's "Synthetic Serendipity." And when people read Vinge, they don't just read him for a good time; they read him for his thoughts on the future. (Source.)
The future is here—and it's weird. If you've heard of Google Glass or Google's self-driving cars, then you see how close Vinge was in 2006 to describing the world we have. We're coming up on a world of wearable computers and self-driving cars. (Source.)
In 2006, the same year that Rainbows End was published, Wired magazine made a fake example of what computerized contacts might look like. Notice that, just like in Rainbows End, they're disposable. (Source.)
Most of Rainbows End has to do with digital and computerized technology. But there are some advances in physical science, like the strange material that some students show off at the demonstration (33.81). Now, we don't have that sort of "smart taffy," but we do have material that changes color when stretched or stressed—so we're almost there. (Source.)