In doing the research for
Rise of the Jedi, I’ve been contemplating how an interstellar culture can hover around an equilibrium point of technology for 25,000 years. (The
Star Wars universe isn’t the only one with long-term stable galactic culture; Asimov’s
Foundation books are another galactic empire.) Living as we do in a time of technological acceleration, that kind of stability is a contrast to our daily lives. I have some plans for looking at mechanisms behind equilibrium technology levels, but first I’d like to deal with what
Charlie Stross called the “turd that Vernor Vinge crapped into the punchbowl of SF writing, and now nobody wanting to take a drink can ignore it”: the
Singularity.
( Post-Singularity Encounters )