| Title: | The visioneers : how a group of elite scientists pursued space colonies, nanotechnologies, and a limitless future / |
| Authors: | Patrick McCray, Author |
| Material Type: | eBook |
| Publisher: | Princeton, NJ : Princeton University Press, 2012 |
| ISBN / ISSN / EAN : | 978-0-691-13983-8 |
| Format: | 1 online resource (xii, 351 p.) / ill. |
| Bibliography note: | Includes bibliographical references (p. 281-323) and index |
| Languages: | English |
| Class number: | Q125 |
| Subjects: | Nanotechnology ; Science--History ; Space colonies ; Visionaries |
| Description: | Patrick McCray traces how these visioneers blended countercultural ideals with hard science, entrepreneurship, libertarianism, and unbridled optimism about the future. He shows how they built networks that communicated their ideas to writers, politicians, and corporate leaders. But the visioneers were not immune to failure--or to the lures of profit, celebrity, and hype. O'Neill and Drexler faced difficulty funding their work and overcoming colleagues' skepticism, and saw their ideas co-opted and transformed by Timothy Leary, the scriptwriters of Star Trek, and many others. The Visioneers provides a balanced look at the successes and pitfalls they encountered. The book exposes the dangers of promotion--oversimplification, misuse, and misunderstanding--that can plague exploratory science. But above all, it highlights the importance of radical new ideas that inspire us to support cutting-edge research into tomorrow's technologies |
| Contents note: | 1. Introduction: visioneering technological futures 2. Utopia or oblivion for Spaceship Earth? 3. The inspiration of limits 4. Building castles in the sky 5. Omnificent 6. Could small be beautiful? 7. California dreaming 8. Confirmation, benediction, and inquisition 9. Visioneering's value. |
| Permalink: | https://isulibrary.isunet.edu/index.php?lvl=notice_display&id=11010 |
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