Teresa Dowd
asked
Lois McMaster Bujold:
Your stories key on responsibility and consequences, good and bad... the societal implications of even a few medical areas have had profound affects in your diaspora future cultures, Are there any trends in science or culture you see more recently you would love to go after if you were younger, that may be as profound when they hit the fan? Any trends you think are less important than they seemed 30 years ago?
Lois McMaster Bujold
Hm. In general, I lay no claim to being a futurist, although it's always fun to be right twice a day. I'm not sure what you mean by "you would love to go after if you were younger" -- as a writer? As a student? As a patient? (This week, I want a noninvasive cure for macular pucker, if I get a pick.)
For anyone interested in prognostication, I'd say keep an eye on biology. Where any pop sci books published more than five years ago are now out of date, as are some that were published one year ago. Or last week. The explosion in biology itself, of course, stems heavily from the explosion in computing and communication. Progress is happening all over in a 3D or maybe 4D web, not in a line, which makes any linear extrapolation, the favorite of many (but not me), almost bound to be incorrect.
This seems like a good topic to throw open to the comments section.
Ta, L.
Hm. In general, I lay no claim to being a futurist, although it's always fun to be right twice a day. I'm not sure what you mean by "you would love to go after if you were younger" -- as a writer? As a student? As a patient? (This week, I want a noninvasive cure for macular pucker, if I get a pick.)
For anyone interested in prognostication, I'd say keep an eye on biology. Where any pop sci books published more than five years ago are now out of date, as are some that were published one year ago. Or last week. The explosion in biology itself, of course, stems heavily from the explosion in computing and communication. Progress is happening all over in a 3D or maybe 4D web, not in a line, which makes any linear extrapolation, the favorite of many (but not me), almost bound to be incorrect.
This seems like a good topic to throw open to the comments section.
Ta, L.
More Answered Questions
Mitali
asked
Lois McMaster Bujold:
I recently read Captain Vorpatril's Alliance (loved it, btw!) in which it's mentioned almost as an aside that Komarr's gravity is less than that of Barrayar. That set me thinking about Barrayar's gravity. Is it the same as that of Earth? And what about other major planets in the Nexus - where do they stand on the gravitational scale? Do spaceships and space stations set their gravity at Earth level?
SMB
asked
Lois McMaster Bujold:
I have noticed a good number of similar names across your various books: multiple Dubauers/Dubro, Nikki/Nikys, Illvin/Ilyan, etc. Are any of these an hommage to a particular person, just personal preferences for certain syllable combinations, or merely coincidences across so many richly peopled books? Many thanks for so many hours of happy (re)reading over the years.
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