000			03363cam a2200301 a 4500
001			u150089
003			SIRSI
005			20240916205642.0
008			120613s2012 njua b 001 0 eng
010			_a2012017061
020			_a0691139830 : HRD _c$29.95
020			_a9780691139838 (hardback : acid-free paper)
035			_a(OCoLC)788266380
037			_bPrinceton Univ Pr, California Princeton Fulfillment Center 1445 Lower Ferry rd, Ewing, NJ, USA, 08618 SAN 630-639X
050	0	0	_aQ125 _b.M417 2012
082	0	0	_a509 _223
092			_a509 _bM132v
100	1		_aMcCray, Patrick _q(W. Patrick)
245	1	4	_aThe visioneers : _bhow a group of elite scientists pursued space colonies, nanotechnologies, and a limitless future / _cW. Patrick McCray.
260			_aPrinceton : _bPrinceton University Press, _c2012.
300			_axii, 351 p. : _bill. ; _c24 cm.
504			_aIncludes bibliographical references (p. 281-323) and index.
505	0		_aIntroduction: visioneering technological futures -- Utopia or oblivion for Spaceship Earth? -- The inspiration of limits -- Building castles in the sky -- Omnificent -- Could small be beautiful? -- California dreaming -- Confirmation, benediction, and inquisition -- Visioneering's value.
520			_a"In 1969, Princeton physicist Gerard O'Neill began looking outward to space colonies as the new frontier for humanity's expansion. A decade later, Eric Drexler, an MIT-trained engineer, turned his attention to the molecular world as the place where society's future needs could be met using self-replicating nanoscale machines. These modern utopians predicted that their technologies could transform society as humans mastered the ability to create new worlds, undertook atomic-scale engineering, and, if truly successful, overcame their own biological limits. The Visioneers tells the story of how these scientists and the communities they fostered imagined, designed, and popularized speculative technologies such as space colonies and nanotechnologies. 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. Ultimately, both men struggled to overcome stigma and ostracism as they tried to unshackle their visioneering from pejorative labels like "fringe" and "pseudoscience." 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"-- _cProvided by publisher.
650		0	_aScience _xHistory.
650		0	_aVisionaries.
949			_cc.1 _lON-ORDER _tBook _xPRINT _p29.95
999			_a509 M132V _wDEWEY _c3646 _i51994001699257 _d3646 _f6/29/2023 _g5 _lCIRCSTACKS _mLRC _p$29.95 _rY _sY _tBOOK _u2/8/2013 _xPRINT