Robert Forward, An Appreciation

I only met Robert Forward once and the meeting (at Moscon) did not go well. This was in Moscow, Idaho, Summer of 1988. I had come there dizzy and high on Nanotechnology and was very curious about Forward's thoughts on the business. I figured he would have great insights and would be eager to make contributions. Now, what I may lack in brains I certainly make up for in enthusiasm, but Forward would have none of it. He was clearly bored by the nanotech stuff and bluntly told me he thought it was all hype and old news and of little interest. I was surprised at his attitude and thought at the time he was a little rude, if for now other reason because I couldn't think of anything that was more cutting edge and current, stuff that might not happen right this instant but pretty soon and way too cool to ignore. Besides, it seemed to me that nanotech was a very good way to achieve some of Forward's vision(s). But I made my points poorly and my career as a science journalist ended that day. We never spoke again.

[Note: Even more disappointing to me is that I have come to the conclusion a generation afterward that Forward was correct. Nanotechnology while not exactly bullshit is close. Half-bullshit let us say. And you know which flavor predominates when you mix half ice cream and half shit (h/t to Mark Steyn). In any event, I believe we are approaching the Bullshit Singularity (that's right the BS), only a few years hence now, when the crescendo of unstoppable mindless crap that has ruled humanity for millennia reaches its cosmic climax. The signs are everywhere. Have you seen the previews for the movie 2012? Think of the rising, out-of-control oceans engulfing the planet as symbolic of rising, out-of-control bullshit engulfing the planet and you have a very effective visual image of exactly where we are heading.

But it hardly matters. Let it be said that progress on the really cool stuff is of nanotechnology after nearly a quarter of a century is all but non-existent: "These (nano) machines could be production machinery for more machines, shortening capital formation times and increasing economic growth rates" (from the Foresight.org website). This aspect, autogenous systems, the Foresight people tell us has been "sorely neglected." Indeed. Complete bust is more like it, guys.

So in the manner of a belated apology, I confess to all who might care that Dr. Forward was right and deeply regret offending him, or at least annoying him. I should have given the thousands I gave to Foresight to him. I'm sure he would have agreed with that. Maybe something cool would have come of it by now. In any event, the vision of Engines of Creation which enthralled me for so many years never came close to coming to pass. Drexler himself hinted in the early 90's he thought the Singularity might happen in the timeframe 2011 - 2015 but he was wrong. Sorry Eric, but I want my money back.]

Forward was an idea man and he was a wonderful writer -- of everything except fiction. in truth, he would have been unpublishable as a novelist except for his technical acuman and even there he had his weaknesses. He was criticized for being on shaky mathematical ground on occasion and his understanding of physics seems at times superficial, but none of these failings mattered. Because he had ideas! He had brilliant, far-reaching, outlandish ideas and of how many scientists, who for all their knowledge are more often stiffs than anything else, can that be said? He was that most remarkable of combinations -- the entrepreneurial scientist. Do you know how rare that is? No one else, in science or science fiction, came close. His death in 2001 was a loss that can never be replaced.

In revisiting his wonderful little article "Spin Drive to the Stars" after 28 years, I hope to make up for my failings in our one an only meeting. I hope to spark interest in his ideas (at least in that piece) again and perhaps get some thoughtful discussion going. That's all I can do. I hope it will be enough.