Greg Bear: The Singularity is the Secular Apotheosis

Greg Bear is truly one of the masters of classic science fiction – he has written over 35 books, that have sold millions of copies, and have been translated in 22 languages. No wonder I was not only immensely excited but also pretty nervous while preparing to interview him face to face. As it turned out I was worrying for nothing: Greg Bear is a really affable fellow with a fantastic sense of humor and, together with his wife Astrid, endlessly generous hospitality. Bear is also a passionate macro-photographer with the most stunning dragon-fly-pictures collection that I have seen in my life. Thus it is a total understatement to say that I had an absolute blast spending a full day of shooting 4 Singularity 1 on 1 episodes at his house, including the attached 90 min interview. During our conversation with Greg Bear we cover a variety of interesting topics such as: how he got inspired to write; what is science fiction; the role of photography and visual imagery; the merging of philosophy and science; sci fi as the jazz of literature; religion, mysticism and his take on Jesus; the birth of Comic-Con; whether science fiction inspires science or vice versa; the singularity, transhumanism and “the brick wall of philosophy”… This interview was so packed of intellectual gems that I almost feel like shying away from listing any. But here are just two of my favorites, and you feel free to share yours in the comment section below: “…The people who are changing the world read science fiction.” “In a sense, science fiction is history in reverse…” See the full video here: https://www.singularityweblog.com/greg-bear-singularity/