Securing permission to cite a book

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Ringading

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I am currently writing a fictitious novel involving the singularity. For those of you who do not know, the singularity is when humans will merge with computers. My novel only uses the idea of the singularity, and expands it into a post apocalyptic world.

An incredibly popular futurist, Ray Kurzweil has championed the idea for quite some time. He wrote a book, called the "Singularity is Near".

My question is, should I try to secure permission from Mr. Kurzweil? I would prefer not to be sued by this incredibly powerful millionaire. For some reason I do not think that would work out in my favor.

Thanks!
 

Amadan

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I am currently writing a fictitious novel

*twitch*

Kurzweil does not have a copyright on the concept of a singularity, and many other authors have used it. You only need permission if you are going to use his actual words (and even then, cited quotes are generally fair use).
 

Buffysquirrel

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If the novel's fictitious, then....

No, that would be teasing. It's just a novel, okay? And you don't need permission to use the concept of the singularity.
 

Ringading

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Apparently I will never live that blunder down. Yes, I am writing a science fiction. I am 55k words in.
 

blacbird

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In any case, unless you are quoting directly from a work of Kurtzel's, you don't need permission. In a novel, I don't even really see why you need to mention him at all. I'm writing a novel that involves wagon trains crossing the American plains around 1850, and I've had to do a fair amount of research to get basic facts straight. But I don't have any need to mention those sources of information.

caw
 

Jamesaritchie

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I thought the singularity already happened years ago?
 

Helix

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Apparently I will never live that blunder down.

Yeah, you will.

Kurzweil is an advocate of the singularity, but didn't come up with the idea. There are books, papers and conferences dedicated to examining the scientific and cultural aspects of the singularity*, so there's plenty of information freely available. As others have said, unless you want to quote Kurzweil's work (or the work of others) directly, you don't need permission for using the concept in your fiction.

* Not to mention a fair amount of discussion about why it won't happen.
 

Moldy

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Apparently I will never live that blunder down. Yes, I am writing a science fiction. I am 55k words in.

I'm glad to hear that. I really like the idea of the singularity. Never really came across any sci-fi novels about it though. Is it a common topic?
 

Ringading

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I have never personally read about it in a positive way. We have all heard stories like the terminator- the computers take over...blah blah blah. I wanted to write it from a completely different perspective. In mine, the computers are trying to save humankind from themselves. They are discovering this is a difficult task due to our innate desire to kill each other over stupid things. I am having an absolute blast writing about it. Developing these kind, altruistic computers and having them try to understand man is resulting in hilarious conversations and scenarios (at least, that is all in my personal opinion....it could be dull. I haven't sent it into beta and the only person is my husband. He is not a dumb man, he would never tell me it was bad even if it was the truth...lol)
 

Amadan

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I have never personally read about it in a positive way. We have all heard stories like the terminator- the computers take over...blah blah blah. I wanted to write it from a completely different perspective. In mine, the computers are trying to save humankind from themselves. They are discovering this is a difficult task due to our innate desire to kill each other over stupid things. I am having an absolute blast writing about it. Developing these kind, altruistic computers and having them try to understand man is resulting in hilarious conversations and scenarios (at least, that is all in my personal opinion....it could be dull. I haven't sent it into beta and the only person is my husband. He is not a dumb man, he would never tell me it was bad even if it was the truth...lol)


I hope you're familiar with the work of other authors who have covered this territory. Charles Stross, Vernor Vinge, Greg Bear, Ken MacLeod, to name a few.
 

Ringading

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I have read Stross's but its completely different. He is absolutely amazing, I could only ever dream of writing like him. I will have to look into the others though, thank you.
 

Ringading

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I am sure it is not a completely fresh idea. Is there really such a thing anymore? I bet the last "completely new" book was written on a cave wall.
 
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