Vernor Vinge
Vernor Vinge I consider Vernor Vinge to be one of the most visionary SF authors living today (it could be claimed this directly makes him one of the most visionary living authors, period, but I won't get into that.) His vision of technology is quite different from that of most SF, and on the surface seems quite fantastic, yet in fact feels the most realistic to me. His books have placed him in the extropian literary pantheon. Technology in much of SF is simply an effector of the vision of the work. FTL, anti-gravity, artificial gravity, all working to build interstellar empires regardless of the physical obstacles. Social changes are often minimal. Vernor Vinge is at the other extreme; in looking at the potential of realistic technology, particularly computers/AI or cognitive science, he has come to the conclusion that we must run into a Singularity beyond which meaningful prediction (and fiction) is impossible. Idealized nanotechnology also has potential for creating a singularity, a