Bloom

Bloom, written in 1998, is the fifth science fiction novel written by Wil McCarthy. It was first released as a hardcover in September 1998. Almost a year later, in August 1999, its first mass market edition came out. Bloom is one of Borders' "Best 10 Books of 1998" and is a New York Times Notable Book. The premise of the book is how to handle human technology that has evolved beyond human control. Bloom is set in the year 2106, in a world where s... more

Bloom, written in 1998, is the fifth science fiction novel written by Wil McCarthy. It was first released as a hardcover in September 1998. Almost a year later, in August 1999, its first mass market edition came out. Bloom is one of Borders' "Best 10 Books of 1998" and is a New York Times Notable Book. The premise of the book is how to handle human technology that has evolved beyond human control. Bloom is set in the year 2106, in a world where self-replicating nanomachines called "Mycora" have consumed Earth and other planets of the inner solar system, forcing humankind to eke out a bleak living in the asteroids and Galilean moons. Two groups of humanity exist--The Immunity which use "ladderdown" technology and augmented reality and lives on the moons of Jupiter, and The Gladholders which use human intelligence amplification and artificial intelligence and live in the asteroid belt. The story begins on Ganymede with an article about a “bloom”, or outbreak of Mycora, that serves to... less