Reddit reviews Rainbows End: A Novel with One Foot in the Future

I highly recommend Rainbow's End by Vernor Vinge if you are interested in this theme.

Have you read Rainbows End by Vernor Vinge?

That's one of the major devices used in that book, and it's actually really well done and cool.

So far as higher-brow SciFi goes, try China Miéville, Paolo Bacigalupi and Catherynne Valente and Vernor Vinge

You bring up an excellent point (and make a great case for land ownership!), and that is that actual physical space can't really be created, and will remain scarce, insofar as Earth has a fixed surface area. If the scenario I described above came to pass, though, would any landlords come looking for rent? Would any governments levy taxes? If no one needs cash and everyone has pretty much everything provided for them, all but the most stubborn landlords won't have any reason to give a hoot. I suspect government would take longer to die out, since it may still be needed to enforce laws, judge disputes, provide safety, etc. It's not hard to imagine a world even further down the line, however, when technology has advanced to the point where humans can't realistically do much damage to one another.

Edit: If you're really into this, I'd suggest reading some singularity-esque literature such as Down and Out in the Magic Kingdom (novella), Rainbows End (novel), and The Singularity is Near (speculative nonfiction to be taken with a grain of salt).

Rainbow's End by Vernor Vinge.

I'm reading it right now and it's a real treat for people who love science fiction that's firmly grounded in what is possible. Also, you couldn't ask for a more pertinent author.

Quick answer: Mixed reality/vr overlays. Read Rainbows End by Vernor Vinge to get a taste (the book is prophetic in that regard).

Longer answer: The internet won't go away, just like travel by train or ship hasn't gone away, but it will change. It will still be there as a baseline of "this is where you go to get information quickly" but the way you interact with it will be completely different. The "revolution" will require several key technologies, all of which are already possible or in development.

1- Ubiquitous WiFi or equivalent. I'm talking free, fast, reliable internet service, everywhere. Google is doing this right now in the US, and many countries (ie: Japan) are already way ahead of the US in that regard.

2- Miniaturization. Things will get really small, like nano scale, and that will allow the below technologies to become reality.

3- VR Augmented Reality Overlays. This is a google glass type technology but taken further. Miniaturized to the form of contacts. Flexible displays at the next level. Complete visual reality overlay with gesture controls as well as voice commands. On mobile atm, so can't look it up, but There's a company already out there making a gesture control input device in the form of a band that goes on your forearm and reads your muscle movements. Combine that with glass and you have a very early version of what I'm talking about.

4- Wearable computers. Again google glass, but woven into your clothing. I'm sure there will be plenty of companies trying to market "smart clothing" as a selling point. These will be able to act as a personal health assistant as well as provide more computational horsepower if needed, though at that point you will likely have the whole of the "internet" to help you compute anything you want, doing away with the need for a personal computer that does everything. Moreover, these will provide context for OTHER people wearing their displays to get information about you. Privacy issues abound, of course.

These technologies combined will completely reshape the way we interact with computers, the internet and each other. Entire new fields of entertainment will be created. New communication tools unheard of will come to exist. Cell phones will be as foreign as 8-tracks. PCs as archaic as gramophones. Hell, even the way we travel, work, meet friends will change. If you have the ability to see/hear everything as if you were actually there, why leave your house to visit Rome? New York? Tokyo? Mars? Why physically commute to work? Conference calls are cute and all, but how about having everyone that needs to be in a meeting face to face with each other regardless of what continent they're on? Hey! Nine Inch Nails is coming out of retirement for the 5th time! One show, in Barcelona. Venue holds only 500. But that's ok, cause the live link will be able to hold the other 10 million as if they were right there at the front row. Convenience fees might still apply though.

That's just the surface of what I can think of, and there's plenty more that will happen that I can't think of.

EDIT: Added links and fixed grammar/spelling.

Vinge has a series of earth novels (his space novels are the common "super hard scifi" people trot out).

http://www.amazon.com/Rainbows-End-Vernor-Vinge/dp/0812536363 and http://www.amazon.com/The-Peace-War-Vernor-Vinge/dp/0765308835 and http://www.amazon.com/Marooned-Realtime-Peace-Vernor-Vinge/dp/0765308843/ref=pd_bxgy_b_text_y

(Those are all functionally a series, with strongly connected characters and stuff believe it or not)

I think this is AR. Augmented Reality only replaces things you don't like. You want to keep the drink? Keep it. You want to keep the toilet? Great, but maybe alter it to look... cleaner (eww). Keep the window because the sunlight is nice, but give yourself a better view.
If you keep anything from reality, then it is AR, not VR (which is total replacement).
Just read Rainbows End.

Even the greatest futurists have had a poor success rate predicting what's to come. Gibson's stories have held up pretty well, all things considered.

If you haven't already, I recommend reading the brilliant, Rainbows End by Verner Vinge. It came out in 2007, but already seems eerily prophetic. I'll be very curious to revisit it in ten years.

I really liked Rainbows End by Vernor Vinge:
http://www.amazon.com/Rainbows-End-Vernor-Vinge/dp/0812536363/ref=sr_1_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1456942139&sr=1-1&keywords=rainbows+end

More AR than VR, but except for the input method which is a little glossed over, the tech seems more plausible every year.

If you like that, his Zones of Thought books are amazing.

If you like that style of scifi, Rainbow's End is sort of a similar concept about where wearable computing and Augmented Reality devices take us.

That would be fantastic but if Niven is dead set against video/film treatment, a great alternative (maybe even better) would be Vernor Venge's Rainbow's End) future where Augmented Reality (AR) hides and overlays layers of experiences over everyday life. Not only would it be a bit cheaper to produce than fully-immersive "Dream Park" environments, a series based on AR could readily explore that intersection of imagined and real worlds you talked about.

Here's a small list of easily accessible sci-fi that had me hooked to the genre. They are, in my humble opinion, some of the greatest books/authors of the genre.

Stranger in a Strange Land (Robert Heinlein)

A Deepness in the Sky

Rainbows End (both by Vernor Vinge)

Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep? (Philip K. Dick)

They also all appear to be available for your Kindle.

Try something different, here are a few suggestions:

• Only Forward by Michael Marshall Smith
  
• Redshirts by John Scalzi
  
• Rainbows End by Vernor Vinge
  
• The Amazing Adventures of Kavalier and Clay by Michael Chabon
  
• Lullaby by Chuck Palahniuk

Oh Rainbow's End not Reading Rainbow's End. I think Vinge may be an acquired taste. When I read him it always feels like he's trying to provoke something from me. It's not subtle.

The Water Knife is about water shortages taken to their most severe possibilities in the Southwest.

I've talked with engineers and other professionals in different states who agree the worst-case scenarios are possible.

As recommended before, Rainbows End is also near-future, with more emphasis on technology, but with plausible developments and events that show both how fragile and interconnected the world is.

The recent sci-fi book Rainbows End by Vinge deals with this issue. In it the protagonist awakens after being cured of his Alzheimer's disease. It is a terrible book though, but you can read a big chunk of it yourself here.