Vernor Steffen Vinge (; born October 2, 1944) is a retired
San Diego State University (SDSU) Professor of
Mathematics,
computer scientist, and
science fiction author. He is best known for his
Hugo Award-winning novels and novellas
A Fire Upon the Deep (1992),
A Deepness in the Sky (1999),
Rainbows End (2006),
Fast Times at Fairmont High (2002), and
The Cookie Monster (2004), as well as for his 1984 novel
The Peace War and his 1993 essay "The Coming Technological Singularity", in which he argues that the creation of
superhuman artificial intelligence will mark the point at which "the human era will be ended", such that no current models of reality are sufficient to predict beyond it.