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3.96 AVERAGE
3.96 AVERAGE
adventurous
challenging
informative
reflective
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Plot
Strong character development:
Complicated
Loveable characters:
Complicated
Diverse cast of characters:
Complicated
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Complicated
This is what Science fiction should be. If you're tired of the post-apocalyptic bullshit that comes out every other day, this should be a breath of fresh air.
This book gives me Hope. Hope about the human condition. Hope about Existentialism/Absurdism. Hope about Artificial Intelligence. Hope about Enlightenment/Nirvana. Hope about theoretical physics and it's pursuits to understand the Universe. And perhaps most importantly, hope about the genre of Science Fiction.
Sure, there's less character build up and less depth to the characters than one would expect. But that's not the point of the genre. The point of science fiction is to transcend current culture/morality and weave a future of higher ethics, one that would be in-line with the practical development of technology and philosophical understanding that new science may bring. This book does exactly that.
Without giving away the plot, I will tell you this. The author plays with the idea that a Self comes into being as long as it's coherent and has no internal inconsistencies. In that sense, our consciousness can be mapped to a computer simulation and we wouldn't be able to tell the difference. Taking this a step further, as long as a string of information is coherent and has no internal inconsistencies, the Self will always form, even if the information is scattered throughout Time and Space. The information will always find itself, and the concept of "you" will always be there. With or without a computer to simulate it. Enlightened yet? But wait, there's more. The Universe itself is a Self. As long as the laws of physics are coherent and has no internal inconsistencies, Time and Space will find itself and create itself. A universe out of nothing. We are here because we can.
Cellular automation and artificial life, artificial universes with its own laws of physics, virtual realities and computing power economies, "Solophist Nations", speculations about general relativity, immortality, death, rebirth, transcending physical emotion, there are so many ideas that the book plays with, it's impossible not to have your jaw dropped while reading some of the chapters.
The book comes with a very high recommendation. Go and read it!
This book gives me Hope. Hope about the human condition. Hope about Existentialism/Absurdism. Hope about Artificial Intelligence. Hope about Enlightenment/Nirvana. Hope about theoretical physics and it's pursuits to understand the Universe. And perhaps most importantly, hope about the genre of Science Fiction.
Sure, there's less character build up and less depth to the characters than one would expect. But that's not the point of the genre. The point of science fiction is to transcend current culture/morality and weave a future of higher ethics, one that would be in-line with the practical development of technology and philosophical understanding that new science may bring. This book does exactly that.
Without giving away the plot, I will tell you this. The author plays with the idea that a Self comes into being as long as it's coherent and has no internal inconsistencies. In that sense, our consciousness can be mapped to a computer simulation and we wouldn't be able to tell the difference. Taking this a step further, as long as a string of information is coherent and has no internal inconsistencies, the Self will always form, even if the information is scattered throughout Time and Space. The information will always find itself, and the concept of "you" will always be there. With or without a computer to simulate it. Enlightened yet? But wait, there's more. The Universe itself is a Self. As long as the laws of physics are coherent and has no internal inconsistencies, Time and Space will find itself and create itself. A universe out of nothing. We are here because we can.
Cellular automation and artificial life, artificial universes with its own laws of physics, virtual realities and computing power economies, "Solophist Nations", speculations about general relativity, immortality, death, rebirth, transcending physical emotion, there are so many ideas that the book plays with, it's impossible not to have your jaw dropped while reading some of the chapters.
The book comes with a very high recommendation. Go and read it!
challenging
inspiring
reflective
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Plot
Strong character development:
No
Loveable characters:
No
Diverse cast of characters:
No
Flaws of characters a main focus:
No
challenging
dark
emotional
inspiring
mysterious
reflective
tense
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
N/A
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Complicated
challenging
informative
reflective
tense
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Plot
Strong character development:
No
Loveable characters:
Complicated
Diverse cast of characters:
No
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
It explores some interesting ideas, and the last third of the book was a fun read.
But it's dragged down by a slow start (while the setup is necessary for the last part, maybe cutting it down by half would have improved the pace in my view) and some of it's concepts can be hard to digest.
But it's dragged down by a slow start (while the setup is necessary for the last part, maybe cutting it down by half would have improved the pace in my view) and some of it's concepts can be hard to digest.
Lots of very interesting, crazy ideas, but a little clunky in the implementation. Enjoyable stuff though.
I really, really liked this. One of the most philosophically interesting novels I've read in a while, primarily for the question of personal identity. Egan is an Australian writer of 'hard' science fiction and here imagines a world where people are able to make digital 'copies' of themselves, usually to be activated when they die as a form of immortality. But what about limitations on computing power? Is there some way to remove that limitation and reliance on physical processing power? The ending felt a bit flat to me but the novel is absolutely fascinating.
challenging
emotional
mysterious
tense
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
No
Loveable characters:
No
Diverse cast of characters:
No
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Complicated
adventurous
challenging
dark
mysterious
reflective
tense
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
Complicated
Loveable characters:
No
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
No
Content Warnings
Graphic: Murder