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3.97 AVERAGE
3.97 AVERAGE
The "hypothesis" is pretty engaging but at every point I felt something was missing. Like a key detail that was just explained in hurried dialogue. Too many questions around the basic premise. .
I wouldn't call it hard sci-fi though, just more philosophical as it raises some very interesting questions around second-life type things. It's a good read but not satisfying.
Spoiler
The observer needed for an ever expanding universe didn't make sense in the dust theory, Autoverse 'somehow' changing the rules of the TVC universe was not explained in any detail, and that was a crucial part to the endingI wouldn't call it hard sci-fi though, just more philosophical as it raises some very interesting questions around second-life type things. It's a good read but not satisfying.
challenging
informative
reflective
slow-paced
Strong character development:
No
Loveable characters:
No
The ideas are mesmerising, cool, weird. They were the reason I had trouble letting the book go. Be warned, though - the plot and the characters are not much more then vehicles for author's visions. Once you accept that this is a book of ideas, you will have a wild sci-fi ride.
My only criticism of this book, I guess, is that there may be simply too many ideas, woven and assembled into a bewilderingly complex structure.
Or, perhaps: Greg Egan is clearly fantastically smart, and maybe I just don't have the intellectual horsepower to keep up with him.
Just some of the things going on in Permutation City.
Normal mere mortal authors would be satisfied writing a great science fiction story with just one of those, but Egan takes all of them, and more, masterfully crafts them into a spectacularly complex literary structure, and then -- to badly mix my metaphors, because I'm not bright enough to express myself otherwise -- has you drink from the firehose.
Recommended if you're up for a brain-burner that, upon finishing, leaves you wandering around going whoa.... as you work on figuring it all out...
Or, perhaps: Greg Egan is clearly fantastically smart, and maybe I just don't have the intellectual horsepower to keep up with him.
Just some of the things going on in Permutation City.
- the multiverse from quantum physics and the idea that at every moment, countless universes branch off
- the simulation argument: the philosophical argument that it is overwhelmingly likely we are living in a computer simulation
- the hard problem of consciousness, transferring human consciousness/identity to some kind of computer
- computability, cellular automata, simulations, and the Ship of Theseus
Normal mere mortal authors would be satisfied writing a great science fiction story with just one of those, but Egan takes all of them, and more, masterfully crafts them into a spectacularly complex literary structure, and then -- to badly mix my metaphors, because I'm not bright enough to express myself otherwise -- has you drink from the firehose.
Recommended if you're up for a brain-burner that, upon finishing, leaves you wandering around going whoa.... as you work on figuring it all out...
challenging
inspiring
reflective
medium-paced
An excellent hard science fiction novel. Better thought-out than many non-fiction works on the simulation hypothesis.
challenging
dark
emotional
hopeful
informative
reflective
sad
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
Easily some of the top sci-fi I've read.
Egan manages to juggle a plethora of inspiring ideas alongside a cast of varied and really compelling characters.
Echoes of Berkeley, Leibniz, Hegel, and Nietzsche in the speculations (my reading) plus Von Neumann and Searle (explicitly stated).
Egan's a really impressive writer. Any worries I had about this being at the level of The Matrix or Rick and Morty or Black Mirror were completely unmitigated. This book lives leagues and leagues above those.
Egan manages to juggle a plethora of inspiring ideas alongside a cast of varied and really compelling characters.
Echoes of Berkeley, Leibniz, Hegel, and Nietzsche in the speculations (my reading) plus Von Neumann and Searle (explicitly stated).
Egan's a really impressive writer. Any worries I had about this being at the level of The Matrix or Rick and Morty or Black Mirror were completely unmitigated. This book lives leagues and leagues above those.
adventurous
dark
medium-paced
dark
mysterious
reflective
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:
No