From: avatar (avatar@renegadeclothing.com.au)
Date: Mon Mar 03 2003 - 01:57:55 MST
Good comments, especially with regard to Iain Banks, though he takes things
further than Banks. However as to reviewers...
> Several reviewers have complained about the style. It's a little rough
> and old-fashioned, but I enjoyed it. There are several hilariously
> funny scenes that help to puncture some of the pomposity.
Peter Hamilton, Alastair Reynolds - in literary terms, these guys are the
hacks, with wooden characters and frayed plotlines and complete lack of
finesse about emotional issues dealing with violence.
Wright is closer to the better parts of "Radix", a fabulous novel even if
sections are written like Peter Hamilton. Some of Wright's style draws upon
the bulk of human history, which is aristocratic in aesthetic and not
idiomatic or slang-orientated. Perhaps in some ways it bears similarity to
Gene Wolfe.
Towards Ascension
Avatar Polymorph
34 After Armstrong
Maximum choice and minimum non-consensual force
----- Original Message -----
From: "Hal Finney" <hal@finney.org>
To: <extropians@extropy.org>
Sent: Saturday, March 01, 2003 10:46 AM
Subject: The Golden Age by John C. Wright
> Several people have mentioned the novel The Golden Age, by John C. Wright.
> I read this a couple of months ago and am re-reading it now. It's a
> terrific novel and I'm enjoying it even more the second time through,
> as I see more clearly how Wright's future society works and has evolved.
>
> According to the TOR Books web site, the sequel, The Phoenix Exultant,
> will be published in April, which is also when The Golden Age should
> appear in paperback. I did see a claim online that the second book got
> too long and the series will now be a trilogy.
>
> Damien pointed last year to this interview with the author, a colorful
> and curmudgeonly sort (warning, contains some spoilers):
> http://www.sfsite.com/05a/jcw127.htm.
>
> What I like best about the book is the variety shown in Wright's future
> society, the Golden Oecumene (oecumene means world in greek/roman).
> The big problem in any non-fantasy future story these days is how to
> handle super-intelligence. We can't appreciate a story in which there
> are nothing but super-human beings. So we have to focus on possible
> futures in which there are some recognizable humans. Then you need to
> explain why these people still exist given the existence of superhumans.
>
> Basically what Wright has done is to show a possible variant on
> Eliezer's "Friendly AI" scenario. Humanity is shepherded and guarded by
> super-intelligent AIs, the Sophotechs. These beings take a relatively
> passive role in human society, primarily acting as guides and aides.
> They give advice, they run the virtual and augmented realities;
> occasionally they invent things. But what they also do, although it's
> not depicted directly in the story, is prevent violence. No one can
> hurt or physically coerce anyone else.
>
> In short, the Golden Oecumene is a libertarian utopia. It used to be
> that when you joined the Libertarian Party you had to sign this little
> card saying something like "I promise not to use coercion on anyone else."
> In the Golden Oecumene, this is the primary law. No one can be coerced.
> Everyone has complete freedom as long as they don't harm anyone but
> themselves.
>
> What we see in the novel is the working-out of this principle as applied
> to a world in which alterations to the mind and its perceptions can
> be achieved almost without limit. In fact this is to some extent a
> "travelogue" novel, meaning one whose interest flows from the setting and
> scenery more than the plot. But in this case, the tour is of mentality
> rather than of physical space.
>
> We've got the space elevator, terraformed planets, massive engineering
> projects, but they aren't that interesting. Where Wright is dazzling is
> in presenting the range of human mental (and to some extent, physical)
> adaptations and variations. There are half a dozen different mental
> organizations which are described in considerable detail: the Vulcan-
> like Invariants; the Warlocks, who walk through a waking dream; the
> Compositions, group minds; the Sophotechs, the super-intelligent AIs; the
> Neptunians, who have rejected the Oecumenical principles of non-coercion
> and whose super-cold organic brains approach Sophotech powers; and more.
>
> Add to this the capability of individuals to alter their brains,
> their motivations and perceptions, as easily as we change our clothes.
> It's a tremendous power, but extremely dangerous. A single rash act
> can put you on the path to mental self-destruction; and there can be
> no intervention, nothing stronger than verbal persuasion is allowed
> to try to rescue someone who has made such a mistake. We see several
> cases where good, strong people have destroyed themselves in this way.
> The ultimate freedom is the freedom to be wrong.
>
> It's a good, philosophical book that faces these issues squarely. As in
> any real utopia, a substantial part of the population hates their society.
> We hear their voices as well. What meaning is there for life in a world
> where anything a human can do, a machine can do better? It's a tough
> problem but it's one our descendants (and perhaps even we ourselves)
> may have to deal with.
>
> Several reviewers have complained about the style. It's a little rough
> and old-fashioned, but I enjoyed it. There are several hilariously
> funny scenes that help to puncture some of the pomposity. Also, on
> re-reading the book it is clear that the main action of the story is
> actually a distraction which is covering up the important event that is
> really happening, which will presumably be the topic of the next book(s).
>
> It's interesting to compare Wright's society with Banks' Culture.
> Both have augmented humans side-by-side with super-intelligent AIs.
> The Culture is a socialist/communist utopia while the Golden Oecumene
> is a libertarian one. Both societies are fundamentally decadent by our
> standards; both have strong threads of internal discontent. I thought
> in particular of Banks' recent Look to Windward as a good comparison
> for The Golden Age.
>
> I'll wrap this up with some notes that might be of interest to others
> who have read the book. I've been going through and working out Wright's
> chronology, the history of the Golden Oecumene, as I re-read the novel.
> He leaks out bits and pieces here and there, and by playing detective I
> have come up with a relatively coherent picture. I haven't finished my
> second run-through but here is how I see things so far. I'll put in some
> spoiler space for the benefit of those who haven't yet read the novel.
>
> Hal
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> Wright's characters describe history in terms of eras called Mental
> Structures. They are presently in the Seventh Mental Structure, aka
> the Golden Oecumene ("golden age"). Here is my reconstruction of the
> earlier eras and their defining events:
>
> First Mental Structure
> Primitive hunter-gatherers.
> Second Mental Structure
> Age of agriculture.
> Third Mental Structure
> Industrial Revolution. We are in the late Third Mental Structure.
> Fourth Mental Structure
> Contrary to most of today's expectations, the Fourth Mental
> Structure is not about AIs. Rather, it is the age of the group
> minds. It started with the First-Harmony Composition, whose
> waking to self-awareness defined the beginning of the Fourth
> Mental Structure. During this era, individual consciousness
> almost died out. The Compositions offered a form of immortality,
> as minds who joined were remembered forever. The Fourth Mental
> Structure was an eons-long era of peace. It was during this
> time that at least some of the new neuroforms were developed,
> particularly the Warlock and probably the Invariant.
> Fifth Mental Structure
> The Fifth Mental Structure was a long period of chaos, beginning
> when the Bellipotent Corporation re-invented murder and war.
> The Bellipotents apparently engaged in warfare against Warlocks
> and rapid advances in personal weaponry ensued. It was during
> this era that the Eleemosynary Composition was founded which
> became one of the greatest and most powerful group minds.
> It ruled at least all of Asia and possibly the whole world.
> Sixth Mental Structure
> The Sixth Mental Structure was defined by the dawning of the
> machine minds, the Sophotechs. The Eleemosynary Composition
> played an important part in the development of this AI technology.
> The age of warfare was over as the Sophotechs imposed their
> benevolent rule on humans, forbidding violence.
> Seventh Mental Structure
> The Seventh Mental Structure dates from the development of
> noumenal recording technology, which at last allowed true,
> individual immortality. The power of the group minds went into
> decline as people preferred the idea of not dying over being
> well remembered. This defines the current political/mental
> configuration of the Golden Oecumene. There are some indications
> that the story occurs approximately 10000 years after the
> beginning of this era.
>
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