From: Hal Finney (hal@finney.org)
Date: Mon Apr 21 2003 - 23:04:44 MDT
There are a few other science fiction books we often talk about here.
One is Marooned in Realtime, Vernor Vinge's novel that most clearly
discusses his concept of the Singularity and gives something of a feeling
of what it might have been like. Other Vinge novels include A Fire
Upon the Deep, fantastically imaginative, and A Deepness in the Sky,
set in the same universe. I'm also looking forward to his next novel,
which will supposedly be an expanded version of his short story Fast Times
at Fairmont High, a near-future setting with lots of neat technology.
Another series we often reference is the one Mike Lorrey mentioned,
Iain M. Banks' novels of the Culture. Unfortunately these stories never
stick with me so I can't remember what happens in most of the books.
Greg Egan has written a couple of novels we talk about. Diaspora has
lots of wild ideas, showing an interaction between a recognizable
human culture and humans who have converted themselves into super-fast
AI brains living in an abstract virtual reality, then segueing into an
exploration of a 5 dimensional universe. His earlier novel, Permutation
City, also explored some unique ideas about virtual living.
I recently enjoyed The Golden Age, by John C. Wright, which is just out
in paperback in the past couple of weeks. It shows a diverse future
community with humans normal and enhanced, plus super-intelligent AIs,
all in a hard-core libertarian society. The sequel is supposed to come
out next month.
You might also take a look at http://www.extropy.org/shop/index.html
which has these and some other fiction books listed. If you buy through
those links you benefit the Extropy Institute.
Hal
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