Singularity Fiction

1 Post author: shiftedShapes 25 February 2013 10:22PM

I enjoy reading singularity themed sci-fi especially if it focuses on bootstrapping and power leveling.  Most recently, I read Stross and Doctrow's Rapture of the Nerds ( http://craphound.com/rotn/download/ the third part is especially interesting), and the my little pony fanfic Friendship is Optimal ( http://www.fimfiction.net/story/62074/friendship-is-optimal ).  I happened upon a link to the latter on this site and it was a nice surprise.  However, I'd prefer to be kept abreast of new releases in this genre in a more reliable way and I'm guessing many others here would as well.  Accordingly I propose that we exchange recommendations in this thread, or if there is already such a thread that somebody link to it.

 

-sS

Comments (18)

Comment author: drethelin 26 February 2013 08:55:57AM 4 points [-]

The Quantum Thief is pretty great post singularity fiction

Comment author: Gastogh 26 February 2013 10:20:24AM 2 points [-]

Seconded. Granted, my sample size is pretty minuscule, but still.

And as an extra reason why LW folks might be interested in Rajaniemi's books, the second book of the series, The Fractal Prince, mentions something called "extrapolated volition" being at the heart of one of the cultures in the novels' setting.

Comment author: Kaj_Sotala 01 March 2013 04:48:03PM 0 points [-]

One of Rajaniemi's short stories (not in either of these books) even had a mention of a "Coherent Extrapolated Volition" and a brief description of what that meant, IIRC.

Comment author: shiftedShapes 26 February 2013 03:55:19PM 0 points [-]

Thanks for the suggestion!

Comment author: shiftedShapes 26 February 2013 03:55:21PM 0 points [-]

Thanks for the suggestion!

Comment author: lukeprog 26 February 2013 04:57:21AM 3 points [-]
Comment author: shiftedShapes 26 February 2013 03:55:29PM 0 points [-]

Thanks for the suggestion!

Comment author: knb 27 February 2013 04:50:35AM 2 points [-]

The Golden Age is a great post-singularity novel. The other two parts of the trilogy are pretty good as well.

Comment author: shiftedShapes 27 February 2013 09:09:14PM 0 points [-]

Thanks for the suggestion

Comment author: [deleted] 25 February 2013 11:34:06PM 4 points [-]

You could find suggestions in the media thread or ask for some in the open thread.

Comment author: shinoteki 27 February 2013 11:30:30PM 3 points [-]

The Metamorphosis of Prime Intellect. The chapters aren't in chronological order; the bootstrapping and power leveling happen in chapters two and four.

Comment author: shiftedShapes 02 March 2013 02:16:34AM 0 points [-]

I had read most of this many years ago...not sure why I didn't finish then but glad I did this time. Thanks for the link.

Also I think the answer is to contine to evolve and constantly push against ones limits rather than outsourcing the work andliving a life Iif leisure as the majority did after the change.

Comment author: shiftedShapes 08 March 2013 09:36:53PM 0 points [-]

I forgot to mention True Names by Doctrow and Rosenbaum. One of the best on this subject IMO.

http://archive.org/details/TrueNames

Comment author: Eneasz 27 February 2013 09:45:00PM 0 points [-]

Stross has a good Singularity novel, Accelerando.

Vinge has an interesting novel - Marooned in Realtime - that follows a group of humans who missed the Singularity and have been "Left Behind" so to speak. Not Sing Fic, but a neat concept.

Come to think of it, there's a lot of post-Singularity fiction, but very little actual "in the Singularity itself" fiction that comes to mind.

OH! Chiang's short "Understand" is an awesome watching-the-singularity-happen story, and is available here: http://www.infinityplus.co.uk/stories/under.htm (Almost everything Chiang's ever written is brilliant, FWIW)

Comment author: Kaj_Sotala 01 March 2013 04:50:14PM 1 point [-]

Did anybody else have difficulty reading Accelerando? I tried reading it once, found it boring and stopped after the first few pages, then later on got a considerably longer way in before quitting but it still took a bit of an active effort. Not sure of what the exact reason was, since I've liked some of Stross's other works (but not all of them).

Comment author: arundelo 01 March 2013 07:14:24PM 0 points [-]

I liked it (Manfred Macx is a great extrapolation of Google Glass-style technology) but it got slow for me roughly halfway through and I'm currently stalled at the 62% point. I haven't read any other Stross (though I enjoyed the sample chapter or two that I read of Rule 34).

Comment author: Eneasz 01 March 2013 06:44:41PM 0 points [-]

Not any more difficulty than most of his work. He uses a lot of insider jargon, but I figure most of us would know it already. If you approach it as 9 related short stories rather than expecting a single narrative it helps.

Comment author: shiftedShapes 28 February 2013 01:26:28AM 0 points [-]

I loved accelerando...just read the Chiang story, great but was disapointed by the outcome. I wont discuss why to avoid spoilers