this post was submitted on 20 Jul 2023
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Science Fiction

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December book club canceled. Short stories instead!

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Lemmy World Rules

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I had no idea what I was getting into when I started this book, but it turned out to be exactly what I was looking for. In general I like hard scifi that goes as in-depth as possible about the fictional science. I think this book kind of took that concept to the next level. There are still characters in this book, but I think it is about 90% descriptions of fictional science and 10% story. It is extremely dense with technical details. There are whole pages talking about the chemical composition of molecules or the inner workings of simulated physics. The author seems to have a background in computer science and uses this knowledge to extrapolate where computers might be in the distant future. I don't think it is actually intended to be some kind of prediction. It's just something that is interesting to think about. The book hinges on the idea of being able to perfectly scans someones brain and then play it back on a computer as a kind of simulation. But while they can perfectly scan your brain they don't have enough computer power to play it back at full speed.

At any rate I look forward to reading some more of Greg Egan's books. I hope the others are as fun of thought experiments as this one.

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[–] oo1@kbin.social 3 points 1 year ago (2 children)

rip, tie cut toy man.
i dont think i've read greg egan stories for over 20 years . . . might be worth a review.

i always preferred the short stories though, theres was few good anthologies. axiomatic and luminous spring to mind.

maybe there are some newer ones since then.

[–] sohkamyung@mstdn.io 2 points 1 year ago (1 children)

@oo1

Greg Egan @gregeganSF has written new books, like "Scale" and "The Book of All Skies" and collections of his latest stories like "Sleep and the Soul" and "Instantiation".

Check out his website for more info [ https://gregegan.net/ ].

@Izzy

[–] Izzy@lemmy.world 1 points 1 year ago

I'm loving this website and how it looks like a html only web1.0 site. I don't know why, but 90s tech is already starting to feel retro future like.