4.0 KiB
[HSF] Permutation City by Greg Egan
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Author: u/None *
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Score: 20
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Created: 2014-02-18T18:59:13
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u/Psy-Kosh [+3] (37 minutes later)
Incandescence and his Orthogonal trilogy are even harder. :) (He pretty much wrote an entire physics textbook for the Riemannian universe. (Orthogonal's premise is a universe with positive definite metric, ie, a universe that's almost the same as ours with the primary difference being that time and space are fully symmetric with each other. As far as Incandescence... well, a general relativity textbook could be counted as a spoiler (or a reader's guide) for Incandescence. :))
u/jaiwithani [+2] Insufficient data for a meaningful answer (18 hours later)
https://www.fanfiction.net/s/5389450/2/The-Finale-of-the-Ultimate-Meta-Mega-Crossover
(Do not read unless you've already read A Fire Upon the Deep and Permutation City) Read to part II
u/FeepingCreature [+2] GCV Literally The Entire Culture (8 days later)
Belated note: I love this book because it serves as a really good primer for Mathematical Universes. (By being flawed enough to leave people still wondering, but simultaneously introducing the concept)
u/embrodski [+1] (21 hours later)
Perhaps a warning - not everyone agrees with me on this, but if you're averse to existential horror you may want to avoid this book.
u/None [+1] (a day later)
Uuuuh, why?
u/embrodski [+2] (a day later)
Because it repeatedly creates solipsistic universes.
Some vague spoilers below... I'm not really giving away any plot points, but themes are presented flatly rather than being introduced through a story, which does change the experience. People who haven't read it yet should consider not continuing.
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I've never read Egan's opinions on this book so I could be way off, but going just on the text, I think he was writing a horror novel intentionally. It starts out with a character gradually realizing he is essentially . And it just gets worse from there.
On more than one occasion a character finds themselves in a world where nothing is real except their own consciousness, and even that's up for debate. More than one character self-mutilates his mind to where they become unrecognizable entities. This sort of self-mutilation seems to be pretty common, at least to some of them, as it's stated fairly matter-of-factly.
He is doubting the veracity of his own perceptions because he knows he can't be trusted with write-access to his own brain. It spirals downward from there. The desperate, hopeless isolation is palpable. The inevitable decent into insanity and self-destruction is overwhelming.
u/None [+2] (2 days later)
Wait... and /u/EliezerYudkowsky took this as positive inspiration?
Wow, in a small but significant way, that makes me feel way better about myself. My inspirational futurist lower bound is substantially nicer than that.
u/None [+2] (2 days later)
[deleted]
u/None [+1] (2 days later)
Oh good. I worry about him, sometimes, when for two whole minutes at a time he sounds like an /r/Futurology denizen just waiting for the opportunity to do something really dumb.
u/embrodski [+1] (2 days later)
Wait... and /u/EliezerYudkowsky took this as positive inspiration?
/shrug You'd have to ask him. As I said, not everyone agrees with my interpretation. :)