6.9 KiB
Cyberpunk-ish rational reading?
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Author: u/pugna_magus *
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URL: https://www.reddit.com/r/rational/comments/5g5xre/cyberpunkish_rational_reading/
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Score: 16
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Created: 2016-12-02T21:36:16
Post:
Title says it all, really. I've finished the Sprawl trilogy by Will Gibson recently, and I really liked the aesthetic and the writing. So, the question is, is there something that brings my two favourite literary genres together?
I am aware of "Branches on the tree of time", and I didn't like it much when I tried to read it for some reason. Anything else?
Comments:
u/traverseda [+19] With dread but cautious optimism (an hour later)
Well I don't know about "rationalist", but I can give you some recommendations in general.
I really like /u/cstross's Accelerando. It's more post cyberpunk, but still. I feel it has the cyberpunk feel, but it's a lot less "low-life" until the vile offspring. And even then the protagonists are immortal and living post-scarcity.
The other big one is "Snow Crash", which is more traditional cyberpunk. Although somewhat of a parody. It explores some really cool concepts, and if you haven't read it I encourage you to find a copy.
Finally, a fan work. Free Radical, a system-shock fanfic by Shamus Young, has one of the best descriptions of a neural interface and one of the best handlings of AI I've seen in a novel.
None of these are exactly "rationalist", but they're rational, with internally consistent worlds and all that. They explore interesting concepts, even if they don't teach rationality skills.
u/eniteris [+9] (an hour later)
I've read all three, I second Accelerando in particular as a very rational work. Snow Crash is interesting, but more plot-driven.
Can you point me to the neural interface description and why you think Free Radical is great at handling AI? I read through it, but nothing really sticks (probably because I haven't played System Shock).
u/traverseda [+1] With dread but cautious optimism (a day later)
The main issue with the Free Radical AI is axiomatic, likewise the main reason the AI doesn't instantly win is axiomatic.
The interface is a bit more dubious, but I very much enjoyed his descriptions of how it feels to have a neural interface.
u/MacDancer [+4] (9 hours later)
Just an aside: although Snow Crash is a good read and fits OP's request, I feel like Neal Stephenson's later works are much more mature. So if you feel like Snow Crash is occasionally sophomoric, don't be put off from reading Anathem or Cryptonomicon!
u/TBestIG [+1] Every second of quibbling is another dead baby (6 hours later)
I read Singularity Sky and (to me at least) it came off as very preachy in parts, is Accelerando better?
EDIT: I probably sound pretty contentious right now so I'll try to explain a little better. Not preachy in terms of the technology and picture of the future, I actually believe the book was very well made. My issue is that he used Rachel and Martin as nothing more than author mouthpieces in the later part of the plot. It felt like he was pushing a libertarian agenda and extremely over doing it. I don't have an issue with political messages in books, however this one was pretty annoying
u/throwaway234f32423df [+5] (17 hours later)
pushing a libertarian agenda
I was actually surprised to learn that he's anti-libertarian, as evidenced here, here, and here.
u/TBestIG [+1] Every second of quibbling is another dead baby (20 hours later)
Huh, I didn't know that.
u/Empiricist_or_not [+1] Aspiring polite Hegemonizing swarm (20 hours later)
I think you will find accelerando less preachy, I agree singularity sky does have a lot of "Use of Weapons", "Player of Games", "HPMOR", "Atlas Shugged" moralizing with a sledgehammer's subtlety. Accelerando, does have some some moralizing but aside from one story-line railing against the RIAA I find it a lot more Peter Watts style extrapolation, and a lot less sledgehammer pounding ideology indoctrination.
Alternately the arguable post-singularity post-crash follow-on novel "Glasshouse" is less subtle than singularity sky, but is still worth reading (there is about a quarter to a third of it you may find a very unpleasant rehash of several aspects of sociology and identity freedom rants) because it does some fairly clever things with digital humans.
u/TBestIG [+1] Every second of quibbling is another dead baby (20 hours later)
Thank you for the recommendations, I'll be sure to get both of those.
u/currough [+6] (a day later)
I feel like parts of the Takeshi Kovacs series by Peter Morgan approach being rational. In particular, there's a lot of interpretation of people's actions, and reducing those actions down to basic motivations. Unfortunately, it does stray from rationalism occasionally - but when it does that, it tends to be relatively self-aware about it. The first book is Altered Carbon.
u/Loiathal [+1] (3 days later)
Fantastic book. I have some tentative hopes for the Netflix mini-series.
u/Empiricist_or_not [+4] Aspiring polite Hegemonizing swarm (21 hours later)
It's more of a post singularity, post crash, but if your enjoyment of cyberpunk is more based on the clever heist than the grit of the sprawl you might want to try the "The Flower Prince Trilogy" starting with the "Quantum Thief".
u/None [+3] (22 hours later)
[deleted]
u/zx321 [+2] (a day later)
Ventus is available online for free on the author's website.
u/Ardvarkeating101 [+2] Father of Learning (a day later)
The Polity is kind of post-Cyberpunk, but they use all the cyberpunk ideas rationally, for ex. if you can make cyborg arms, you make tons of them and make rejection-proof snap-on versions for battlefields and emergencies.
u/SecretAgentVampire [+1] (21 hours later)
The characters in Ready Player One act pretty rationally. It's a great book
u/traverseda [+3] With dread but cautious optimism (a day later)
I disagree, and think that book milks nostalgia way too hard. If it didn't lean that hard on nostalgia, it would be better.
u/SecretAgentVampire [+1] (a day later)
That's a really good point. You have my upvote.
u/sixfourch [+1] (13 days later)
Personally I consider the Sprawl Trilogy non-pedagogic rational fiction, considering the primary mover of the plot is presumably perfectly rational.