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I don't know, Timmy, being God is a big responsibility (2007)

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Re: I don't know, Timmy, being God is a big responsibility (2007)

#121

Post by lifeisstillgood »

Viliam1234 wrote: post #88
lifeisstillgood wrote: post #63

Earlier quoted context omitted.

oh. not free will. ok I get it. Of course super determinist asteroids become worrying. Or can they adjust those ? If you can interfere can you interfere to produce "good" outcomes ? Steer asteroids away?

> Of course super determinist asteroids become worrying. Or can they adjust those? Yes, but not on the highest level. :( So it depends on whether they can simulate the future, and whether someone up the ladder will be nice enough to simulate enough future (with the asteroids deflected) for those below them before they (the ones up the ladder) get killed.

But if the lab at the top end c the ladder gets wiped out, does it matter how much simulation is already done (assuming constant time - oh now they have infinite computing ... oh never mind :/)

Re: I don't know, Timmy, being God is a big responsibility (2007)

#122

Post by nitrogen »

GordonS wrote: post #99
tobmlt wrote: post #13

Ian M. Banks novel “surface detail” comes to mind. Please note it is better than the tawdry wiki write up. Somehow, it gets similar points across — similar to this essay, but deeper in feeling. Let me also say the authors here have done really well with so short a format. To paraphrase my toddler son, I want more story!

I've been an avid fantasy fan since forever, but I'm a relative latecomer to sci-fi novels. I recently finally completed making my way through all of the Culture novels - thoroughly enjoyed every one, and was kind of sad to have reached the end! Have you come across any other sci-fi authors that approach the style of Ian M. Banks? Otherwise, any recommendations for other sci-fi with the depth that the Culture series…

Greg Egan's Diaspora, Schild's Ladder, and Permutation City feel similar in scale if not exactly style. I've just started reading Alastair Reynolds's books, and those are closer to the sort of space opera of Banks, and so far so good. If you like really long books, Stephenson's Anathem is mind expanding and vaguely parallels some of Egan's books in terms of concepts explored. Finally I'll recommend A Fire Upon the Deep and its sequels by Vernor Vinge.

Also check out Harry Potter and the Methods of Rationality for a rationistic fanfic crossover between scifi and fantasy if you haven't already.

You can probably use HN's search feature to find previous scifi reading recommendation threads for more.

Re: I don't know, Timmy, being God is a big responsibility (2007)

#123

Post by karmicthreat »

I've been hoping someone would fill the shoes of Ian M Banks. QNTM is probably some of my favorite fiction in the same vein. Lena https://qntm.org/mmacevedo in particular deals with some very frightening ramifications of brain simulation. Just running a simulated mind through a deterministic "Red" (ie: torture) script to prep it for the work you need it to do is frightening.

Jeph Jacques of QC fame did Alice Gove which was a good Banks like comic. https://www.questionablecontent.net/alice1.html

I also read quite a bit of Kris Schnee's work https://www.amazon.com/Kris-Schnee/e/B00IY1HDDY his earlier Thousand Tales novels I think deal with early brain scanning issues well. IE: Flatbed scanning a living brain.

Re: I don't know, Timmy, being God is a big responsibility (2007)

#124

Post by drdeca »

choeger wrote: post #61
drdeca wrote: post #49

Earlier quoted context omitted.

A physically random process isn’t needed for probabilities to make sense. Further, suppose a computer agent knew that it would soon have 6 copies of itself (including current state) would be spun up, each in a different vm, and for each vm, a different simulated environment, but that the current copy of itself would also continue running. While each of the simulated environments differ from each-other and the true/ou…

Your contrived example starts with the very premise of a distribution. An agent gets copied. There are 7 variants. You make an experiment and argue that for 6 of the 7 variants your strategy is successful. All builds on the premise of a distribution, because otherwise the notion of chance has no meaning. Note, that the distribution must not be random, but it must exist. Take the perspective of your agent: There is no…

I was imagining that it was informed of the number of copies that would be made beforehand . Also, that the different copies couldn’t tell by the results of their choices, whether they were in the original environment or not. So, there is some best strategy in each env, but because they can’t tell which env they are in, they can’t actually have different strategies.

Saying there is no chance involved is like saying that if John rolls a fair 6 sided die under a cup, and you and Jane don’t know the result, and Jane offers to bet you at some odds that the die is showing the number 4, that there is no probability involved because the value of the die has already been determined. Ok, sure, it is already determined in the world, but one should still assign probability 1/6 the the die shows a 4.

Re: I don't know, Timmy, being God is a big responsibility (2007)

#125

Post by lotsofcows »

GordonS wrote: post #99
tobmlt wrote: post #13

Ian M. Banks novel “surface detail” comes to mind. Please note it is better than the tawdry wiki write up. Somehow, it gets similar points across — similar to this essay, but deeper in feeling. Let me also say the authors here have done really well with so short a format. To paraphrase my toddler son, I want more story!

I've been an avid fantasy fan since forever, but I'm a relative latecomer to sci-fi novels. I recently finally completed making my way through all of the Culture novels - thoroughly enjoyed every one, and was kind of sad to have reached the end! Have you come across any other sci-fi authors that approach the style of Ian M. Banks? Otherwise, any recommendations for other sci-fi with the depth that the Culture series…

Dan Simmons Shrike books have the same epic scale of Ian M Banks' scifi with the slightly more prosodic style of Ian Banks' standard fiction.

Re: I don't know, Timmy, being God is a big responsibility (2007)

#126

Post by GordonS »

RangerScience wrote: post #108
GordonS wrote: post #99

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I've been an avid fantasy fan since forever, but I'm a relative latecomer to sci-fi novels. I recently finally completed making my way through all of the Culture novels - thoroughly enjoyed every one, and was kind of sad to have reached the end! Have you come across any other sci-fi authors that approach the style of Ian M. Banks? Otherwise, any recommendations for other sci-fi with the depth that the Culture series…

The Culture novels are fairly unique (although I'd probably say that about most excellent things). There's some decent fanfic out there (You Just Need Opponents With Gravitas, alas it's stalled out for the second time). "Iron Sunrise" and "Singularity Sky" come to mind. Maybe also "Quantum Thief". What of the style / vibe / etc are you looking for more of?

As far as sci-fi goes, the entire Culture series is about the sum of my experience, and I thoroughly enjoyed it all. I read Liu Cixin's Three Body Problem a few years back, but didn't like the writing style (I know of course it was a translation), and much of the story seemed implausible even in the world that was created. IIRC, I couldn't bring myself to complete the series.

If it helps, some fantasy authors I like are Joe Abercrombie, Terry Pratchett, Robin Hobb, Brandon Sanderson, Scott Lynch, Dave Duncan and Brent Weeks.

I like excellent character development, creative world-building and exciting stories that are plausible within those imagined worlds, wit that makes you laugh, good writing that has you marvel at the author's skill, and that special thing: immersive writing.

Beyond that, as a noob I don't know if there are sub-genres or particular styles of interest.

I had a quick gander at your suggestions, and the stories of Singularity Sky and Quantum Thief both sounds intriguing - I'll add these to my reading list, thanks :)

Re: I don't know, Timmy, being God is a big responsibility (2007)

#127

Post by JasonFruit »

kian wrote: post #35

He's one of the best modern sci-fi writers. The whole collection of short stories here is fantastic, as is the "Anti-mimetics division" series he wrote over on SCP wiki.

I'd never run across any of that, and the Antimemetics Division series is amazing, just brilliantly creative.

Re: I don't know, Timmy, being God is a big responsibility (2007)

#128

Post by GordonS »

nitrogen wrote: post #122
GordonS wrote: post #99

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I've been an avid fantasy fan since forever, but I'm a relative latecomer to sci-fi novels. I recently finally completed making my way through all of the Culture novels - thoroughly enjoyed every one, and was kind of sad to have reached the end! Have you come across any other sci-fi authors that approach the style of Ian M. Banks? Otherwise, any recommendations for other sci-fi with the depth that the Culture series…

Greg Egan's Diaspora, Schild's Ladder, and Permutation City feel similar in scale if not exactly style. I've just started reading Alastair Reynolds's books, and those are closer to the sort of space opera of Banks, and so far so good. If you like really long books, Stephenson's Anathem is mind expanding and vaguely parallels some of Egan's books in terms of concepts explored. Finally I'll recommend A Fire Upon the De…

Appreciate the help - I've had a quick look at your suggestions, and the stories all sound intriguing, so I now have a growing sci-fi reading list, which is just what I need to discover authors I like!

Re: I don't know, Timmy, being God is a big responsibility (2007)

#129

Post by awinter-py »

teraflop wrote: post #10
marvel_boy wrote: post #8

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I guess Devs is what inspired this.

Check the date... this story was published in 2007.

yes but I doubt they copied without permission

more likely explanation is the author simulated a different universe to 2018, watched some hulu, and then wrote down the story for free publication on the web

Re: I don't know, Timmy, being God is a big responsibility (2007)

#130

Post by leephillips »

mannykannot wrote: post #112
throw0101a wrote: post #95

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> If every constituent member of that order is causally dependent on something prior to itself, then it appears that the order in question must consist of an infinite chain of causes. Yet Aquinas denies this implication (fourth premise): if the causal order is infinite, then (obviously) there could be no first cause. But without a first cause, then (necessarily) there could be no subsequent effects—including the inte…

> But without a first cause, then (necessarily) there could be no subsequent effects. This is where there seems to be a somewhat subtle implied premise, as the most one can say about necessity here is that without a first cause, then either there could be no subsequent effects or there is an infinite causal regress. And regardless of that, this argument tells us nothing about what sort of first cause there might be,…

We do have uncaused causes, but they are not God. They are fundamental processes such as radioactive decay, which occur in any particular interval of time with a certain probability, but have no cause. Sorry, Aquinas.
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