Hacker News Board Hacker News, browsed like a classic message board
Live data from Hacker News

Accelerando (2005)

antipope.org

Post reply on HN
Print view View original

11–20 of 88 posts

Re: Accelerando (2005)

#11

Post by _jal »

Structurally, the book is a mess. But it is a narrative disaster much like Snow Crash, in which it doesn't matter because you're so busy trying to integrate all the mind candy you don't notice until a re-read.

I feel like there are other science fiction books like this - overstuffed with lovely things to think about, from an author who is either inexperienced or doesn't care about the craft side. (In this case, Charlie was a fairly fresh author, he's improved a lot.)

Some of Greg Egan's writing fits that, but I'm having trouble thinking of other authors.

Re: Accelerando (2005)

#12

Post by joshka »

I have a vague recollection of reading parts of a novel something like this in comments on slashdot around the early 2000s, was this released that way?

All I recall about it was it was 3 parts, pre-singularity, singularity, post-singularity or something like that.

Re: Accelerando (2005)

#15

Post by e12e »

joshka wrote: post #12

I have a vague recollection of reading parts of a novel something like this in comments on slashdot around the early 2000s, was this released that way? All I recall about it was it was 3 parts, pre-singularity, singularity, post-singularity or something like that.

Sounds more like "Rainbows End" by Vernor Vinge (iirc it was initially published online - I used to have a printout of the book, but I've since given it away):

https://archive.org/details/rainbowsend00ving

http://vrinimi.org/

https://entertainment.slashdot.org/story/04/07/07/1623227/sn...

Re: Accelerando (2005)

#16

Post by jes5199 »

I read this again, a couple years ago. The assumption that increasing MIPS alone would drive societal change felt quaint, like it was an idea from the 1990s preserved in a time capsule.

But things have gotten strange since then, and tech is changing fast again. I can no longer dismiss this book’s conceits as pure fantasy.

Re: Accelerando (2005)

#17

Post by e12e »

e12e wrote: post #15
joshka wrote: post #12

I have a vague recollection of reading parts of a novel something like this in comments on slashdot around the early 2000s, was this released that way? All I recall about it was it was 3 parts, pre-singularity, singularity, post-singularity or something like that.

Sounds more like "Rainbows End" by Vernor Vinge (iirc it was initially published online - I used to have a printout of the book, but I've since given it away): https://archive.org/details/rainbowsend00ving http://vrinimi.org/ https://entertainment.slashdot.org/story/04/07/07/1623227/sn...

Or maybe not:

https://slashdot.org/story/05/07/13/236203/doctorow-and-stro...

> Two prominent science fiction authors have recently released their newest novels as free downloads to coincide with their in-store releases. The first is Someone Comes to Town, Someone Leaves Town, by Cory Doctorow. This is an unconventional story about an entrepreneur (who happens to be the child of a mountain and a washing machine) who gets involved in a scheme to blanket Toronto with free wireless mesh network, among other things. The second is Accelerando, by Charles Stross, which tells the tale of three generations of the Macx family (beginning with perptually-slashdotted venture altruist Manfred Macx) in the years leading up to and beyond a technological singularity

Re: Accelerando (2005)

#18

Post by richardhod »

_jal wrote: post #11

Structurally, the book is a mess. But it is a narrative disaster much like Snow Crash , in which it doesn't matter because you're so busy trying to integrate all the mind candy you don't notice until a re-read. I feel like there are other science fiction books like this - overstuffed with lovely things to think about, from an author who is either inexperienced or doesn't care about the craft side. (In this case, Char…

It's not a mess structurally. If you read the notes on it, you will will find Stross wrote a series of nine loosely connected short stories, which follow each other temporally and thematically. If you you try to remember it's not a novel as such it will help you relax and enjoy each section better.

Stephenson's inability to finish books coherently is a completely different issue

Re: Accelerando (2005)

#20

Post by richardhod »

Do please note that Stross is quite well known not to a fan of the idea of the Singularity, and that his book should not be taken as a manual for the future, and rather as a cautionary tale and fantastically creative techno future
Post reply on HN