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Accelerando (2005)

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191–200 of 211 posts

Re: Accelerando (2005)

#191

Post by gpderetta »

flir wrote: post #22
yomismoaqui wrote: post #21

Sorry to hijack the topic (slightly), but after reading all books from The Culture by Iain M. Banks I'm looking for similar Sci-fi. Any recommendations?

Alastair Reynolds (high-concept space opera, well written), Adrian Tchaikovsky (first contact, aliens, can't write nearly as well as Banks), Neal Asher (AI-run civilisation, inventive nastiness). Nobody's exactly like Banks though.

> Alastair Reynolds

Love Reynolds, but unfortunately he is not half as a good writer as Banks. Then again, not many are.

Reynolods books are full of cool ideas though.

Re: Accelerando (2005)

#192

Post by ngvrnd »

yomismoaqui wrote: post #21

Sorry to hijack the topic (slightly), but after reading all books from The Culture by Iain M. Banks I'm looking for similar Sci-fi. Any recommendations?

The stuff by Peter Watts, Blindsight and so on, is fun.

Re: Accelerando (2005)

#193

Post by a_t48 »

AndrewKemendo wrote: post #187
socalgal2 wrote: post #132

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> He's got such total dependency on his agents that when he loses his glasses he's basically no longer functional, Is this new? I don't think I could function without everything that was available in the 1950. I live because I have access to electricity, super markets, running water, working sewage, etc.. Take them away and I would not be able to fend for myself, especially in any major city. Put me in a forest I don…

This boggles my mind because you know how incapable you are during a crisis, and yet you seem content in that state. Help me understand the cognitive dissonance and how you deal with it

Even knowing how those things work, it might not be viable if you're in a large city.

Re: Accelerando (2005)

#194

Post by daynthelife »

BLKNSLVR wrote: post #142
daynthelife wrote: post #131

Earlier quoted context omitted.

It always bothers me when people suggest that AI could be the "great filter" in the sense of Fermi's paradox. Yes, AI may well wipe out biological life, but all evidence suggests AI will have a much easier time with space travel compared to biological life, and it will emit much louder signals unless it is intentionally staying silent.

Awareness of the dark forest theory would cause AI to stay as silent as possible.

To the extent that's true, the same would then apply to any sufficiently intelligent life. So if that's the crux of the argument, it has nothing to do with AI being a great filter.

Re: Accelerando (2005)

#195

Post by utilityhotbar »

cstross wrote: post #110
utilityhotbar wrote: post #20

This was written in 2005(!) -> > Manfred drains his beer glass, sets it down, stands up, and begins to walk along the main road, phone glued to the side of his head. He wraps his throat mike around the cheap black plastic casing, pipes the input to a simple listener process. "Are you saying you taught yourself the language just so you could talk to me?" > "Da, was easy: Spawn billion-node neural network, and download…

This was written in 2005(!) -> No, I wrote that in 1998. It was published as the novelette "Lobsters" in Asimov's SF Magazine in 2002, made the Hugo and Nebula shortlists in 2003 (it didn't win), and later became the opening of the novel published in 2005. I emphasized: the direction things were going in was obvious in the late 90s . And don't *ever* let anyone tell you that Accelerando is techno-optimistic or pro-AI…

> And don't ever let anyone tell you that Accelerando is techno-optimistic or pro-AI

As an avid reader of your blog I would never presume such a thing lightly, even when thinking about your old work. Also really enjoyed what I read of Laundry Files :)

Re: Accelerando (2005)

#196

Post by azaqura »

simpaticoder wrote: post #181
cstross wrote: post #110

Earlier quoted context omitted.

This was written in 2005(!) -> No, I wrote that in 1998. It was published as the novelette "Lobsters" in Asimov's SF Magazine in 2002, made the Hugo and Nebula shortlists in 2003 (it didn't win), and later became the opening of the novel published in 2005. I emphasized: the direction things were going in was obvious in the late 90s . And don't *ever* let anyone tell you that Accelerando is techno-optimistic or pro-AI…

Unfortunately many people read Accelerando maybe not as a utopia, but at least as an excuse to ignore many pressing modern-day problems, for the simple reason that they would soon be obviated by technological progress. That is, why worry about climate change or cancer when nanotechnology will solve both problems without side-effects? Or, in one episode of Community when Troy and Abed object to saving money for a jack…

Quite the straw-man of accelerationism you've managed here.

Re: Accelerando (2005)

#197

Post by AndrewKemendo »

a_t48 wrote: post #193
AndrewKemendo wrote: post #187

Earlier quoted context omitted.

This boggles my mind because you know how incapable you are during a crisis, and yet you seem content in that state. Help me understand the cognitive dissonance and how you deal with it

Even knowing how those things work, it might not be viable if you're in a large city.

Which is why you make plans for how to leave the city and go to someplace safe.

You would work with your friends and family on that kind of disaster preparedness exercise.

This is extremely common to the point where literally anyone can become CERT trained

https://www.fema.gov/emergency-managers/individuals-communit...

Re: Accelerando (2005)

#198

Post by dooglius »

AndrewKemendo wrote: post #197
a_t48 wrote: post #193

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Even knowing how those things work, it might not be viable if you're in a large city.

Which is why you make plans for how to leave the city and go to someplace safe. You would work with your friends and family on that kind of disaster preparedness exercise. This is extremely common to the point where literally anyone can become CERT trained https://www.fema.gov/emergency-managers/individuals-communit...

> how to build shelter, what things I can eat, how to catch stuff, make tools, etc...

None of GP's examples appear to be covered by that training

Re: Accelerando (2005)

#199

Post by dooglius »

derektank wrote: post #87
veidr wrote: post #33

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Vernor Vinge has some hits and some misses, but A Deepness in the Sky (best to just take the plunge and read it without googling — it's good either way, but better if you don't even read the back of the paperback). Then, a bit further afield but for me , at least, exercised what I liked in The Culture series, even though stylistically different: Spin by Robert Charles Wilson.

I think A Fire Upon the Deep would be a more enjoyable starting place for someone that likes the Culture series, even though A Deepness in the Sky is generally considered the better novel.

I wish I had read Deepness first as Fire sort of spoils it (granted, either direction will spoil some things)

Re: Accelerando (2005)

#200

Post by underlipton »

zargon wrote: post #156
underlipton wrote: post #113

Earlier quoted context omitted.

A couple of years ago, Steam made everyone accept a new ToS that required going through courts for disputes rather than arbitration. This was because some lawyers had realized that they could zerg rush arbitration with claims that Valve was obligated to deal with individually, and pay the fees to do so (IIRC). This effectively meant that the lawyers could extract settlements from Valve, because the alternative was ma…

That is just an example of why AI arbitration will happen though. Lower cost.

As I said, someone will make this incorrect assumption one day, and Gen Alpha will be introduced to that one South Park meme.
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