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The Egg (2009)

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Re: The Egg (2009)

#31
post #22
post #13

I can't recommend this author enough. Project Hail Mary and The Martian are amazing works of science fiction. Project Hail Mary is actually amazing as an audiobook.

I went into Project Hail Mary knowing nothing beyond it was from the author of The Martian. It may have been the most enjoyable reading experience I've ever had.

I'm in the back third of Project Hail Mary now. Same. I went into it blind and it's great. I did have to take a break in the very beginning just because dealing with my own existential crisis was enough that I didn't need a fictional one ... lol?

Artemis was good too.

Re: The Egg (2009)

#32
Marcus Aurelius was meditating these thoughts in the last 13 years of his life running between the Germanic and Persian fronts while extremely sick. He believed he was one being participating in the universal Nous(Mind), and time and outer space yawns around his human lifetime.

4.23 All that is harmony for you, my Universe, is in harmony with me as well. Nothing that comes at the right time for you is too early or too late for me. Everything is fruit to me that your seasons bring, Nature. All things come of you, have their being in you, and return to you.

4.48 Mark how fleeting and paltry is the estate of man - yesterday in embryo, tomorrow a mummy or ashes. So for the hairsbreadth of time assigned to thee, live rationally, and part with life cheerfully, as drops the ripe olive, extolling the season that bore it and the tree that matured it.

7.9 All things are implicated with one another, and the bond is holy; and there is hardly anything unconnected with any other things. For things have been co-ordinated, and they combine to make up the same universe. For there is one universe made up of all things, and one god who pervades all things, and one substance, and one law, and one reason.

12.30 Everything harmonizes with me, which is harmonious to thee, O Universe. Nothing for me is too early or too late, which is in due time for thee. There is one light of the sun, though it is interrupted by walls, mountains and infinite other things. There is one common substance, though it is distributed among countless bodies which have their several qualities. There is one soul, though it is distributed among several natures and individual limitations. There is one intelligent soul, though it seems to be divided.

Re: The Egg (2009)

#33
post #31
post #22

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I went into Project Hail Mary knowing nothing beyond it was from the author of The Martian. It may have been the most enjoyable reading experience I've ever had.

I'm in the back third of Project Hail Mary now. Same. I went into it blind and it's great. I did have to take a break in the very beginning just because dealing with my own existential crisis was enough that I didn't need a fictional one ... lol? Artemis was good too.

[flagged]

Re: The Egg (2009)

#34
post #17

Hah, it's literally Schopenhauer's hell: Humans as both the tormenting demons and as those doing the suffering. In this case, one human -- which further frames suffering as an inescapable, masochistic cycle. "You were victimizing yourself" says the demiurge. That everything is predetermined and that time is nonlinear is also something that should trouble every contemplative person. It's basically a devil's brew of ni…

> And it plays out over a trillion or so years. Horrifying. Horrifying to whom? The character isn't suffering. They aren't aware of the passage of those trillions of years. There's nothing any more horrifying about this than about bog-standard reincarnation. And so what if you're the only one? That's not really true in a functional sense. Every human you interact with is indeed a truly conscious individual with a dis…

If it were true, the idea that I was Hitler and everyone that worked at unit 731 is pretty horrifying.

> There's nothing any more horrifying about this than about bog-standard reincarnation.

Under that wouldn't I be one of many going through some different lives? Rather that there is only one person ever who goes through all lives.

Re: The Egg (2009)

#36
post #3

Wait, this is Andy Weir? Like, that Andy Weir? Like, The Martian and Project Hail Mary Andy Weir? I had no idea.

He has a whole load of short stories on his website, and a whole series about a mermaid too

Re: The Egg (2009)

#37
post #31

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I'm in the back third of Project Hail Mary now. Same. I went into it blind and it's great. I did have to take a break in the very beginning just because dealing with my own existential crisis was enough that I didn't need a fictional one ... lol? Artemis was good too.

[flagged]

Then why are you in this thread

Re: The Egg (2009)

#38
I read this some time ago and really enjoyed it, and personally, it does align somewhat with how I feel about the world. I don't treat it like a bible or anything, but the concept of, at some point, being the consciousness inside of everyone, past and future, does make a certain amount of sense to me

Re: The Egg (2009)

#39
post #27

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Funny coincidence - I just finished the Project Hail Mary audiobook this morning and loved it. Any recommendations for the next audiobook?

Mickey7 is pretty good if you enjoyed Project Hail Mary. Alternatively, the Murderbot series.

Just finished Mickey7, lot's of fun. I gotta see the movie now.

LOVE the Murderbot series, highly recommend.

Re: The Egg (2009)

#40
Is there any website of more science fiction extra-short stories that are this short? I know sci-fi might not be the preferred term for stories that are this philosophical or borderline religious, but I don't know a better term.
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