Permutation City - A mind-bending look at the singularity, consciousness, and immortality!
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- เผยแพร่เมื่อ 31 ก.ค. 2024
- Permutation City by Greg Egan is a triumph of hard scifi! One of the best-ever explorations of mind-uploading, it also brings a mind-bending idea about randomness, the nature of the universe, and consciousness that will stay with you forever.
- Join the book club on discord: / discord
- To listen on the go search 'Hugonauts' on your podcast app of choice
Paul Durham has begun experimenting on his own mind. He uploaded a copy of his neural patterns - everything that makes him who he is - into a computer simulation. The more he experiments, the more the lines between the real person and the virtual person begin to blur. What he discovers there, out at the edge of consciousness and the pattern that defines him, give him an impossible idea. A permutation city, where immortality might be possible.
Similar books we recommend:
- The Hidden Girl and other Stories - Ken Liu (our interview with Ken Liu: • Interview with Ken Liu... )
- The Last Question - short story by Asimov (available free here: users.ece.cmu.edu/~gamvrosi/t...)
- Diaspora - Greg Egan
Timestamps
00:00 No-spoilers setup
0:35 Intro
1:57 The review (4 / 5)
2:36 Consciousness upload
4:21 Flat conversations and characters
6:55 Would you upload yourself?
14:12 Solipsist Nation and the birth of AI
18:15 Greg Egan the Recluse
19:18 Similar book recommendations
21:42 SPOILERS SECTION - BOOK SUMMARY
25:10 SPOILERS SECTION - ANALYSIS OF THE ENDING
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Glad the little one is doing well.
The only thing more terrifying than the thought of dying is living forever. Consciousness is exhausting.
31:18 basically "I Have No Mouth, and I Must Scream" by Harlan Ellison
One of my favourite sci-fi novels of all time.
We truly can’t stop thinking about it
I’ve been meaning to read this one. I may try after finishing Mountain in the Sea
If you want to explore some of the uploaded minds concepts more I recommend: 'The Age of Em: Work, Love and Life when Robots Rule the Earth' a 2016 nonfiction book by Robin Hanson.
Awesome, thanks for the rec!
Permutation City is my 2nd favourite book of all time.
I completely disagree in regard to the characters and dialogue haha. I was very much invested in Paul, and Maria, and Thomas. Peer and Kate were slightly less interesting but I still liked them.
However, if they had been generic hard sci-fi characters I still would have given this book 5 stars for the ideas alone. Dust Theory is one of my favourite things I’ve ever read in a novel.
Also, the way the story was told was incredible. Almost every chapter ending was a jaw dropper 🤯
Well this begs the question - what's your favorite book of all time?!
@@hugonautspod House of Suns by Alastair Reynolds!
@@WordsinTimesuch a good one!
I agree - I thought the characters and dialogue were actually fairly good and better than most idea novels. Peer was wild. Thomas was the weakest - I didn’t care to relive his worst moment over and over and I don’t think it showed a real redemption when he finally chose different.
Is it solipsistic in here, or is it just me?
Who cares about characters in a book like this anyway :)
Hahaha spoken like a true hard SF fan!