Singularity Sky 416
| Singularity Sky | |
| author | Charles Stross |
| pages | 313 |
| publisher | Berkley Pub Group |
| rating | 9.9 |
| reviewer | Matt Grommes |
| ISBN | 0441010725 |
| summary | A semi-sentient space travelling information gatherer called The Festival comes to a backward planet and instigates 1000 years of technological change in a month. The rulers of the world are not too happy and will use any means they have to stop the Festival, even if it means incurring the wrath of the super-AI that watches over the universe. |
The main idea of the story, that a semi-sentient information-gathering alien system called the Festival comes to a backward farming planet and begins granting wishes -- in the form of advanced technology -- in exchange for stories and information, is only the seedbed for the larger exploration of the societally backward planetary system and what happens when the revolution you hoped to lead finally comes and it doesn't need you.
As a lifelong reader of science fiction, I hate that most SF is just as backward-looking as most Fantasy. Part of the problem with recent SF work is that we've come to a point in science where a lot of what made science fiction new has been done and what's coming is almost impossible to imagine, which I'll get to in a second. Space exploration can still be exciting but most new space stuff has been infected with the Star Trek Syndrome, as I call it, where everyone is boring and has no flaws, and the status quo rules. People just don't look to space exploration as exciting in real life so that translates to the SF work that people do. Real life science is changing so fast that it leaves even science fiction people in the dust. The result is the rise of 'Fantasy with robots and aliens' and 'Space Opera,' two facets of SF that seem to be dominating the landscape. Even Neal Stephenson, who was at the forefront of real technological future SF with The Diamond Age and Snow Crash has gone backward with Quicksilver and to a lesser extent Cryptonomicon.
The issue is The Singularity. This is Vernor Vinge's idea that technological progress proceeds at an exponential rate until there is a complete break with what came before. The End Of History, as people call it. This comes with the creation of a human-level AI that quickly proceeds past human-level, the invention of Upload technology that will allow us to live in computer systems and artificial bodies, something of that nature that we can't imagine. The problem with writing futuristic work in the time before a Singularity is that you can't see beyond it. Everything is different, so much so that all we can hope for is the fire up our imaginations to the point where we can begin to think in new ways.
One of the main goals of science fiction as I see it is to prepare us for the future. You can't hope to cope with the future if you've never been innoculated with new ideas. Singularity Sky is one of the first post-Singularity novels I've read that takes the idea seriously and examines it, allowing us to open our minds to the vast possibilities. Stross doesn't shy away from it like so many others. He uses the Festival's coming to show the speed of the change that comes with a technological Singularity and what happens to people in the aftermath. He also shows a culture trying desperately to hang on to old ways and the futility of doing that in the face of such rapid change.
There are problems with the book, mostly in the perennial bugbear of science-fiction, character development, but the rush of ideas glossed over that for me. This is only Mr. Stross's second book, I believe, the first being a collection of short stories called Toast: And Other Rusted Futures, that is high on my Must Read list. Charles Stross is a name that you will hopefully hear a lot more from in the coming years. His imagination is up there with the best and brightest and with his work as an accelerant my mind can't help but burn with new ideas. I hope more science fiction writers see this book and decide to move forward to meet him.
You can purchase Singularity Sky from bn.com. Slashdot welcomes readers' book reviews -- to see your own review here, read the book review guidelines, then visit the submission page.
Don't read Piers Anthony (Score:0, Interesting)
I found his obsession on depicting homosexual sex also disgusting.
That made me throw away all his books after I found Jesus.
Ecology of Slashdot comments (Score:2, Interesting)
And when you're older still... (Score:5, Interesting)
...you'll look back on your Slashdot submission and realize what a pretentious uptight snob you were, and you'll wish you had the time back you spend shunning things that were actually entertaining.
Based on your review, I'll take Anthony over Stross:
There are problems with the book, mostly in the perennial bugbear of science-fiction, character development, but the rush of ideas glossed over that for me.
I'm sorry, I prefer a few good ideas and good characters versus poor characters and many ideas.
A Colder War (Score:5, Interesting)
This story is one of the best I've ever read, and it's the only work of fiction I have ever encountered, on paper or on the screen, that actually managed to give me nightmares. Go read it if you haven't!
Double edged sword (Score:5, Interesting)
Unfortunately, most Sci-Fi writers fall into two categories:
1. Taking the "human condition" to the extreme. Futures where sex is the only thing driving humanity. Of course, they're so much more advanced than us because everyone has sex with everyone.
I hate to break it to the authors, but this sort of society would quickly degrade due to a lack of scientific focus. Not to mention that human feelings on the subject are actually pretty immutable. (No matter what anyone says.)
One way or another, these books are no more entertaining than a porno flick.
2. Fantasy dressed up as Sci-Fi. I personally don't like Fantasy books all that much. But these books make it that much worse. Most of them have space travel as a background to get to a fantasy-like world. After that, forget about the Sci-Fi.
Once on the fantasy world, the laws of physics no longer apply. There aren't even social-political issues to work out. There's just some big quest for something. Or a, "look at how much better they are than humans." Blech.
Personally, I thought Heinlen's juveniles were the best examples of Sci-Fi. Rocket Ship Galileo, The Rolling Stones, and Time for the Stars inspired those of us who wanted to some day reach the stars. Which is amusing since so many of his adult books fell into the categories above.
Here's what I'd like to see: Someone should write a series of books on what space would be like if we developed nuclear engines. (Orion, NERVA, GCNR, M2P2, NSWR, etc.) Build a grand story around the concepts and push the public to make it happen. We always see space as far in the future. It doesn't have to be!
An even better bit of Sci-Fi would be a television movie showing the conflicts of developing the first nuclear launch methods. The struggle between the pro and anti nuclear groups. Showing how far people are willing to go for their beliefs. And the results of finally reaching the stars.
Re:Does it so well? (Score:3, Interesting)
If You're Unhappy with SF... (Score:4, Interesting)
And as another person who has also read a great deal of Mr. Piers Anthony Jacob's works, he entertains well, and often slips in useful observations on life. (A certain RAH was also known for that once upon a time.) He entertained you well once, or you wouldn't have kept reading him.
To want those hours back now (or someday) is to say that time spent reading is not time well spent. I respectfully disagree, although time spent writing is even better time spent. What else would you have done during that time really that would have been better for you now? Split your time between reading the Encyclopedia Britannica and running cross-country to improve your health? I think not!
And if P.A. Jacob no longer meets your reading needs, it is not because he has changed, but rather you have. This is not a bad thing for either you -- or him.
Regardless, you have succeeded in interesting me in this book, and I'll add it to my list as well. However your reasoning behind it seems less than universal.
And consider reading some authors who only publish on the Internet. Some ideas are too leading edge to sell to editors and publishers. That's how I found this sig line.
Peace!
And regarding the so-called singularity (Score:3, Interesting)
MOPI is even available as a free text at the website. And these are just the three excellent examples that spring to mind, I know I've read at least a dozen other decent explorations of this unimaginable future.
Re:Oh for christ's sake (Score:4, Interesting)
--trb
Re:Try branching out.. (Score:5, Interesting)
That's also a lot of men. Try Octavia Butler.
My biggest complaint about McDevitt (and others) (Score:3, Interesting)
But he can't write an ending to save his life. His books just sort of peter out, or end so abruptly you're left going WTF? Destiny Road is a great example of the latter: major plot points are still being resolved on the 3rd to last page. Stephenson, for all that's he's loved here, is another like that. I love Snow Crash, but the ending- sheesh. It's obvious in The Diamond Age that he just got bored and stopped writing.
Could be worse- he could be Peter Hamilton. Now there's a godawful writer.
Re:Try branching out.. (Score:4, Interesting)
Her vision of the future was dominated by amoral corrupt corporations, hypocritical religion, by a class/caste system and by drug syndicates.
Then again, maybe that was just observation.
Piers Anthony advocates DRM (Score:5, Interesting)
I had an email back and forth with him and he brushed off as completely unimportant:
Forced format changes
Locking independents out of the market
Forced choice of platforms
Retroactive changes of licensing terms
Rewriting history
Every other thing about DRM that is problematic.
Oh and he completely doesn't get that what one clever human can do another clever human can undo which ultimately makes the so-called benefits of DRM moot.
He seems to think that DRM is his only hope of getting paid in the future. I got the distinct impression that to him Disney and the *IAA are completely reasonable aggrieved souls. For all of his professed love of liberty and justice, he comes off like Jack Valenti when it comes to his wallet. His works emphasize his dislike of censorship. He hasn't seen anything yet and he has no idea that he is now an advocate of censorship. If he likes DRM then he'll have to like everything that comes with it.
This is fine. I won't misappropriate his stuff online but I won't fund him anymore.
Re:And regarding the so-called singularity (Score:4, Interesting)
An interesting point to consider is that singularities have happened to humanity before, but on a greater time scale. Speech made it possible to convey information from one individual to another abstractly. Writing made it possible to convey information across distances and time. Each of these advances changed the nature of what is required for humans to acquire skills and knowledge and push beyond the boundaries of what is already known.
Re:Try branching out.. (Score:4, Interesting)
Re:Does it so well? (Score:3, Interesting)
Re:Sorta agree with both points of view (Score:3, Interesting)
Sorry about the vagueness, just trying not to spoil shit.
Re:Author website (Score:2, Interesting)
Re:Double edged sword (Score:3, Interesting)
No, when it comes to human feelings in Science Fiction, I think just about anything is workable. Perhaps even for the purpose of exploring exactly just how much can be changed and still have a character that is identifiably human, vs what is "going too far."
Please . . . less rant, more review! (Score:4, Interesting)
Other than avoiding the Sci-Fi Comfort Food syndrome, how was it? Was it well based? Were the characters interesting and believable? Was the technology well worked out, or just wish-fulfillment stuff?
While I agree with much of the reviewers ranting, I was really disappointed in this piece as a review.
Stefan "More about the Singularity here! [wholeearth.com]" Jones
Re:Author website (Score:5, Interesting)
I'm told I'm cited as the primary source for the verb "to slashdot" in the Oxford English Dictionary corpus. (They're after printed sources, not online ones, so this is rather unfair -- I didn't invent the verb-backformation, after all.)
I don't use /. reader personality traits in my fiction. But I do read /. daily -- as I have done for some years -- and use it as a fertile source of pointers to new ideas. (If I use any net personality types in my fiction it's from usenet -- which I've been reading since about 1989. All of human life is there, kinda-sorta, including both saints and the sorts who live under rocks.)
Added bonus factoid: Singularity Sky was written on Linux and MacOS/X boxen, using Vim. Formatting was done using POD macros, and the source was kept under RCS control (CVS is massive overkill for novels). The output files (in RTF and PDF) were finally generated using some command line tools and a makefile I knocked together ...
Re:Does it so well? (Score:3, Interesting)
The whole industry is.
What we need is today's equivalent of a "2001" (though we can do without the incomprehensible plot).
By that I mean SF that makes a serious attempt at creating a plausible future about a generation ahead that puts so much effort into the details that the more you know about the subject matter, the more impressed you are. An intriguing, thought-provoking and informative preview of a world that well-informed people consider so well thought out as to be worth studying and pondering for its implications.
My review from IBList.org (Score:2, Interesting)
-----
Economics, espionage, nanotechnology, black holes, social enginerring, and carnival phenomena. This book winds all these disparate subjects together into one (mostly) cohesive plot. This tends to lead to parts of the book reading more like college textbook excerpts than light sci-fi reading, but that may very well increase the appeal for the hard-core geek readers. The pacing occasionally suffers from the massive amounts of technobabbling exposition, but you still slog through it like a rubbernecker watching a car crash -- you just can't wait to see what it all means.
The character development is better than average, though there could have been more character-building scenes without significantly slowing the pace. Indeed, the technologies and concepts often get more ink than the characters do. (Because, really, there's only so often you can be hit over the head with the "socialism/marxism/communism/*-ism is bad!" bat before you're ready to start skimming instead of really reading.)
Overall, this was a good book. It could even make a good series, should Stross continue to write for it. College students pumped up on technobabble and economic/social theory will breeze through it, but the rest of us will still enjoy it.
Goal of science fiction (Score:2, Interesting)
One of the main goals of science fiction as I see it is to prepare us for the future.
Funny, I thought it was to prepare us for the present.
Re:Does it so well? (Score:3, Interesting)
Re:What the fuck happened in the end? (Score:2, Interesting)
Destination Moon (Score:3, Interesting)
Heinlein's "Destination Moon" (http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0042393/) had this as a plot element. 1950.
Re:Does it so well? (Score:2, Interesting)
John Brunner
This is an example of how to ruin a discussion (Score:5, Interesting)
Why did this happen?
It happened because the submitter, timothy, decided to attack Piers Anthony in his post as a target of opportunity, and the
Why was this attack posted? If timothy had submitted a post entitled "Piers Anthony Sucks" it wouldn't have been accepted by
At this point it seems that nobody cares about Stross's novel, which is a shame.
For these reasons, I think that the
Re:This is an example of how to ruin a discussion (Score:3, Interesting)
I don't care about Piers Anthony either, and indeed, I don't care to rate him good or bad, precisely because I don't care.
I DO however, care about the same issue you care about; I find social patterns completely fascinating. Hence my commenting on your comment.
People discuss that which fascinates them. Especially on a site like Slashdot, which is one part nerd-news, one part debating forum and two parts entertaining distraction for bored post-adolescents. (Me included.)
-FL