Accelerando August 31, 2006
I finished two science fiction books recently that I think deserve a mention here. (The very act of finishing any book may be something to note given the paucity of reading time these days.)
The first is Accelerando by Charles Stross. He’s a UK science fiction author being hailed as the successor to cyberpunk guys like Neal Stephenson and William Gibson. And in fact, if you like those guys, you’ll probably dig Accelerando. Personally, I thought it was terrific. If you’re interested (and want to read online), you can download the book from the web site above or of course, just buy a dead tree version like I did.
The story starts near-future (starting maybe 50 years out and going way out beyond that) and has as a backdrop what is known in some circles as The Singularity, or the point at which the first post-human intelligence is created.
There are two scenarios for this known as “hard takeoff” and “soft takeoff”. A hard takeoff postulates that the singularity could create a super-intelligence over a matter of hours or days (through recursion or bootstrapping). A soft takeoff would happen gradually and may not even be noticed for years.
Anyhow, Accelerando takes place as a soft takeoff is underway and there is some discussion in the book as to when and whether it has even taken place. The book is in three parts which correspond to three successive generations. By the third part, things are sufficiently far out that they are fairly weird (but really interesting). I found the first third to be an absolute blast as it is great near future stuff. There are uploaded lobster intelligences, software-based shell companies, dominatrixes, and more. Basically the fun of Snowcrash married with the cyberpunk geekiness of Neuromancer. I read this section on an airplane and emerged feeling highly non-linear and future-shocked.
In short, it’s worth your time. I have a couple more Stross books sitting in wait so I’m hoping they’re all as good.
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