Re: Difference Engine (Was: Hypatia inventions)
Damien Broderick (damien@ariel.ucs.unimelb.edu.au)
Fri, 14 Mar 1997 00:44:45 +1000
At 10:07 PM 3/12/97 -0500, John Satta wrote:
>Gibson and Sterling collaborated on _The Difference Engine_ which is
>referred to as "steampunk". [snip] The ending was a disappointment in the
usual Gibsonian
>mold - vague murky conspiratorial goings-on I found impenetrable.
The key is in realising that the book is narrated by the AI - the Analytical
Engine. Moreover, this AI is a kind of quantum consciousness, so that the
story involves a series of superposed alternatives. I was uncertain of this
interpretation, so I asked Bill Gibson, and he said, `Of course'.
Damien Broderick