[p2p-research] bias in sci-fi

[Michel Bauwens]

Peter Hamilton's Neuronal Alchemy trilogy is superb ...

I also strongly recommend Hyperion, with very similar theme

very much recurring, bio-enhanced and mechanically-enhanced lifeforms,
competing with each other ...

for hamilton, it's the adamists (mecha) vs. edenists (bio); for dan
simmons,it's humanity vs. the Outers, with secret AI conspiracies in between
...

Michel

On Thu, Oct 1, 2009 at 4:30 PM, Tomas Rawlings <tom at fluffylogic.net> wrote:

>
>  It's not that great of an insight but it occurred to me that science
>>> fiction is highly biased toward life as we know it playing a continuing
>>> and
>>> central.  A life of cells and electro-chemical processes.  There is no
>>> need
>>> for life to be that way, and it would seem highly unlikely to be so if we
>>> ever encountered it outside our own world--save for a few nearby germs
>>> and
>>> simple organisms that might hitch a ride on a comet or in the basins of
>>> some
>>> volcanic moon.  If I encountered an alien, I'd expect him to be the
>>> combination of a personal factory and robot...not a conventional flesh
>>> creature at all.
>>>
>>>
>> Iain M Banks's Culture would seem to fit this bill - he sci-fi writes of a
> hyper-advanced cosmopolitan anarchist culture of many forms of life, but the
> most dominant are machine AIs - self-replicating, self-deprecating
> machine-minds.  If you've not read his stuff I'd recommend Consider Phlebas,
> The Player of Games or Excession.
> http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Culture
>
> Also Peter F Hamilton has the idea of 'Bitek' in his work - growable
> technology - where spaceships can be 'birthed'.
> http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bitek
>
> On a slight tangent you can also see the idea of post-humans where we
> evolve our form to create a new race adapted for life in the stars in the
> excellent Hyperion Cantos by Dan Simmons.
> http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hyperion_Cantos
>
> --
> Tomas
>
> -----------------------
> Tomas Rawlings
> Development Director, FluffyLogic Development Ltd.
> web: www.fluffylogic.net
> tel: 0117 9442233 -
> Also see:
> blog on film & interweb: www.plugincinema.com
> blog on p2p, media ecology & evolution: blog.catbot.org
> tweet: www.twitter.com/arclightfire
>
>
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