A Fire Upon the Deep

[phantom power]

Anybody else think that the Zones of Thought was a cool idea? One of the few instances I can think of where somebody worked with a notion that the laws of physics might *not* be the same everywhere. Or, at least, not all physics is "accessible" from all locations. Even stranger, he seemed to imply that not all computations are possible, everywhere. As a computer scientist, I find that dubious, but strangely compelling, maybe because it so completely flies in the face of my own intuitions.

[DrWeird]

1. It's a great plot device.

Silly, but it still makes for great fiction.

I like that opening paragraph "...just beyond the Beyond."

[phantom power]

2. "How to explain? How to describe? Even the omniscient viewpoint quails."

That has to be on the short-list of most ambitious opening sentences, ever.

[DrWeird]

3. That opening makes my mind quail.

I don't know how many times I've reread that paragraph and wanted to start writing myself.

That universe he constructed opens up so many possibilities for the imagination.

Have you read the prequel?

[phantom power]

4. Deepness in the Sky was great too

Pham, strategizing against that bad-ass dictator across decades, through cold-sleep. That was cool.

[Fleurs du Mal]

5. Just read it this year

And it really was an excellent book.

[porkrind]

6. I actually liked it better.

I couldn't even get through "A Fire upon the Deep". Too long-winded and dry. Boring, sorry to say.

[phantom power]

9. That's interesting. I had almost the inverse experience.

Although I liked both books, I thought that "Fire Upon the Deep" was faster-paced than "Deepness".

[lazarus]

7. Pham rocks

I still think he was based on Lazarus Long, right down to the personality.

[YankeyMCC]

8. an actual thoery

Lee Smolin wrote a book a few years back on his theory about "evolving" physical laws that could mean that some parts of the universe has different laws.

http://www.buy.com/retail/product.asp?sku=30366656&loc=106&sp=1

[phantom power]

10. Can you describe any of his ideas?

[YankeyMCC]

11. ah

well it's been a lot of years since I read the book and I'm no theoretical physist. All I can say is that he has speculated based on some gaps in string and quantum theory that the laws of physics actually have evolved over time since the big bang.