Blood Music
by Greg Bear · first published 1985
61% recommend39% neutral
Why HN recommends it
Biology-driven hard SF about engineered cells that gain intelligence and edit themselves, starting grounded and turning into body horror and abstraction. Suits readers of Egan and early cyberpunk.
Summarised by Claude from recommending comments
In the tradition of the greatest cyberpunk novels, Blood Music explores the imminent destruction of mankind and the fear of mass destruction by technological advancements. The novel follows present-day events in which the fears concerning the nuclear annihilation of the world subsided after the Cold War and the fear of chemical warfare spilled over into the empty void it left behind. An amazing breakthrough in genetic engineering made by Vergil Ulam is considered too dangerous for further research, but rather than destroy his work, he injects himself with his creation and walks out of his lab,
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I strongly recommend Greg Bear. His first novel "Blood Music" is a unique take on an AI out of control, and he continues with a series independent of novels which all take place in a unified "future history". One of my favorite aspects of his future history is…
on “The Realism of Our Times: Kim Stanley Robinson on how science fiction works” ↗Definitely 'Blood Music' by Greg Bear. They aren't Nanobots. The protagonist unofficially augments his own lymphocytes to create thinking 'noocytes' on company time and (mild spoiler) injects them into himself when his employer…
on “ID This SciFi Short Story” ↗…exist in living organisms? If there are already other machines to detect then you're too late and the scenario is "toner war" as per "Diamond Age" (probably the best nanotech sci-fi novel; or maybe "Blood Music" by Greg Bear.) If you do get there first (and you've correctly identified this as a huge existential challenge: how can you know that you're not being fed false information by the person who got there…
on “'Demonically Clever' Backdoor Hides Inside Computer Chip” ↗Blood Music by a Greg Bear
on “ID This SciFi Short Story” ↗Second Egan, for 'Permutation City' and his short stories (in 'Axiomatic', especially). Also, Greg Bear's 'Blood Music' inspired me both with its vision and its jumbling of genres, especially given its publication date (1985).
on “Ask YC: What's the most inspiring sci-fi book you've read?” ↗Other excellent stories in this genre: Blood Music by Greg Bear, Permutation City and Crystal Nights (http://ttapress.com/553/crystal-nights-by-greg-egan/) by Greg Egan. Marooned in Realtime by Vinge had this a bit too—probably closest thematically to…
on “Female Chimps Seen Making, Wielding Spears” ↗Alastair Reynolds' _Revelation Space_ series. Greg Bear's _Blood Music_ has similar themes, but it's a different spin on them.
on “Six more radio signals from deep space deepen mystery” ↗…Clifford Simak. Honorable mentions to: "Microcosmic God" and "If all men were brothers would you let one marry your sister?" by Ted Sturgeon "Bordered in Black" and "Neutron Star" by Larry Niven "Blood Music" by Greg Bear "Special Delivery" by George O. Smith "The Gold at the Starbow's End" by Fredrick Pohl
on “Ask HN: Whats your favorite Sci-Fi short story?” ↗Blood Music - Greg Bear Accelerando - Charlie Stross Psychohistorical Crisis - Donald Kingsbury (assuming you have already read Asimov's Foundation series) A Fire Upon the Deep - Vernor Vinge Chung Kuo, the Middle…
on “Ask HN: What's your favorite sci-fi book?” ↗…related series of 9 short stories, but Accelerando is great. The Martian by Andy Weir (movie based on it) was quite good. Daemon I think also qualifies, though it's SF dressed up as a thriller. Oh, Blood Music by Greg Bear probably counts? Except maybe the ending? Tempted to mention The Diamond Age, but not sure that qualifies as "Hard", though closer than some other Stephenson maybe...
on “Ask HN: Best hard scifi AI novels?” ↗You should add "Friendship Is Optimal" by Iceman https://www.fimfiction.net/story/62074/friendship-is-optimal "The Cookie Monster" by Vernor Vinge "Blood Music" by Greg Bear "Permutation City" by Greg Egan
on “Hard comp-fi reading list” ↗Blood Music by Greg Bear Read a _long_ time ago, but I recall it being a very interesting thought experiment about "nano tech" before nano tech was a thing (?) The metaphysical aspects were also intriguing.
on “Ask HN: Great fiction books that have had a positive impact on your life?” ↗Also see Greg Bear's Blood Music, which came out a year before Neuromancer. There was also an early book about VR, which I can't remember the name of. It was about a reviewer of "apples" which gave the people who ate them something…
on “The Influence of Neuromancer on Cyberpunk” ↗Another great novel about emergent intelligence was Blood Music by Greg Bear. A microorganism develops swarm intelligence.
on “Neurons in a dish learn to play Pong” ↗I went on a tour of seminal cyberpunk authors a while ago and if you like Delaney I also recommend John Shirley (City Come a Walkin') and Blood Music by Greg Bear if you haven't read them yet.
on “Ode to Samuel Delany” ↗