Children of the Mind
by Orson Scott Card · first published 1996
21% recommend57% neutral21% critical
The planet Lusitania is home to three sentient species: the Pequeninos; a large colony of humans; and the Hive Queen, brought there by Ender. But once against the human race has grown fearful; the Starways Congress has gathered a fleet to destroy Lusitania. Jane, the evolved computer intelligence, can save the three sentient races of Lusitania. She has learned how to move ships outside the universe, and then instantly back to a different world, abolishing the light-speed limit. But it takes all the processing power available to her, and the Starways Congress is shutting down the Net, world
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The original quartet is epic, Xenocide and Children of the Mind get a little bit off the cuff, but I really like them. Even the first few in the "Shadow" series were ok, but then quality dropped off. Now there are dozens of books set in the universe.
on “"Ender's Game" movie happening” ↗I'd read Ender's Game some time before, but recently someone lent me the next three and they're similarly brilliant. Can't decide which is my favourite though; probably not Children of the Mind because the aiùa stuff is weird.
on “Ask HN: Best book you read in 2011” ↗…Player One, Snapshot (a short by Brandon Sanderson, my favorite author by a wide margin), and, heck, while we are at it, the whole of the Enderverse, though I preferred Speaker for the Dead, Xenocide, and Children of the Mind the most). It has been said that the difference between sci-fi and fantasy is spaceships vs trees. If you are looking for fun fantasy, I suggest just about anything from Brandon Sanderson. He has his…
on “Ask HN: What were the best science fiction books that you read in 2019?” ↗…are ham-fisted and shallow sometimes, it's still refreshing to even read something attempting it. By my memory, Ender's didn't mull over consequences nearly as much as Speaker for the Dead, Xenocide, & Children of the Mind. It was more "Oh my god, this was horrible" and less "We did a horrible thing, so what do we do now? And how does that inform our reactions the next time we're presented with the same choice?" Side note:…
on “NASA admits it doesn’t have the funding to land humans on Mars” ↗The series does tend to follow the law of diminishing returns. Speaker For The Dead feels more mature and literary, but was less fun to read. Xenocide and Children of the Mind, in turn, are scarcely worth getting through, and the payoff at the end isn't worth the suspension of disbelief or, indeed, the trouble.
Yeah, having Siri or your equivalent voice assistant listen in during calls could be interesting. Reminds me of Jane from Children of the Mind. There could potentially be major privacy issues, though.
on “This Call Is Being Recorded” ↗Counter Examples: Jane in Speaker for the Dead/Xenocide/Children of the Mind. Mike in "The moon is a harsh mistress" is quite helpful to the inhabitants of the moon. Also, I had a lot of sympathy for Samantha in the movie Her. She was such a wonderful companion to him and he…
on “Why Is Our Sci-Fi So Glum About A.I.?” ↗Of the Ender series books, I've read the whole quintet - Ender's Game, Speaker for the Dead, Xenocide, Children of the Mind, Ender in Exile. I've enjoyed all five of them, although the quality drops which each of the instance. Speaker for the Dead is worth the time for sure, the other three I'm not entirely convinced. Speaker…
on “Ask HN: Which books you have read till now that were worth investing time in?” ↗…first two, but still a pretty compelling book. Veers a little too close to becoming a paean to the wonders of marriage and fatherhood, but constantly course-corrects and is pretty successful overall. "Children of the Mind" in '96 — It's a readable novel, but as the conclusion to the previous three books, I couldn't help but ask, "WTF?" It's way too involved in its own ideas to bother with compelling characterization, and…
on “How Software Companies Die - by Orson Scott Card ” ↗…your edition have a different cover? Ender's Game: http://www.igorstshirts.com/blog/conceptships/2009/j_harris_... Speaker for the Dead: http://www.igorstshirts.com/blog/conceptships/2009/j_harris_... Children of the Mind: http://www.igorstshirts.com/blog/conceptships/2009/j_harris_... More art by John Harris here (not my blog): http://colorcubic.com/2010/09/07/the-science-fiction-art-of-...
on “Orson Scott Card's Amazon Review of Ender's Game” ↗I did quite like Ender's Shadow. The rest of the Shadow books weren't as bad as Children of the Mind, but they did seems to just follow a formula.
on “"Ender's Game" movie happening” ↗Children of the Mind is on there but none of the previous Ender Game series? I would say include all of the previous, but stop at CotM.
on “The Amazing Colossal Science Fiction Ketchup” ↗…Perhaps scifi-responsibility, as that is the main issue Ender grapples with and has to decide. Speaker for the Dead? Scifi-empathy, and Andrew resolves inter-species traditions, and language, I think. Children of the Mind might be about belonging, but the point is that this harder-to-create classification benefits readers 100x more. I might be contending with responsibility or empathy, and easily pick a book that will…
on “A Novel Way to Think About Literary Categories” ↗I have been re-reading Children of the Mind (sequel to Ender's Game) and I had forgotten about Jane, who is an AI that talks to Ender through his earpiece, seeing and hearing everything he does. Jane proactively searches things for him, manages…
on “AI Is a Harsh Mistress” ↗