Kiln people
by David Brin · first published 2002
86% recommend14% neutral
Why HN recommends it
Inventive sci-fi novel about disposable clones made from copied memories and consciousness, praised for its fresh take on mind copying and its whodunnit structure. Suited to readers of transhuman and mind-game premises.
Summarised by Claude from recommending comments
"Thanks to the new technology of imprinting, people in a near-future America can copy their personalities into animated clay bodies (called "dittos" or "golems"), which last a single day. Albert Morris, private investigator, is his own sidekick as he attempts to uncover the murderer of a prominent imprinting research scientist."--Amazon.com.
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Read Kiln People by David Brin. They make short lived clones of themself (including memory), then the clones fight a full war. The winner of the war gets to do whatever it was they were fighting about, and no real people…
on “Coming Soon: the Drone Arms Race” ↗…condition, owe to those without their advantages? And what are the ethics of choosing to have a child with or without those benefits, since the choice can't ever be made with their consent? (David Brin's Kiln People is perhaps less society-focused, but also fascinating. That one centers on the ability to create and recover memories from short-lived 'clones' - how do you build an economy when the world's best heart…
on “Cyborgs and Space (1960) [pdf]” ↗…was "Marooned in Realtime", which I contend is best read in the context of the other works in "Across Realtime": https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/167844.Across_Realtime For mind games, I submit "Kiln People" by David Brin. What if you could fork your consciousness into another body and rejoin periodically? "Kiln People" explores this idea in some remarkable ways. https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/96478.Kiln_People
on “Ask HN: Mind bending books to read and never be the same as before?” ↗I found David Brin's novel Kiln People to be an fun enough read and an interesting take on thoughts related to human consciousness copying. He uses an entirely different technical mechanism to get the copying, thus allowing a different angle…
on “2045: The Year Man Becomes Immortal” ↗David Brin's book Kiln People is a really fun book which runs along these lines as well.
on “Philosophy of Ghost in the Shell” ↗…required to get there. My bus pass is also a history of my travels. I just contacted my us rep and senators about this. I would be surprised if we can stop this, but we should try. Read David Brin's "Kiln People" for an interesting take, he foresaw this issue, also read "Transparency"
on “ICE is about to start tracking license plates across the US” ↗I really enjoyed the exploration of this premise in the novel "Kil'n People" by David Brin. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kiln_People The premise is quite similar to "uploads" except the device is a "golem scanner", which copies your mind into a temporary, disposable body. Different "grades" of body can be purpose made for different…
on “Lena” ↗David Brin's Kiln People also touches on this theme, though in a fairly benign way within the overall structure of a whodunnit.
on “Make Up a Guy” ↗…Last Astronaut Nathan Lowell: Quarter Share Becky Chambers: A Psalm for the Wild-Built Octavia E Butler: Parable of the Talents John Scalzi: Kaiju Preservation Society David Brin: Kiln People Emma Straub: This Time Tomorrow Ursula K Le Guin: Left Hand of Darkness Dennis E Taylor: We are Legion Emily St John Mandel: Sea of Tranquility William Gibson: The Peripheral Dan…
on “Ask HN: What are your favorite sci-fi books?” ↗I also liked David Brin's Kiln People. Very creative and fun.
on “‘With brain preservation, nobody has to die’” ↗see the novel kiln people and the transparent society essays by David Brin
on “Journalists wary of travelling to US due to Palantir surveillance” ↗…really liked Ann Leckie's Ancillary Sword https://annleckie.com/novel/ancillary-justice/ series and Corey's The Expanse stuff (I read the books after watching the series). For transhuman stuff, Brin's Kiln People, Morgan's Altered Carbon, and Scalzi's Old Man's War were fun. Along the lines of epics like Asimov's Foundation and Banks' Culture, nothing springs to mind. Sadness. That's probably my favorite genre.
on “The Culture War: Iain M. Banks’s Billionaire Fans” ↗David Brin explores a meatspace version of this in his novel Kiln People. Golems for fun and profit.
on “Lena” ↗This was roughly the premise of David Brin's "Kiln People".
on “Lena” ↗