Protector
by Larry Niven · first published 1973
13% recommend88% neutral
From the back cover: The Mission of Phssthpok Phssthpok the Pak had been traveling for most of his 32,000 years -- his mission, to save, develop and protect the group of Pak breeders sent out into space some 2 1/2 million years before. Brennan was a Belter, the product of a fiercely independent , somewhat anarchic society living in, on, and around an outer asteroid belt. The Belters were rebels, one and all, and Brennan was a smuggler. The Belt worlds had been tracking the Pak ship for days -- Brennan figured to meet that ship first... He was never seen again -- at least not by t
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A single book? Impossible. I don't think I could even name my favorite Zelazny or PKD. Many of the works of both are in the running. As is "Dune", for sure. Possibly "Snow Crash". "Protector" might not quite make the cut, but comes somewhat close - from my recollection it was my favorite Niven (not counting short stories)... I'm currently finally getting around to "The Mote In God's Eye".…
on “Ask HN: What's your favourite sci-fi/fantasy book?” ↗There have been a couple science fiction novels with this premise: Protector[0] by Larry Niven David Weber's Dahak trilogy, available as the Empire from the Ashes[1] omnibus [0] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Protector_(novel) [1] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Empire_from_the_Ashes
on “Beyond “Fermi’s Paradox” XVI: What Is the “Dark Forest” Hypothesis?” ↗I remember reading a book (Protector, by Larry Niven[0]), in which the protagonist (a "proto-Belter"), eats a sweet potato, turns into an ugly-ass duck, and lives forever. After about 25,000 years or so, his brain becomes "full," and he…
on “Does the human lifespan have a limit?” ↗Larry Niven's Protector extrapolates this role of middle-aged grandparents. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pak_Protector#Narrative_purpose Unfortunately, the accelerating returns of technology (particularly in computers) means…
on “Evolution has given humans a huge advantage over most other animals: middle age” ↗If I read Larry Niven's "Protector" in 2002, and re-read it again today in 2018, is it the same book, or a new book?
on “Irish beach washed away 33 years ago reappears overnight after freak tide (2017)” ↗More science fiction: Larry Niven wrote about Jack Brennan, a human turned Pak Protector who set up a small environment around a micro black hole to provide gravity in the outer solar system. I don't think it was earth-mass size though, more likely a singularity
on “What If Planet 9 Is a Primordial Black Hole?” ↗Most older people are concerned about the welfare of their offspring. "Protector" by Larry Niven is an allegory for this phenomenon.
on “Brain peaks at 39 years of age and declines thereafter” ↗Niven used a similar idea for the Library on the Pak Protector homeworld (Protector) for persisting knowledge through constant warfare. And with David Gerrold (who wrote The Trouble with Tribbles Star Trek episode), The Flying Sorcerers, with "pull up" lines: needing…
on “A new book compiles knowledge necessary for society to recover after disaster” ↗Ooh, a fellow Niven fan! I have a problem with your theory that the Outsiders built the ring as a doomsday Protector breeding ground: why would they create copies of Known Space worlds, and then seed them with the inhabitants of those worlds?
on “2 billion-year-old African nuclear reactor” ↗Reminds me of a bit from Larry Niven's Protector: > "We want access to Earth's records on the study of Mars. Hell, Garner, the Phobos cameras might already show where the Outsider came down! We want permission to search Mars from close orbit. We want…
on “The Usefulness of Useless Knowledge (1939) [pdf]” ↗The second half of Niven's novel Protector even involves a space battle between Bussard ramjet-powered spacecraft.
on “When Ramjets Ruled Science Fiction” ↗Greg Bear's The Way books have a fairly wondrous library which is central to the plot of the first book Larry Niven's Protector also has a huge library that played a key role in that book
on “Novels with giant, possibly magical, libraries” ↗Larry Niven. Protector. Human eats mutagenic yam. Among various changes, it greatly augments intelligence. The first thought of a Protector, just awakened from his mutative trance, is, "Wow, I have been really really dumb".
on “Teaching is a slow process of becoming everything you hate” ↗…telling people to vote for the politician who says "I'll just follow the expert advice of the ingenious AI", but realistically that would be the rational thing to do. I'm always reminded of Niven's book "Protector" about a human who achieves hyperintelligence after being exposed to a "tree of life": > "The third day he told me how to get a tree-of-life crop growing. He had the box open and was telling me how to…
on “We need a much more sophisticated debate about AI” ↗From Protector, by Larry Niven. Published by Del Rey in 1973 "Nick Sohl was coming home. ...He had gone mining in Saturn's rings, with a singleship around him and a shovel in his hand (for the magnets used to pull…
on “Physicists Find Seemingly Impossible Magnets with Just One Pole” ↗