Singularity sky
by Charles Stross · first published 2003
60% recommend40% neutral
Why HN recommends it
Hard-sf take on a post-singularity world, where a godlike AI and a post-scarcity Festival disrupt a backward society. Praised for its FTL-in-relativity treatment and for suiting readers new to Stross's harder sf.
Summarised by Claude from recommending comments
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Mentions per year
What Hacker News says
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If the social consequences of 3D printing and their more capable cousins (molecular assemblers) interest you then I can high recommend Charles Stross's 'Singularity Sky'. It's a study in disruption.
on “World's first 3D printed gun test fired” ↗Pretty sure Mr. Stross is a regular around here. I personally couldn't warm up too much to his Laundry or Merchant Princes books, but Singularity Sky and Iron Sunrise are excellent, and Accelrando was also fun.
on “The Influence of Neuromancer on Cyberpunk” ↗Glasshouse[1] by Charles Stross Permutation City[2] by Greg Egan We Are Legion (We Are Bob)[3] by Dennis E. Taylor Halting State[4] by Charles Stross Singularity Sky[5] by Charles Stross Dungeon Crawler Carl[6] by Matt Dinniman Zero World[7] by Jason M. Hough The Shockwave Rider[8] by John Brunner [1]: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Glasshouse_(novel) [2]: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Permutation_City…
on “Book Review: There Is No Antimemetics Division” ↗…David Drake. Burned out soldiers are sent to baby-sit a planetary colonization. Fortunately for the story it turns out to be a planet full of monsters. Baen Free Library. Accelerando, Iron Sunrise, and Singularity Sky by Charles Stross. Singularity stories. House of Leaves by Mark Danielewski. Supernatural meta-fiction with half the story in the footnotes. Reminiscent of the movie Donnie Darko. Crooked Little…
on “Ask HN: Great books you read in 2009?” ↗"Worlds of Exile and Illusion" (Hainish cycle collection) and "The Left Hand of Darkness" by Ursula K Le Quin "Singularity Sky" by Charles Stross "The Player of Games" by Iain M Banks
on “Ask HN: What are your favorite books of 2010?” ↗If you haven't done so please read Singularity Sky by Charles Stross. It's the kind of book that opens your eyes to the kind of change that you are talking about. I think that you are basically talking about a post-singularity society, that's how much…
on “Is Printing a Gun the Same as Buying a Gun?” ↗"singularity sky" is not necessarily my favourite stross book, but it's the one that impressed me the most. one of the best treatments of FTL in a relativistic universe I've seen (as in "fine, have FTL, but you can't…
on “Ask HN: Best books you read in 2012” ↗Interesting, have to read some of it some time. I liked Vernor Vinge's Fire Upon the Deep and Charles Stross' Singularity Sky. In those, there is a spectrum of of societal levels from Beyond/Escaton to "Zombies"/Unthinking Depths, allowing comparison between levels.
on “Welcome to Google Island” ↗Yup, as notahacker intuited, Charles Stross is another favourite author, whose back catalogue I am eagerly consuming now. His Singularity Sky / Iron Sunrise are (opinion) great introductions to what the kids may call his 'hard science' fiction -- though I'm disappointed that there won't be a third (and disappointed in myself for misunderstanding…
Charles Stross's Eschaton series: Singularity Sky and Iron Sunrise. It's an interesting hard-scifi take on what happens to humanity after one AI becomes, for all intents and purposes, God.
on “Ask HN: Best hard scifi AI novels?” ↗…transition societies. You can add Accelerando to the list of his works that include some serious consideration of economics (in a way that whilst reading you don't think, 'eww - economics' :) Actually, Singularity Sky also has a lot of good - and stealthy - economics material.
on “The Rise of Dismal Science Fiction” ↗See Charles Stross' Singularity Sky (aka Escaton Book #1). https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/81992.Singularity_Sky https://textarchive.ru/c-2418451-pall.html In which a materially-post-scarcity society called The Festival liters a…
on “Goodwill doesn't want broken toasters” ↗Perfect response for the subject being discussed -and- your user name -and- a summary of your namesake from of a couple of amazing books by Charles Stross. I applaud You. https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Singularity_Sky
on “A Growing Number of Scientists Are Convinced the Future Influences the Past” ↗Some stories that come to mind... Accelerando Charles Stross https://www.antipope.org/charlie/blog-static/fiction/acceler... Stress again has Singularity Sky which has a minor character as a weakly godlike AI (which is explored much more as a character in the sequel Iron Sunrise (the third book in the series is not to be written - http://www.antipope.org/charlie/blog-static/2010/09/books-i-...…
on “Don Knuth Plays with ChatGPT” ↗…me add a few more to the list. - “The Fall Revolution” tetralogy by Ken MacLeod: “The Star Fraction”, “The Stone Canal”, “The Cassini Division”, and “The Sky Road” - “Void Star” by Zachary Mason - “Singularity Sky” by Charles Stross - “The Freeze-Frame Revolution” by Peter Watts - “Perfekcyjna niedoskonałość” by Jacek Dukaj - “A Fire Upon the Deep” and “A Deepness in the Sky” by Vernor Vinge - “The Golden Oecumene”…
on “Permutation City (1994)” ↗