Startide Rising
by David Brin · first published 1972
81% recommend19% neutral
Why HN recommends it
Space opera about uplifted dolphins and apes that readers find rich in ideas and ethically interesting, with believable non-human characters. Often named the strongest Uplift entry, with a Dune-like feel.
Summarised by Claude from recommending comments
David Brin: “Startide Rising” (1983) This is a sci fi story about a Terran (Earth) crew of neo-dolphins and humans on the starship “The Streaker”. Their mission is to find information about the first Galactic race, which existed billions of yeas ago. The neo-dolphins are dolphins which have gone through the "Uplift" process, which creates through genetic engineering more intelligent sentient beings. For the neo-dolphins, this is also a test of their ability to apply their intelligence, knowledge and skills to Galactic space travel and exploration. The Terrans find an anc
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I find any conversation about dolphins and science fiction that neglects David Brin's "Startide Rising" [1] to be criminally negligent. It was even published in the Cold War (1983). Such a wonderful book if you haven't read it. [1] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Startide_Rising
on “Days of the Dolphin: Cetaceans in Cold War Science and Science Fiction (2018)” ↗…recommend particularly A Deepness in the Sky and (prequel) A Fire Upon the Deep. For Brin, the second and third books of his Uplift Trilogy, adding also the first for context. The second and third are Startide Rising and The Uplift War. Also, his book Earth, which stands alone. P.S. Gibson and Stephenson. Gibson's Neuromancer and the two subsequent; after that, I couldn't continue (so, another "Card-esque" experience?).…
on “R.I.P. Ray Bradbury, Author of Fahrenheit 451 and The Martian Chronicles ” ↗David Brin, Uplift Universe. Start with Startide rising. It covers this in a more interestingly ethical way I think.
on “Scientists grow bigger monkey brains using human genes, replicating evolution” ↗This was the most fascinating thing about David Brin's "Startide Rising". And I never forgot that book in my life. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Startide_Rising
on “Militarized Dolphins Protect Almost a Quarter of the US Nuclear Stockpile” ↗I'd like to recommend "Startide Rising" and "The Uplift War", by David Brin. Aside from being very enjoyable books, they're a big source of new ideas -- these books singlehandedly made me appreciate the goals of the Internet Archive. Also,…
on “Grok This: Forget The Business Books, Go Sci-Fi To Stoke Your Imagination” ↗Others have suggested some very good counterexamples. David Brin is another. He's won the Hugo, Nebula and several other awards. Startide Rising is worth a read. You know an author is good when he can turn genetically altered dolphins and apes into compelling, realistic characters.
on “Science Fiction by Scientists” ↗…(primarily white European) people who colonized the American west.) Okay, that long parenthetical note aside, perhaps you would like David Brin's Uplift Saga series. I didn't like Sundiver that much, but "Startide Rising" and "The Uplift War" have elements which feel like Dune and the Foundation series. For more modern SF, you may be interested in Ian M. Banks' Culture series. That isn't much like Dune or Foundation,…
on “How Isaac Asimov shaped robotics and space exploration and predicted the Internet” ↗Blindsight by Peter Watts Pushing Ice by Alastair Reynolds Startide Rising by David Brin A Fire Upon the Deep by Vernor Vinge The Algebraist by Iain M. Banks Semiosis by Sue Burke Project Hail Mary by Andy Weir Dragon's Egg by Robert L. Forward Solaris by Stanisław Lem…
on “Sins of the Children (Adrian Tchaikovsky)” ↗…of books by David Brin that explore the idea of "uplift", where humans learn how to augment intelligence in certain animals (dolphins, chimps, and gorillas) and then get busy doing so. In my opinion, "Startide Rising" and "the Uplift War" are the best books in the series.
on “NASA Confirms Its First Planet in Habitable Zone of Sun-like Star” ↗…Brin explored this idea in the novel 'Sundiver' (1980)[1]. In the novel a laser is used to radiate heat out into space. This is the first book of the Uplift Trilogy. Incidentally, the second book, 'Startide Rising' is really great imo, and won a bunch of awards. [1] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sundiver
on “Secretive fusion company claims reactor breakthrough” ↗…python wrapper around bluetoothctl that lets me use aliases as addresses. So I can write `connect {niss}` to connect my phone instead of `connect 12:6a:78:c2:74:d5 (ref. to one of childhood favorite books, Startide Rising). The script then runs "devices", looks for an alias "niss", and substitutes in the corresponding address. I use expect in Python to script it all together.
on “Ask HN: What are your best shell scripts that you use?” ↗I binged "Sundiver" and "Startide Rising" over the last two weeks, and currently I'm well into "The Uplift War", and planning to continue on with the remaining three books. I love the universe so far. Fun fact, in "The Uplift War" (1987!) I…
on “What are some things that only someone who has been programming 20 years knows?” ↗Startide Rising is the pnly SF book I remember having intellegent dolphins, good book as I remember. Might dig it out over xmas for a re-read
on “Days of the Dolphin: Cetaceans in Cold War Science and Science Fiction” ↗This is one of several books I read in the 90s that I still think about and love so much. Startide Rising and Downbelow Station are the other ones that immediately springs to mind. This book (and Startide Rising) are very much in the space opera camp. There's really no basis in physics for the zones in this…
on “A Fire Upon the Deep by Vernor Vinge (1992)” ↗…first is that civilizations tend to be short-lived. There are only really two ways out of this: they wipe themselves out or they somehow "transcend". "Transcending" is a trope of sci-fi (eg David Brin's Startide Rising series, the Iain M. Banks Culture series) but it's very handwavy. We really have no conception of what that might be. Living in the quantum world? Higher dimensions? This is really the sci-fi version…
on “The Fermi Paradox Revisited: Technosignatures and the Contact Era” ↗