Walkaway
by Cory Doctorow · first published 2017
61% recommend39% neutral
Why HN recommends it
Optimistic near-future novel about people leaving a broken society to build gift-economy communities with cheap high-tech tools; recommended for readers wanting hopeful utopian fiction, also touching on digital minds.
Summarised by Claude from recommending comments
Hubert Vernon Rudolph Clayton Irving Wilson Alva Anton Jeff Harley Timothy Curtis Cleveland Cecil Ollie Edmund Eli Wiley Marvin Ellis Espinoza―known to his friends as Hubert, Etc―was too old to be at that Communist party. But after watching the breakdown of modern society, he really has no where left to be―except amongst the dregs of disaffected youth who party all night and heap scorn on the sheep they see on the morning commute. After falling in with Natalie, an ultra-rich heiress trying to escape the clutches of her repressive father, the two decide to give up fully on formal society―and
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…than enough? A stretch goal but I don't see any other path. At least trying to reach it makes for lots of fun projects like gardening, homelabbing, setting up federated software, etc. Further reading: Walkaway by Cory Doctorow, The Conquest of Bread by Peter Kropotkin, The Anarchist Cookbook by Keith McHenry (and look into Food not Bombs, Food not Lawns etc while you're at it), and various solarpunk copium…
on “Yes, AI Will Take Your Job” ↗I am looking at https://www.goodreads.com/list/show/89580.Solarpunk I have only read Walkaway by Cory Doctorow, which I highly recommend. I have seen the Mars trilogy recommended elsewhere, but haven't read it myself.
on “Solarpunk” ↗Have you read Walkaway by Cory Doctorow?
on “The path to $100B [video]” ↗…Daniel Suarez The Affinities by Robert Charles Wilson Zodiac by Neal Stephenson The Blue Ant trilogy (Pattern Recognition, Spook Country, Zero History) by William Gibson Omnitopia: Dawn by Diane Duane Walkaway by Cory Doctorow Autonomous by Annalee Newitz The Ministry for the Future by Kim Stanley Robinson Reamde by Neal Stephenson Lock In by John Scalzi Rascal Money by Joseph Garber
on “Ask HN: What's some great fiction for founders and entrepreneurs?” ↗Consider reading Walkaway by Cory Doctorow if you haven't. Excellent book - I haven't read the one you're talking about but from what you mention I think it deals in similar themes
on “What if a deadly heatwave hit India?” ↗…missiles, why not reap the rewards? So far as I can judge, this is the only way the system permits escape. If you're interested in permitless escape, one of my favorite introductions to the subject is "Walkaway" by Cory Doctorow, a wonderful amalgamation of hacker culture, anarchism, sustainability, anti capitalism, and communism. Even if you think some of those are dirty words, if you're at all interested in…
on “Does “building in public” work?” ↗The "Delta V" books by Daniel Suarez. I've been recommending "The Deluge" by Stephen Markeley, which is simultaneously very dark and quite optimistic. "Walkaway" by Cory Doctorow
on “We need more optimistic science fiction” ↗…organizing our societal value systems around profit motive and letting gigantic inhuman profit-seeking algorithms (corporations) run rampant and allowing capital to be transferable to political power. Walkaway by Cory Doctorow seems the most feasible path forward for people that are tired of this sort of society. Modern society seems too prepared to be able to overcome with widespread revolution, and in any…
on “F-Droid and Google’s developer registration decree” ↗…that people had trouble imagining a utopia, but here's two solid utopias (or near enough) I've encountered in fiction: the entirety of Ian M Bank's "Culture"; and the second chapter of Cory Doctorow's "Walkaway". Also, there's the perennial example of Burning Man (and related festivals) - here's an example of people creating happiness that has little to do with the removal of scarcities, and plenty to do with…
on “Why Socialists Don't Believe in Fun (1943)” ↗…but the most universally understood to describe my meaning) SJWs does not indicate an sjw desire to create hierarchy. The best description of an ideal sjw future I believe was captured and described in Walkaway, by Cory doctorow. I believe he offers the full text for free on his website.
Let's see: Cory Doctorow's Unauthorized Bread and Walkaway, Arthur C. Clarke's The Nine Billion Names of God and The City and the Stars.
on “Hard comp-fi reading list” ↗…not "real" reading, but that is like discussion of "real" men - absurd. Audiobooks are a joy. My personal favourite is Cryptonomicon by Neil Stephenson, but heck, Ready Player One, Recursion, Delta-V, Walkaway by Cory Doctorow... just give it a shot.
on “Ask HN: Are books worth it?” ↗This idea is explored in Walkaway: A Novel, by Corey Doctorow. If you enjoy reading fiction, I highly recommend it!
on “Analysis of blood markers predicts human lifespan limit” ↗I think Doctorow was correct with Walkaway. I think young people will start building communities away from the big cities. And their lives will be so much better
on “Thousands of young people are fleeing Toronto, economists: city will suffer” ↗…and communities of mutual aid, and in doing so, delegitimizing and rendering obsolete the State, capitalism, and systems of hierarchy. Fun techcentric utopian speculation about this: Cory Doctorow's "Walkaway" and Ruthanna Emry's "A Half-Built Garden." Essentially, can we leverage our current post-scarcity society to expropriate everything people need in a sustainable way that cuts capitalism and the State…
on “Magnifica Humanitas (Encyclical Letter)” ↗