4 ms·
weird question - is there any scifi around finance ? Cryptocurrency, etc. I feel it is weird that almost every piece of tech has had a scifi runway leading to i
by sandGorgon 9y ago
weird question - is there any scifi around finance ? Cryptocurrency, etc. I feel it is weird that almost every piece of tech has had a scifi runway leading to it (VR, AI, robots, clean energy, etc)... but not finance.
Maybe I'm missing something
- teraflop 9y agoYou might want to check out Accelerando by Charles Stross. It predates Bitcoin and the subsequent explosion of cryptocurrencies, but it touches on some similar ideas, e.g. quasi-artificially-intelligent autonomous corporations. http://www.antipope.org/charlie/blog-static/fiction/accelerando/accelerando-intro.html http://www.antipope.org/charlie/blog-static/fiction/accelera...
- xhedley 9y ago“It is a truth universally acknowledged, that every interstellar colony in search of good fortune must be in need of a banker”. Neptune’s Brood also by Charles Stross has slow money transferred between two star systems requiring authentication from a third system. The plot is what happens when a transaction has not been completed. Also robots. And pirates.
- monocasa 9y agoThere's Daemon by Daniel Suarez that I think directly inspired the DAO.
- Mtinie 9y agoIt’s not exactly crypto currency as we know it, but Charles Stross’s “Neptune’s Brood”[0] spends a lot of time discussing the challenges of interstellar finance. ——- [0] https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/15985402-neptune-s-brood https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/15985402-neptune-s-brood
- moomin 9y agoDefinitely the geekiest finance/sci-fi book out there.
- sandGorgon 9y agobought! thanks for that.
- Swizec 9y agoNew York 2140 has a strong financial plotline. Plus it's a great book, loved it. https://www.amazon.com/New-York-2140-Stanley-Robinson/dp/031626234X https://www.amazon.com/New-York-2140-Stanley-Robinson/dp/031...
- girvo 9y agoSeconded. Hilarious, poignant, and just all around weird. KSR does it again :)
- nikanj 9y agoRainbow’s End has a bunch of crypto-ish stuff in it, as do the books from Hannu Rajaniemj
- sandGorgon 9y agothanks for Hannu Rajaniemj - it sounds fascinating. Bought! Again - not crypto in general, but financial stuff. that's what i dont see written.
- Fzzr 9y agoCryptonomicon is probably what you're looking for.
- estsauver 9y agoThis is definitely one of my favorite books.
- sandGorgon 9y agomine too - but not finance. Its more general crypto, etc.
- Fzzr 9y agoTrue. REAMDE (same author) is more on the nose, but I also didn't enjoy it as much as a book. Really, Neal Stephenson just doesn't do books with only one major focus.
- matt_the_bass 9y agoI think the classic in this from is "cryptonomicon" by neal stephenson. This got me thinking about the implications of secure anonymous transactions years ago, well before any general public knowlegde of blockchain/bitcoin type concepts. What is the role goverment is they can't tax people/companies? How does a government fulfill that role if they can't raise money?
- cpeterso 9y agoManu Saadia's Trekonomics: The Economics of Star Trek is kinda the reverse: it is an examination of Star Trek's post-scarcity economy, how matter replicators change everything, and what people do with their free time when they don't have to work. Here is a transcript from an NPR interview with Paul Krugman about Saadia's book: https://www.marketplace.org/2016/09/07/world/economist-paul-krugman-ponders-sci-fi-economics-star-trek https://www.marketplace.org/2016/09/07/world/economist-paul-...
- akvadrako 9y agoNot recent, but Norstilia by Cordwainer Smith is a classic.
- ajb 9y agoHostile Takover by Susan Shwartz. Not sure it's exactly what you're thinking of, but worth reading - written by someone who is a bona fide finance person as well an SF author.
- deleted 9y ago[deleted]