6 ms·
Good science fiction books about intelligence, AI, artificial life forms, etc.?
I recently read Blindsight by Peter Watts and there were some interesting ideas about non human, non conscious intelligence. Any recommendations with these themes?
- Svetlitski 5y agoHis Master’s Voice by Stanisław Lem is mind-blowing, it’s a slow burn, but I’d highly recommend it.
- poetically 5y agoSolaris by Stanislaw Lem but it's also kinda dramatic so it's not just pure speculative sci-fi about intelligence.
- avmich 5y agoIf Lem is mentioned, his Cyberiad should be too :) .
- poetically 5y agoYup, also a good one.
- SMVS 5y agoAdrian Tchaikovsky - Children of Time. Outstanding, philosophically charged sci fi.
- dunefox 5y agoYeah, they're both great.
- msh 5y agoWell rule 34 by Charlie Stross have some interesting ideas about a non-human, non-conscious intelligece, its just very subtle. Neptune's Brood by the same author is a science fiction book without any humans in it.
- atlantic 5y agoIain M. Banks. One of the overarching themes of his Culture novels is the tension between human and artificial intelligences, which are considered citizens in their own right.
- code_Whisperer 5y agoI've mentioned this before (on HN) but I will say it again... Children of Time by Adrian Tchaikovksy was one of the best books I've read in recent years. Since you asked, one of the main characters is an AI.
- dunefox 5y agoRead both and they're very good.
- komon 5y agoThe Rifters Trilogy, also by Peter Watts is a great read as well. It focuses a bit more on the transhumanism aspects but non-conscious intelligence is a secondary theme of the last two books. Pretty much any book by Greg Egan covers these ideas since nearly all of his stories take place somewhere in a shared universe at different points of humanity approaching the singularity. Check out his short stories in Axiomatic or the full length novels Permutation City and Schild's Ladder.
- smartera 5y agoI just finished Neuromancer by William Gibson (published in 1984) – a mind-bending story with elements of AI consciousness, corporate overlords, and human augmentation. Personally, I loved the whole book.
- dunefox 5y agoYou just reminded me that I have it somewhere in my book shelf already, but I've never read it!
- URfejk 5y agoA Fire Upon the Deep by Vernor Vinge
- dunefox 5y agoI read it a couple of years ago and it's pretty good indeed.
- S4M 5y agoHyperion and Endymion by Dan Simmons are quite good. It's set in the far future, when humans have colonized the whole Galaxy, and AIs have become so advanced that they are sentient and have their own world, somewhat parallel to the human world.