Permutation City is definitely hard sci-fi, albeit less hard than most of Egan's work. Ignoring the "uploading" (it not being the central point of the story, an

Permutation City is definitely hard sci-fi, albeit less hard than most of Egan's work. Ignoring the "uploading" (it not being the central point of the story, and this not being the place to have that debate), his "dust theory" is very well grounded. That's not to say that I believe it (or that he does, see http://www.gregegan.net/PERMUTATION/FAQ/FAQ.html http://www.gregegan.net/PERMUTATION/FAQ/FAQ.html), but that doesn't automatically qualify it as "magic" either.