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His slow zone traders are the only constant in civilization. Meaning, planets are unreliable destinations. You set out to trade and arrive at a medieval kingdom
by PicassoCTs 4y ago
His slow zone traders are the only constant in civilization. Meaning, planets are unreliable destinations. You set out to trade and arrive at a medieval kingdom 500 years after a nuclear apocalypse. You set out for a meh-destination and find upon arrival a high tech civilization, that is so integrated its even eaten up the error margins, due to thinking itself infallible.
The only constant is the traders, reviving and stabilizing societies, which its why information exchange without a known listener (basically a Wikipedia radio edition) is most important for keeping a slower then light traveling galactic civilization alive.
He also has some quibs about how society is basically a attempt to overcome the flaws of the individuals psyche comprising it. That and murder AI.
He tried to explore AR in Rainbows end, but it was insubstantial. Another great man ruined by california..
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vernor_Vinge https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vernor_Vinge
- e40 4y agoI followed everything you said until the California comment. Please explain.
- Shorel 4y agoI think that's just the setting of the novel, but not the plot. The plot of Rainbows end is more about... this would be a spoiler.
- 867-5309 4y agoI think it refers to the curse of celebritydom
- ravel-bar-foo 4y agoAuthor known for highly imaginitive galaxy-spanning settings writes a novel about AR and a down-on-his-luck poet on a UC campus. (IIRC!) The story is good, but it is a book about California in the proximate future as imagined from the 2010s and so it doesn't feel as timeless as the spacefaring universes of his other work.