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Accelerando

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Accelerando

Written by: Charles Stross
Narrated by: George Guidall
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The Singularity. It is the era of the posthuman. Artificial intelligences have surpassed the limits of human intellect. Biotechnological beings have rendered people all but extinct. Molecular nanotechnology runs rampant, replicating and reprogramming at will. Contact with extraterrestrial life grows more imminent with each new day.

Struggling to survive and thrive in this accelerated world are three generations of the Macx clan: Manfred, an entrepreneur dealing in intelligence amplification technology whose mind is divided between his physical environment and the Internet; his daughter, Amber, on the run from her domineering mother, seeking her fortune in the outer system as an indentured astronaut; and Sirhan, Amber’s son, who finds his destiny linked to the fate of all of humanity.

For something is systematically dismantling the nine planets of the solar system. Something beyond human comprehension. Something that has no use for biological life in any form...

©2005 Charles Stross (P)2014 Recorded Books Fiction Genre Fiction Hard Science Fiction Psychological Science Fiction Space Opera Technothrillers Thriller & Suspense Thriller Technology Solar System Artificial Intelligence Capitalism Destiny Computer Science
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There is no rhythm or accentuation or tones. There’s a very poor attempt at imitating girls’, women’s voices or accents. In this performance this book is an absolute mumble. I read it instead.

Very poorly performed

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This book is in 3 parts: It follows several generations of the Macx family, before, during, and after the technological singularity.

If you're into hard science fiction, then you'll probably enjoy the many questions asked about how society will respond to the pace of accelerating technology.

- How should we define who or what gets "human" rights? If you perfectly copy a human, neuron-by-neuron onto a computer, does the simulation have rights?
- How will economics work when we end scarcity? What do you pay with?
- How does ownership work when uploaded humans can be copied, split up, reinstantiated? Does death mean your debts should go to your clone? How does voting work??
- How do religions react to non-human consciousness? If a computer is perfectly simulating a Muslim brain, is the computer a Muslim? What about the software??


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If you're looking for a heart-wrenching, emotional experience, well. The family politics is more like elaborate legal moves using technological Goldberg machines lol. Not really a tearjerker or anything.

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Have fun! I did.

Fun ride, considering AI progress is accelerating right now

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This is considered a classic but I was disappointed by the end. The beginning is dense present day meets cyberpunk which was fun, but as soon as it gets close to posthuman let alone singularly level, the story becomes more about simulation of human level fantasy with little if any glimpses of what those really driving the core singularity experience, they simply are cast as unseen monsters. Certainly there is a good deal of cosmic level tech involved but the last couple of chapters pretty much alienated me from all the characters who are playing self involved psychopath roles by the end. It could have ended so much better.

Promising start but runs out of gas

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A fun story involving multiple generations, Russian lobsters, cybernetics, space travel, alien beings, and flipping economy on its head. All in a cyberpunk setting.

Interesting romp through time, and space.

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