September 8, 2020

Egan’s Diaspora covid-19: day 183 | US: GA | info | act

This evening, I began Greg Egan’s Diaspora. I always take a couple of days to figure out what I want to read next, and this one came up in a recent Reddit discussion about transhumanism and deep time. The OP mentions Diaspora and the subsequent discussion also mention one of my favorite novellas by Charles Stross called Palimpsest, I thought I’d give the Egan a go.

The first couple of chapters are difficult. They are about the conception, birth, and adolescence of an AI. I’m not sure, yet, what this is doing here, other than making sure the reader is committed. Maybe Egan is setting this up like a future epic, where the AI is the epic hero. I’ll have to wait and see.