Accelerando

By: Charles Stross

Narrated by: George Guidall

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

If corporations were people and ate solar systems

This is a wacky book. It's about the singularity, where the acceleration in technological progress becomes great that humans get left behind. It reminds me a little bit of Greg Egan's books. But it has some real groaners e.g. corporations that have essentially become people but also viruses that infect entire solar systems.

So, like, huh? All this legal/corporate/economic stuff seems like a distraction from the more interesting themes of AI personhood, hierarchy of intelligences, space exploration, etc. The pet cat is by far the most interesting character! There are aliens but they aren't very alien. The first aliens we meet stole their forms from Earth life which is quite a disappointment. The aliens we meet later are, I wanna say, computer viruses? They make no sense and don't really do anything.

I also felt robbed because the choice to tell this story from the point of view of humans leaves out the motivations and experiences of the post-humans, which is where all the action would be.

Worst of all is the author's bad habit of naming something like a piece of technology without actually telling us what it is. I know it's called "diamond vacuumed biphasic structure" but what the hell? This is the capstone of pulp toilet paper schlock.

Not my cup of tea.

Would you say that listening to this book was time well-spent? Why or why not?

I just could not immerse myself in this book. Only the voice of Mr. Guidall kept me listening to the half way point.

Has Accelerando turned you off from other books in this genre?

Oh yes.

What does George Guidall bring to the story that you wouldn’t experience if you just read the book?

I've listened to Mr. Guidall so much, that it's like spending time with a dear friend. If I were reading a hard copy of the book, I wouldn't have made it past 100 pages.

If this book were a movie would you go see it?

Oh no.

Singularity, AI, and cats!

What can go wrong?

Loved the post singularity idea of instances!

Had to listen carefully to catch some of the shifts in time.

The finest speculative fiction

I listened to this audio book around two years ago. The feeling remains that this is among the best sci-fi or speculative fiction ever written. I am a physicist, and often find myself working out the physical plausibility of "hard" sci-fi, which for other books sometimes ruins the story for me. This book kept me pretty busy in that regard, a welcome mental workout for sure, making the story even better.

I can fully understand that this book is not for everyone, and so would suggest that readers like me should ignore the 4-star average. For odd ducks like us, this is off-the-charts interesting.

Hard boiled sci-fi

Accelerated rate of changeleft me awestruck! Quite complicated at times. This book messed with my dreams. Definitely worth a reread.