Customer Reviews

Permutation City

5 star:		(26)
4 star:		(14)
3 star:		(9)
2 star:		(4)
1 star:		(2)

 

 

Greg Egan is the first fiction writer I've seen who takes the concept of AI somewhat seriously (see my detractions below). In virtually all science fiction, AI is either not present (Dune), artificially rare (Star Wars, William Gibson), somehow deficient relative to the "real" intelligence of humans (Star Trek), or easily tamed into servitude (Asimov). Egan thankfully avoids these lame cop-outs and provides a more realistic view of what might happen when our hardware can support human-mind-scale computation.

Some of the extrapolation is fairly straightforward, for example the idea that the first humans to have themselves "scanned" and instantiated within a computer as Copies will be the elderly and the fatally ill. Egan goes many orders beyond the straightforward, however, and hits on some big questions: If I get moved into a computer, is it still "me"? Should sentient software be considered legally human? If I am a program running in a computer and I edit my memories and my most basic desires, have I become a new person? If I halt a Copy's program and archive their data indefinitely, have I "killed" the Copy? What would it be like to be forced to live forever within a computer, with no ability to commit suicide ("bail out")? If these are interesting philosophical questions today, they will become much more tangible over the coming decades as (or if, depending on your view) AI develops.

Now, my caveats/complaints. A book that seriously considers AI must, I think, include the possibility of super-human AI as well. And Egan, like almost all other authors, conveniently leaves this possibility out. For example, in Permutation City there is an unexplained 17x slowdown of Copies relative to real time. In truth if the average Copy runs at a 17x slowdown, the millionaires among us would cobble together enough supercomputing power to run at a rate equivalent to real time. And the billionaires would have enough hardware to run laps around flesh-and-blood humans. I could easily envision a scenario where every company that doesn't have a management team of hyperspeed Copies would be left in the dust. But Egan tends to stay away from these kinds of unpleasant they-will-become-our-masters scenarios. (In another book of his called Diaspora, Egan does allow for faster-than-human robots called gleisners, but again assumes they will treat is well -- basically a variant of Asimov's stunted-AI). I would love to see Egan put on the Bill Joy hat and deal with superhuman intelligences fairly.

The second half of the book relies very heavily on the author's intriguing "Dust Theory". While I don't necessarily find the idea very compelling as a physical theory, it does touch on some ideas that could very well have validity, such as the notion that a universe will exist if it has internal mathematical consistency (the Platonic view to its logical conclusion). Unfortunately at some points in the story the Dust Theory feels like a cheap trick, a bit of magic that can push the story in whatever arbitrary direction the author desires. In this respect the plot is like a French art film: locally rational, globally irrational.

Despite the detractions, I enjoyed the book immensely and found the ending surprisingly poignant. Read it especially if you are intrigued by the notion of strong AI.

I don't reccommend reading this if you have trouble grasping abstract computer concepts, you will be completely lost. On the other hand, if you're into transhumanism and virtual reality you will flip your lid over this book. It's very esoteric, specialised, detailed, thick, whatever you want to call it, but that is because Greg Egan has fully realised the technology he is writing about, and wants to convey his vision as clearly as possible. Personaly, I appreciate that. I hate sci-fi books with unexplained technology that just teleports a whole planet or mutates a cat simply because it's convenient to the plot, with little or no explanation. Greg Egan has thought out the technology in this book, and because of that, an incredibly "out there" story becomes feasible. However, if you don't care about technology and it's implications, you might feel gipped by this book. The characters are one dimensional, the writing is nothing special, the locations are foggy, but holy @#$%, my mind has been blown. Definately worth tracking down and reading.

This is my first exploration of Greg Egan's writing. I have to say, the first half was bad reading. It was Egan playing around with what kind of technology and software the future will have in 50+ years. It is done from a completely computer programmer's point of view, which was interesting enough, but tedious.

Another reviewer of a different Egan book said it was like a detective story where the main character is sneaking into a building to get clues and sees a bit of paper and goes into the history of paper production since its inception and what it will be like in the future. The information is irrelevant to the story and actually detracts rather than enhances.

Despite this however, I was really glad to get past this and into the 2nd half of the book. Egan gives a feeling of what true immortality might be like and what real loneliness is. I don't know if he intended to, but that's what I took away from this book. With a new type of virtual processor tucked away into its own little universe, untouchable by anyone, the virtual people can live forever, not just until the end of our universe, but really and truely forever. I've never seen it explored before, and find it a great idea. Even someone scared of death must be a little hesitant about the offer of true immortality, not just no aging, not just outliving your friends, but outliving everything in the universe. Billions and billions of years. Forever is a long time and I found it a bit daunting.

Another idea that I really liked in the book was concerning loneliness. What's it like to be really alone. Well, some of the characters find this out as they sneak into the artificial universe created for other characters, but they can never interact with it. No one can ever see them or talk to them. They are cut off not only from the world, the universe, but also the only other people who might understand their situation. I can't imagine the utter aloneness of their situation. Sure, they can create anything they want in their simulations of the world, but really - how far can your own imagination go? How much can you create without getting bored?

This is a good book that could have been great if it were re-mixed with the right concentration of existing ideas. It's worth reading for the ideas alone.

I hear that other Egan books are similar, so if you read this one, I can only imagine that you'd enjoy other Greg Egan books. I will certainly be reading more of them.

When I read the jacket blurb, I thought, "Ho-hum. Another VR story by some hack who doesn't know jack about computers." But I did read it, and months later, I was still noticing things I had missed when I read it.

"Permutation City" has two major strong points: Egan understands computers (he's a part-time programmer), and it shows: I'm a system administrator and part-time programmer myself, and the story just sounds plausible throughout. Secondly, Egan explores all of the ramifications of his assumptions, and the book is filled with "Wow, I hadn't thought about that" moments.

Nominally, this novel is about a man who offers people a chance at immortality by simulating them on a computer. On another level, it's about fear of dying, and what constitutes the self.

In Science Fiction we know you can scan a human brain. Run a simulation of this brain on a computer. Including a lifelike animation of the persons facial expressions, voice and body.
We know that the simulation will be able to carry on a conversation indistinguishable from a conversation with the real person. I.e. the simulation will pass the Turing test with ease. The self-aware Copy can then be uploaded to a virtual city, where it can live forever together with other copies.
We have heard it many times. Perhaps, so many times that many of us don't really doubt that it will come to pass some day.....

But what is it really, really like to be self-aware in a software environment? I looked around for some good books on the subject. Books that would give some really thoroughly worked out explorations. Finally, I stumbled upon Greg Egans 1994 "Permutation City". And what a real treat this book is!

In Greg Egans world it is not easy to be a copy. People react badly to walking up as copies. Sure, we expect most copies to be made from the very old or terminally ill. People for whom it is the last resort. Nevertheless, most can't face living like this. And end up muttering the password "Abulafia" to get out.
Only a few have the stomach for living as a copy.
Egan convinces us that copies will probably start out being made for the benefit of human survivors. But someday there will be no survivors left. Or worse, after a while the copy might become the original and terminate the original. So, In the end there will only be copies.
We better start pay attention!
And off we go. Following a logic that
seems inevitable as the copies prepare for eternity.
An eternity where resurrecting Adam and Eve in virtual Heaven for amusement - or starting a new Earth simulation from scratch, complete with little algae evolving under the laws of Darwin and billions of computer runtime years - seems the most natural
things in the world to be doing.

A great book

-Simon

Permutation City is a notable cyberpunk novel by Greg Egan, which is worth giving a try if you fancy this genre of literature. Here we have a story about a young man, Paul Durham, who uploads the contents of his brain to a computer. In doing so, he seemingly acquires the gift of immortality, which is granted so long as he carries on the rest of his life in this virtual world created for him. That's not such a bad deal to begin with, but it doesn't take long for him to experience the tremendous sense of isolation and uselessness. In the VR, Paul is simply a spectator of the world around him and every glitch in the construct serves as a violent reminder that he is no longer flesh and blood.

I must warn you that Egan goes to great extent to provide the reader with plenty of meticulous details that add to the realism and plausibility of the storyline. Early in the story, I think it's fantastic because it does so much to paint a vivid picture for the reader. However, there are plenty of times when it does weigh down the story. For example, Egan beat Maria's experiment with mutose to death by explaining the actual chemistry involved, which I found unnecessary. It seemed to me like Egan was more or less showing off how learned he is in different subjects. This is definitely a novel you must read slowly if you plan on getting the most from it. Yet, I still found myself tempted to put it down at times because I was overwhelmed with too much detail.

On the other hand, I did love the underlying human issues presented in the story. The entire plot toys with the philosophical quandary of personal identity. If everything in the VR is not truly real, then can the copy of Paul be considered human? Or is he just another jumble of computer code simulating a human? I found this fascinating and with that in mind I would have to say this story does have something to offer. My best advice would be to wade through all the fussy details and focus on the big picture - the underlying questions and themes that arise.

First, a note, this book makes slightly more sense if you've read Egan's earlier short story "Dust". This is available in Year's Best Science Fiction Tenth Annual Collection, and is probably anthologized elsewhere too.

What Egan does best: This book is fabulous example of a far-fetched idea developed and explored to the fullest. In Egan's future, "uploading" your mind for digital immortality has become common (although not cheap). Not content with the limitations of these digital worlds, one man takes this virtual mind trip even farther, forging an entirely new universe out of the "dust" of ours.

The people of this world slam into catastrophe when the question of what is more real ceases to be academic and starts ripping apart the foundations of their custom-made universe.

Why did I not rate this book at five stars? Because despite all this head-tripping speculation (and it *is* interesting, I assure you) it was hard for me to care about this book. That's because of what Egan does badly: He cannot create well-developed, engaging characters.

I cannot find a single person I really care about (for good or for ill) in this book. Their cosmos is collapsing! So what? I haven't the slightest emotional connection to any of them.

Egan's s.f. ideas are fantastic. But an interesting concept alone is not enough to carry a full-length novel. If you want to truly enjoy Greg Egan's writing, read his short fiction. His intellectual gems shine far better there than in this novel.

Diamond-hard science fiction has to be the most difficult form of literature in the world. If you had asked me to list three subjects on which it would be impossible to write hard SF, the fundamental nature of reality would have been #2. Forget the Hugo and Nebula; this book deserves a Nobel Prize. "Permutation City" is the only truly perfect hard SF book which I have ever read, and I've been reading Niven and Pournelle since age nine.

Permutation City is the only fiction book I keep in my reference section. As an SF fan since age seven, and a member of the first generation to grow up with computers, it takes an awful lot to give me a sense of future shock. Out of the thousands of SF books I've read, this is one of exactly two books that bowled me completely over. It's like sticking your brain in a high-voltage electrical socket. Read it or else.

Greg Egan is one of the most inventive and exciting current SF writers. His SF is distinctly "hard", rife with "cutting edge" speculations, and also generally "through-composed", in that he tries to set his stories in fully-furnished futures (complete with brand-names and with Bruce Sterlingish throwaway ideas), and also in that he tries to examine the full consequences of his ideas, and not just the first consequence, or the most convenient one.

Permutation City is very heavily a novel about certain computer science related ideas. The main two ideas, closely linked, are completely virtual environments, in which a simulation (or "Copy") of a human brain can be run (including the memories of the living template for the copy, full sensorium simulation, and interaction with other copies and the "real world"); and Artificial Life, arising from sets of rules operating within a computer program.

The interest in the novel, and the aspects of this novel which make it, IMO, Egan's best, and one of the better SF novels of the past few years, is the constant exploring of the consequences of the central ideas: thus we have the copies controlling their mental states so accurately that they can take up hobbies by conscious decision, be literally perfectly content with the hobbies for years, then switch; and we have the detailed description of Artificial Life within the Autoverse, including a neat life form which communicates in ways analogous to the operation of a computer program; and, most importantly, each of the main characters is exploring (or revealing to us) different ideas about the nature of personal identity: where does identity lie when you are a "simulation" of a real life person? when you can control your moods and interests at the processor level, as it were? when you are rerunning your "program" in an infinite loop? when your program is halted? when the physical components of your "processor" are separated in both time and space? when your entire universe is a computer program running in another universe?

All in all, a highly recommended novel. For one reason or another, Egan's novels seem to get less notice in the US than I think they deserve: partly, perhaps, because they are published first in the UK, and don't get over here until some time later. Hopefully this is beginning to change.

Immortality, the nature of conciousness, the nature of reality, and more. This book is hard science fiction at its very best. I cannot think of another book to rival this one in terms of pure intellectual stimulation. Egan takes a few simple ideas and runs with them as well as anyone writing today. The writing is wonderful, the characters are interesting, but oh! the ideas, the ideas are grand! This book took me forever to read; so many times I would read a paragraph then stare into space and think about the ramifications and possibillities. This book should appeal to anyone with an interest in physics, artificial intelligence, and philosophy, or anyone who enjoys thinking about about what it means to be, especially what it means to be YOU