His other books have been so-so, but his short stories are the hardest science fiction around. Nobody else has explored ideas of quantum mechanics intersecting with biology and humanity like he has. I think "Axiomatic" is a good set of them.
His other books have been so-so, but his short stories are the hardest science fiction around. Nobody else has explored ideas of quantum mechanics intersecting with biology and humanity like he has. I think "Axiomatic" is a good set of them.
Yes! Dimensions (not even the most objective, physical ones) are not absolutes but subject to changing, creative interpretation through the abilities of our tech.
Compare the meaning of a meter when squirming vs walking vs cycling vs driving vs flying... Modern computing makes a mockery of our past capabilities for information processing / storage / transmission.
Put another way, "there is no bad or good weather, only different gear requirements."
Same goes for everything, not only distance & information, but also scale, temperature, calories, food, output, wealth, energy, users, complexity, manufacturing effort, ... and time! Both time as speed (how much happens in a certain period) and time as something to traverse (need to wait for a result for decades or centuries). With Diaspora & Permutation City I first learned to imagine a future where we could treat centuries with the same amused detachment with which we now treat intercontinental distances as we jet over the oceans.