3 Body Problem - Series Review vs Book 1

I read the first book of Liu Cixin's trilogy (translated from Chinese by Ken Liu) in 2016. So, fittingly, just about enough time has passed for a radio transmission to reach and return from the Proxima Centauri system... Also, more than enough time for me to forget many of the details! So I was not overly focused on expected plot waypoints, or any finer details, in the new Netflix series.

This streaming adaptation is by Benioff & Weiss, of Game of Thrones infamy, plus Alexander Woo (True Blood writer, apparently). Thankfully, they won't have to make up their own ending from scratch, this time. But given that the books reportedly get increasingly grand in cosmological scope and concept, we'll have to see what they make of the rest, come season 2. Hopefully not too far off!

Book 1 (left). Netflix series thumbnail (right).

► My Initial Impressions of the Show [Low Spoiler]: the pacing was good and quick, despite the 1 hour episodes. So some of the many hard sci-fi concepts were shaved down to "blink and you'll miss it". Some things maybe discarded from the plot a little too soon. There was a frustrating lack of discussion of major events, following on from the big dramatic episode endings. 

But they managed to include a surprisingly large amount of the original material and feel, while finding a better compromise for retaining audience attention. Better than the somewhat laboured tour of scientific history, etc, in the first book. I was still surprised to see the show reach the main plot culmination of book one by the end of of the Ep 5. With 3 left to go! Apparently, they linearized the trilogy timeline, including a lot from Dark Forest and even some from Death's End.

I was a little disappointed how almost all the contemporary (2024) setting of the show was plonked down in London. Deploying a distracting remobilisation of GoT resources, with a far more 'international' cast than the books. White-washed vs the novels? Perhaps. But it worked well; the main characters were utterly remixed into an original ensemble, with more compelling personalities and social relationships. 

And there's already been a 30 episode (!) Chinese TV series adaptation, released in early 2023, with all Chinese cast. Apparently it drags badly, literally converting almost everything from the books. *Except* for the Netflix series' brutal opening scene, in the Chinese Cultural Revolution. The Chinese audience gets historical censorship, while we get soft power propaganda, only seeing the horribly outdated worse of China's tumultuous political neurosis and industrial devastation of nature.

"Scale" by Greg Egan - review and critique

► Review: I struggled to complete Scale; not up to the standard I expected from reading Schild's Ladder and Permutation City.

The concept is cool, if ambitious to reconcile in the messy details. But I was continually frustrated that Egan gave so few descriptive details of the different perspectives of physics, in daily life experience for the smaller scales. He glossed over a very major plot detail and entirely ignored the issues of eg shared air. I think because it (and other things) were too implausible.

Scale on Greg Egan's website.

It's mostly written as a straight detective mystery, from 3 main character perspectives. Which plays to his weakness of flat characters. Then, as politics becomes a major theme, that feels naïve, as if seen from space. And the bits of action aren't very thrilling.

I'd have preferred to see more of his usual trick, of skipping ahead through time periods and settings. Thus exploring more of the technological changes, and timescale divergence, in this wild little civilisation. Perhaps he knew it couldn't hold together.

Overall, I think this concept could have worked as a cheeky short story. Padding it out with human intrigue didn't work for me. I didn't care about Cara.

ChatGPT, LLMs and the unfolding generative AI revolution

So, it seems like the future is here and rapidly unfolding! Ironically I've been struggling to even mention anything about recent machine learning events, here on this blog. Despite AI being such a big feature of its theme on exponential tech changes...

New Scientist style chatbot illustration generated using StableDiffusion

5 days to 1M users! The fastest growing web
  service, ever. From Twitter via YouTube.

To recap: from the middle of 2022, there was simmering online interest in the spectacle of AI generated art via text prompts: DALL-E vs Stable Diffusion.

Also, Google's firing of a senior software engineer who was claiming sentience and personhood for their LaMDA chatbot (e.g. Guardian). Which kicked off nervous discussion.

Then, at the end of the year, OpenAI unleashed ChatGPT-3 to the public, making a huge splash in the process! Machine learning has sustained main stream awareness through 2023, so far, with news hype hitting fever pitch in tech circles, over the last week of announcements. E.g. on YouTube LTT wan show from here and Matt Wolfe.

As talked about in many sources, machine learning has been advancing up a much steeper exponential curve than Moore's law, both GPU hardware advancing faster and ever bigger datasets being trained on. 

Of course, the main reason I've struggled to keep fully abreast of these exciting developments: I'm still struggling with the ME/CFS. As I've lamented on Twitter, this blocked my desired career path into academic AI/robotics. Being forced to give up on 3rd year studies just over 15 short years ago. And in my small amounts of productive time, during the last year, I've been working on informational resources (e.g. Steam guides) and other things in the Core Keeper community. Which is sometimes within my cognitively impaired abstraction limit.

Anyway, I'm aiming for this post to be ongoing, like the previous Covid posts. Updated with my thoughts and new events as they unfold. Because I don't have the executive function to write a big piece with an overarching narrative. If I've ever really achieved that here before, heh.

I've no hope of capturing any of the soap opera of corporate and big-player drama, or even most of the notable offerings. Let alone the technical details of how the systems opera. So really, this is largely an exercise (as always) in showing that I was here and I maybe understood some fraction of what was going on. Maybe an aide memoire for me, like taking notes in class. 

I'm also explicitly aware that the ever-growing LLM training data with likely include this text at some point, too! Which is very meta and a little thrilling to see happening already.

I'll start by catching up on some backdated bits and pieces...

"Valuable Humans in Transit" by Qntm - short story anthology summary and review

Having read all commercially published works by this relatively new author, of hard sci-fi on stilts, I felt I can to snaffle up this collection of short stories too. Bite size, even for me, so I read and summarised one per day, between dinners. Keeping the old noggin active.

They are all revisions of existing short stories he previous posted for free on his website, which are linked here, as well as purchase options. 

► Lena - Cautionary tale of the first human brain upload being duplicated, incidentally tortured (for compliance) hundreds of millions of times in increasingly numerous parallel simulations, to use him as a cheap information processing commodity.

Qntm preciously threw this into Fine Structure Constant, in passing. It's a sobering thought for extropians like myself, intent on digital reincarnation with indefinite lifespan. But, I feel like ChatGPT and other generative AI are already making redundant this idea of simulating brain Uploads for such utilitarian purposes. It's gonna be many orders of magnitude less efficient and probably less reliable.

"Blindsight" & "Echopraxia" by Peter Watts - a qualified positive review, discussion and questions

 ► Review (light contextual & thematic spoilers):

"Firefall" omnibus edition of both novels

These two hard sci-fi novels are ostensibly space operas, set near the end of this century. They depart from a world where base humanity is struggling for relevance, half choosing to live in virtual reality heaven. While technology has resurrected once extinct vampires.

But the author also uses the context and diverse assortment of transhuman characters, in each book respectively, to explore themes of, first: neuroscience, abnormal psychology and consciousness. Then: genetic engineering, augmented intelligence, belief, identity, culpability and free will (or lack of).

Both books have an explicit discussion of concepts at the end, with over 100 references to science papers and other books, in each. This comprises a full 10% of Echopraxia's total length! In case readers had any doubts about just how thoroughly researched and insightful these works are.

There are certainly spaceships, action and a novel first contact situation. But the plot arks were somewhat arduous through long mid-sections, with lots of dialogue that dragged a little. Brooding suspense and flashbacks, in one. Voyage with sometimes grating protagonist interactions, in two.

Echopraxia doesn't really continue on from Blindsight directly. For me, it had somewhat of a feel like, for example, Prometheus (2012) continuing the Alien (1979) franchise. Although there is technically one recurring character. Book two reframes the first a little and is mostly a chance to explore additional futurism and dig more into his conception of a hyper-intelligent vampire.

Despite a promising first book opening, that name checked the (technological) singularity and Ray Kurzweil explicit, I never quite meshed with the feel of Peter Watts' philosophising. Throughout either book. I think, in part, he deliberately writes to make things uncomfortable. There's certainly no heart warming romance or nice happy endings.

But, more fundamentally, in the afterword of Echopraxia, he explicitly states that he doesn't support/believe in the concept of digital physics. I.e. the leitmotif of most of Greg Egan's works, and (implicitly) many works by other authors, which have sat more squarely with my own core beliefs and understanding of the universe.

The character arcs conclude properly, in my opinion. Although there seems to be deliberate ambiguity left for interpretation as to exactly what and why various things happened, big and small.

Abridged narrative of my life, failed studies and ill health symptoms

In honour of hitting the big four-oh, overnight, I felt like turning this excessively long reddit comment reply of mine into an impromptu blog post. Maybe it could kick off writing up more health history, for useful proposes...

I hit all the normal infant development milestones. But was a late starter in some academic respects; last in class to move from pencil to pen, at the start of middle school. But by the end I was getting top grades and passed the entrance exam for our selective grammar (high) school. Where I was basically on mostly As until age 16, except for chemistry and languages (dyslexia spoiler warning).

Starting secondary school.

Over the two years of sixth form, I really started struggling with DSPD (delayed sleep phase). To get to school on time, be exhausted when getting home and then still not sleeping until late. Also with executive function to do homework and revise maths, in particular. The first casualty of my abstraction limit and/or cognitive dysfunction. I dropped Further Maths down to a half A-level and ultimately scraped a D grade. B on the main math course, physics and computing, missing out on my conditional offer of a place at Oxford. Which I didn't really regret, to be honest, heh.

"Cyberpunk: Edgerunners" series review

As someone naïve to the Cyberpunk universe, I found the Edgerunners series to be a colourful and interesting pastiche of various anime influences, with some flaws [SPOILERS]...

David - the school age male central protagonist, generic fan demographic foil. Who finds that he's exceptionally gifted, through no effort of his own. Thus he's able to realise his daydream ambitions.

Lucy - Motoko Kusanagi (Ghost in the Shell) hacker chick in an outfit mixing together that from Stand Alone Complex and 2045 series. Her distinctive hair design has a (Serial Experiments) Lain lopsided bang on her left and is coloured white like Benten (pretty boy) in Cyber City Oedo 808. She also has a built-in version of the nanowire weapon he uses, which I believe originates from Gibson's Neuromancer (sci-fi novel). 

Maine - Duke Nukem meets Prototype JACK (Tekken) substitute father figure. He comes complete with paternal physical abuse and a hard nosed (but soft on the inside) butch lady-friend second in command - Dorio.

Pilar - actual transhuman-looking non-normative body plan cyber punk with super-hands. He fashion a visor and mohawk like Gogou (Cyber City). The abrasive clown, he's naturally the first to go.

Rebecca - the fiery Lolli archetype, literally obligatory in all anime, now (studio refused to make the show without her). Predictably she's romantically interested in our generic protagonist, though we thankfully fall short of a full hareem. She's not particularly problematic, compared to some, and makes sense in this context. Actually she's a fairly fun character, although her Scooby Doo impression gets tiring towards the end.

Kiwi - chain smoking albino cyber-goth second fiddle hacker chick, with a more extruded frame. Like Lucy, she inexplicably *has* do her virtual reality ICE (Intrusion Countermeasures Electronics - again Neuromancer) breaking shenanigans with full frontal nudity, in a bath of icy water. Big "Hey, I don't make the rules!" feel, male gaze fanservice.

Falco - Overwatch's McCree Cassidy Cole, complete with one robot arm and the same voice (Matthew Mercer), randomly turns up half way through, as a getaway driver.

Faraday - the ominously voiced middle-man with the triple eye, reminded me of something I couldn't put my finer on... Some 90s arcade game villain, or something.

► Other notable influences: 

• Blade runner - city design, flying cars/billboards, chain smoking, etc.
• Akira - motorbike gangs, neon style, ultra-violence, etc.
• District 9 - mech's weapon grabbing magnets hands.
• Blues Brothers - style car pile-up super-orgy.
• Various games - including Cyberpunk (duh), with nonsense red circle impact warnings inexplicable appearing on the ground, with one fight. 

► Overview and Critique:

Part of the reason I've not been possessed to jump into the Cyberpunk PC game (besides the price and brutal hardware spec requirements) is the dystopian setting. Which is a failure as escapism, given how many aspects of this genre are becoming increasingly, depressingly, relevant here in the UK. 

Our Tory governments seem determined to break the public provision of healthcare, by any means, whatever the death toll and permanent damage. They even seem to be trying to privatise democracy and governance, itself, via sneaky charter city legislation (massively expanding freeport areas and such). 

"Ra" by qntm - Book Review

I enjoyed this book. It had immediate personal relevance, kicking off in my old-university city of Nottingham! In the 90s, a little while before the time I was there studying physics. With its central female protagonist called Laura (weirdly also the name of a girlfriend I had there), its brief summary of her mundanely relatable romance spoke truth to me, too. Anyway... 

"Ra" initially presents as a kind of alternate history, where magic exists as a new kind of science. Only recently taught to undergraduates, in either applied or theoretical courses. Described as esoteric and remote, for the majority of the population. Much like quantum physics in the real world. In both cases, they've been quietly revolutionary for civilisation. 

Our protagonist makes the exception to this, with ostentatious, hyper-competent implementation of its possibilities. Magic is cast by speaking a kind of programmer pseudo-code, with an ancient Samarian (or some such) flavour. While simultaneously holding complex concepts in mind.

It's no coincidence there's an echo of "The Laundry Files" mathematical demonology, here; qntm has clearly been strongly influenced by several of my favourite sci-fi authors, including Charles Stross, who's tweet put me onto them in the first place.

"Left Hand of Darkness" by Ursula K. Le Guin - A Tepid Review

I picked up this novel because Ursula K Le Guin is often cited as an underappreciated sci-fi master and I've not read anything of hers. I started with Left Hand of Darkness because it was one of the top recommended, e.g. on the printSF Reddit.

I skipped over the two(!) additional introductions by contemporary authors, for fear of major spoilers I’ve had in the past. In her intro, she states: "Science fiction is not predictive; it is descriptive." Which is always somewhat true; dressing up contemporary issues in strange clothes to better understand them. 

Just as much a fantasy writer, apparently, this perspective makes sense. But not entirely so, to me. No prediction at all, would fly in the face of what I like most about my go-to fiction genre: exploring possible effects of future technological change.

She also seemed to say there was an unreliable narrator, telling some of this story..? But, even primed, I spotted no contradictory versions of events. [Edit: I don't know where I got this idea from, after re-reading her (1976) foreword. Kindle UK version.]

For a book published in 1969, it has largely dodged feeling entirely dated, courtesy of mostly avoiding high technology. The plot is grounded entirely on a somewhat backwards world (or at least, one that’s in no hurry to fully modernise). So the setting is very vaguely reminiscent, for me, of say "Inversions" by Iain M Banks.

Non-plot spoilers - In the rare appearance of a spaceship, it does sound like a stereotypically antiquated shiny silver rocket. While their FTL communications are basically a pager. Which, I guess, is still ahead of her time…? They have universally electric vehicles too. (I guess that transition is long overdue, for us.)

"Raised by Wolves" Seasons 1 & 2 Reviewed

Season 1 [Adapted from these Tweets] - was more watchable than expected, knowing very little before hand, other than people thinking it a bit odd. I felt it was a decent, slow-burn sci-fi. It definitely has Ridley Scott flavours: grey-blue colour pallet of Prometheus [2012]; various visual details, from android blood down to hats; the horror-spun theme of birthing/raising children, intersecting with brooding alien mysteries.

Raised by Wolves was not at all as sci-fi silly/tacky as some of its initial appearances.

There really are some seriously dark themes (trigger warning). Including a teenage girl coming to terms with being coerced into carrying a pregnancy following rape (while unconscious). Then dealing with meeting the perpetrator (whose made theatrically monstrous). Attempted suicide. The grief of loosing several children (pictured right) and self blame for that. Mass murder. Loss of bodily autonomy. Orphan child soldiers. Child abduction, etc. But I guess its all softened the surrealness of a sci-fi setting. Anyway...

Much is lost...

The season had enough time to develop its main characters, particularly heroine/antagonist android "Mother". She took an opposed arc to Travis Fimmel, who was apparently reprising his King Ragnar roll (from Vikings). Military genius, usurps power, undergoes religious conversion, hobbles about injured with a staff, etc. 

"Kaiju Preservation Society" by John Scalzi - Review

An impulse buy, for me, when needing a new book to read on my Kindle. Kaiju Preservation Society is a quick, easy to read sci-fi novel by John Scalzi. I'd agree with his post-script, that it's the literary equivalent of a pop song.

It currently feels extra relevant, kicking off at the start of the Covid pandemic, in New York. Our protagonist's working for an UberEats competitor, seeing an uptick in demand. And there's an explicit reference to the opening of the genre cult classic "Snow Crash". Which comes up again as a bit of a running joke. So too, a couple more pop sci-fi references.

The story soon escapes miserable reality. I thought, at first, that we were going to taken on an interesting deconstruction of monster movie tropes. Focusing on more realist management banalities and such. But it only goes half way…

On one hand: the crew studying (and aiming to protect) the giant monsters are, realistically, almost all scientists with a complementary array of doctorates. They run through why such massive animals are physically impossible. Then proffer some bio-eco-physio-logical embellishments that might help realise this trope.

Why "Matrix Resurrections" is so terrible...

This new Matrix film is less a resurrection, more intellectual property necrophilia. It doesn't just break the fourth wall, it bursts through the screen and slaps you around the face with franchise merchandise! While a boardroom montage gibbers about how mind blowing a 4th instalment would need to be...

I'm gonna stop you right there; don't watch this!

My expectations were very low; movie sequels selling out is par for course, and Revolutions was already a disappointment. But this new piece had failed to recapture any of the magic.

A major reason the first film seemed so creative is the Wachowski's cobbled it together from a lot of pieces of other great sci-fi works, which most views won't have known: anime, e.g. Ghost in the Shell (1995) lent much cyberpunk look and feel, with small sequences recreated shot-for-shot.

A shocking amount of concepts, plot arc and specific terms (e.g. "Matrix" and "Squidies") came from Dan Simmon's 1989 novel "Hyperion" and its sequel "Fall of Hyperion". Which I read recently and think still stands up OK today. Recommended, for historical genre significance.

But in Resurrections, they seem to be feeding, ouroboros-like, exclusively on their *own* works. Thematically, the result is mediocre fan fiction, vomiting up clips of the original's more memorable (and more inspired) bits.