快乐的理由

The Best of Greg Egan #2

by Greg Egan, 格雷格·伊根, 鲁冬旭 (Translator)

脑内肿瘤产生的激素，使他获得无限的快乐。可随着肿瘤被治好，他却陷入了巨大的失控中……当情绪可以被化学反应操控，人生也就失去了意义。

248 pages, Hardcover

Published January 1, 2023

About the author

Greg Egan specialises in hard science fiction stories with mathematical and quantum ontology themes, including the nature of consciousness. Other themes include genetics, simulated reality, posthumanism, mind transfer, sexuality, artificial intelligence, and the superiority of rational naturalism over religion.

He is a Hugo Award winner (and has been shortlisted for the Hugos three other times), and has also won the John W Campbell Memorial Award for Best Novel. Some of his earlier short stories feature strong elements of supernatural horror, while due to his more popular science fiction he is known within the genre for his tendency to deal with complex and highly technical material (including inventive new physics and epistemology) in an unapologetically thorough manner.

Egan is a famously reclusive author when it comes to public appearances, he doesn't attend science fiction conventions, doesn't sign books and there are no photos available of him on the web.

Excerpted from Wikipedia.

Reviews

[Lnshift9xshift0 · Rating 4 out of 5]

我个人觉得这本不如作者上一本短篇小说集即《祈祷之海》好。

暗整数
点子：⭐⭐⭐
本来值得四星，但是考虑到这是在上一篇基础上写出来的，我不太觉得这是个新奇的点子。
故事性：⭐⭐⭐⭐
和上一篇一样是谍战风格。
文学性：⭐⭐⭐

黑暗狂奔
点子：⭐⭐⭐⭐
故事性：⭐⭐⭐⭐
文学性：⭐⭐⭐

人生选择题
点子：⭐⭐⭐⭐
故事性：⭐⭐⭐
正是这一篇拉低了我对此书的评价，并且后一篇还算是此篇的续集。我无法理解的就是，为什么书中角色觉得消除其他可能的选择发展是个好事，而且似乎书里面每个人都这么觉得，主角女儿海伦被人为消除其他可能分支之后甚至还有人群针对此事游行抗议，在我看来，书中作者所描述的理由太薄弱，大部分人对消除其他选择这件事只能是漠不关心，因为其他可能选择对自身所处的现实世界来说过于抽象，且毫无影响。与之相对比的是，特德姜的《焦虑是自由引起的眩晕》就有说服力得多，不仅是因为特德姜设计了能与“平行世界”交流的装置，让不同的选择产生的结果不再抽象，同时，他的“道德平均理论”也更明晰，更能对生活产生影响。
文学性：⭐⭐⭐
对主题讨论得不甚成功

神谕
点子：⭐⭐⭐
故事性：⭐⭐⭐
文学性：⭐⭐⭐

快乐的理由
点子：⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐
故事性：⭐⭐⭐⭐
文学性：⭐⭐⭐⭐