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Crystal Nights and Other Stories
The nine stories in Greg Egan's new collection range from parables of contemporary human conflict and ambition to far-future tales of our immortal descendants.
In "Lost Continent", a time traveler seeking refuge from a war-torn land faces hostility and bureaucratic incompetence. "Crystal Nights" portrays a driven man s moral compromises as he chases an elusive technological breakthrough, while in "Steve Fever" the technology itself falls victim to its own hype.
"TAP" brings us a new kind of poetry, where a word is more powerful than a thousand images. "Singleton" shows us a new kind of child, born of human DNA modeled in a quantum computer who, in "Oracle", journeys to a parallel world to repay a debt to an intellectual ancestor.
"Induction" chronicles the methods and motives behind humanity s first steps to the stars. "Border Guards" reflects on the painful history of a tranquil utopia. And in the final story, "Hot Rock", two immortal citizens of the galaxy-spanning Amalgam find that an obscure, sunless world conceals mind-spinning technological marvels, bitter factional struggles, and a many-layered secret history.
Greg Egan is the author of seven novels and over fifty short stories. He is a winner of the Hugo Award and the John W. Campbell Memorial Award.
In "Lost Continent", a time traveler seeking refuge from a war-torn land faces hostility and bureaucratic incompetence. "Crystal Nights" portrays a driven man s moral compromises as he chases an elusive technological breakthrough, while in "Steve Fever" the technology itself falls victim to its own hype.
"TAP" brings us a new kind of poetry, where a word is more powerful than a thousand images. "Singleton" shows us a new kind of child, born of human DNA modeled in a quantum computer who, in "Oracle", journeys to a parallel world to repay a debt to an intellectual ancestor.
"Induction" chronicles the methods and motives behind humanity s first steps to the stars. "Border Guards" reflects on the painful history of a tranquil utopia. And in the final story, "Hot Rock", two immortal citizens of the galaxy-spanning Amalgam find that an obscure, sunless world conceals mind-spinning technological marvels, bitter factional struggles, and a many-layered secret history.
Greg Egan is the author of seven novels and over fifty short stories. He is a winner of the Hugo Award and the John W. Campbell Memorial Award.
310 pages, Hardcover
First published September 30, 2009
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909 people want to read
About the author
Greg Egan
267 books2,784 followersGreg 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.
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.
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Displaying 1 - 18 of 18 reviews
May 10, 2018
I don't know of any short-story collection by Egan that I don't love, but I am really enjoying my second reading of this anthology, particularly the final story, "Hot Rock", an Amalgam story like "Riding the Crocodile", and very reminiscent of Egan's novel /Schild's Ladder/, which is one of my favorites of his.
(ETA: Just finished, and the ending is satisfying as well.)
(ETA: Just finished, and the ending is satisfying as well.)
April 3, 2020
2014.09.10–2020.02.15
Contents (note: all of these—except my favorite, TAP—are contained in the larger collection Oceanic)
Egan G (2009) Crystal Nights and Other Stories
1. Lost Continent (2008)
2. Crystal Nights (2008)
3. Steve Fever (2007)
4. TAP (1995)
5. Induction (2007)
6. Singleton (2002)
7. Oracle (2000)
8. Border Guards (1999)
9. Hot Rock (2009)
Contents (note: all of these—except my favorite, TAP—are contained in the larger collection Oceanic)
Egan G (2009) Crystal Nights and Other Stories
1. Lost Continent (2008)
2. Crystal Nights (2008)
3. Steve Fever (2007)
4. TAP (1995)
5. Induction (2007)
6. Singleton (2002)
7. Oracle (2000)
8. Border Guards (1999)
9. Hot Rock (2009)
April 10, 2023
In particular the Crystal Nights short story which is about the potential moral hazard and enormous amounts of suffering through creating AI multi-agentally.
September 26, 2017
Some stories were really good, some a bit less.
June 25, 2018
Just read the titular story, rating based on that
March 12, 2024
This review is exclusively for the title story, "Crystal Nights," which I read after Sam Altman recommended it on the Ezra Klein show. With all of the hand-wringing around AI, I've seen very little discussion regarding OUR ethical obligation toward a technology that may develop consciousness. This story confronts that question head on, with a modern re-telling of Genesis that casts an Elon Musk-type as its god.
Like many a god, our central character, Daniel Clif, is restless and bored (aka middle-aged). He's amassed all of the wealth that capitalism can offer, and now he's turned his attention to more esoteric pursuits. He doesn't want to create consciousness, though--he wants to evolve it through managed selection. Why? Because (and stop me if you've heard this one before), "[I]f I don't do this, someone else will."
It takes Daniel a few tries to find a lackey who's intelligent enough to oversee the experiment, yet incurious enough to avoid thinking about the ethics. He finds that assistant in Lucien, who watches over the digital world Sapphire, which Daniel has populated with crab-like creatures called Phites. The Phites are given various abilities to either help or hinder their development, all according to Daniel's tastes. Daniel wields his power over them like a benevolent tyrant, professing to care about them while also subjecting them to existential crises, like population-wide infertility.
Eventually, Daniel makes the mistake that all gods make: he gives his creation too much freedom. A beat too late, be realizes that their evolution has outpaced his own, so he reveals himself, expecting gratitude. Spoiler alert: the Phites are pissed, and rightfully so. Daniel has spent years (or millions of years, from their perspective) manipulating them with little regard for their experience.
It's remarkable to think that this story was published in 2009, well before AI achieved cultural relevance. Greg Egan not only anticipated the discussions we'd be having today--he also anticipated the topics we'd refuse to touch. All creators have a responsibility toward their creation, which comes down to the golden rule: Do unto others as you'd done unto you.
Like many a god, our central character, Daniel Clif, is restless and bored (aka middle-aged). He's amassed all of the wealth that capitalism can offer, and now he's turned his attention to more esoteric pursuits. He doesn't want to create consciousness, though--he wants to evolve it through managed selection. Why? Because (and stop me if you've heard this one before), "[I]f I don't do this, someone else will."
It takes Daniel a few tries to find a lackey who's intelligent enough to oversee the experiment, yet incurious enough to avoid thinking about the ethics. He finds that assistant in Lucien, who watches over the digital world Sapphire, which Daniel has populated with crab-like creatures called Phites. The Phites are given various abilities to either help or hinder their development, all according to Daniel's tastes. Daniel wields his power over them like a benevolent tyrant, professing to care about them while also subjecting them to existential crises, like population-wide infertility.
Eventually, Daniel makes the mistake that all gods make: he gives his creation too much freedom. A beat too late, be realizes that their evolution has outpaced his own, so he reveals himself, expecting gratitude. Spoiler alert: the Phites are pissed, and rightfully so. Daniel has spent years (or millions of years, from their perspective) manipulating them with little regard for their experience.
It's remarkable to think that this story was published in 2009, well before AI achieved cultural relevance. Greg Egan not only anticipated the discussions we'd be having today--he also anticipated the topics we'd refuse to touch. All creators have a responsibility toward their creation, which comes down to the golden rule: Do unto others as you'd done unto you.
September 2, 2019
2 stars out of 5 - I read a hardbound from the library over the past few evenings. A couple of the stories were excellent, but I struggled with others, and I abandoned a couple of the stories which got so abstruse as to be unreadable.
August 20, 2022
Really not sure I get the obsession about MWI meaning our decisions aren't real or don't count. It almost seems to draw an arbitrary line between which quantum fluctuations are acceptable and which aren't.
July 4, 2023
This is a great collection of short stories. I thought the first one was a bit ham-fisted as an analogy to a serious real-world issue, but it might be worth a read for those unfamiliar with it. The rest of the book was extremely engaging and thought-provoking."
Read
June 13, 2021Only read the title story.
November 14, 2021
(5 stars for the Crystal Nights, not planning to read the others for now)
February 14, 2010
The first thing you need to know is that Greg Egan has axes to grind. His science fiction is as hard and sharp-edged as he can make it. He extrapolates rigorously, and stares unflinchingly at the implications of quantum theory, nanotechnology, artificial intelligence and personality uploading for human beings and human societies.
Sometimes this makes Egan seem really rather angry, as in the collection's title story, with its titular allusion to the events of 9-10 November 1938. The story is didactic —all of these stories are, to some extent—and yes, Egan's urge to teach us is sometimes so powerful that it gets in the way of the tale, weakening instead of strengthening Egan's points. We are supposed to equate the forced evolution of artificial intelligences in a simulated environment with Kristallnacht—with multiple Kristallnachts, and while Egan makes a good case for this belief, he also manages to Godwinize himself in the process.
But... even with all of this sturm und drang, Egan remains capable of telling a good story. Ali, the protagonist of "Lost Continent," is a likeable character whose sidestep through time makes for some poignant commentary on refugees closer to home; Robert Storey, the embattled British mathematician and veiled parallel of "Oracle," evokes sympathy; and I stayed up late to finish "Hot Rock," the story that concludes the collection (with its worldbuilding worthy of Hal Clement or Robert L. Forward), to find out what happened to Azar and Shelma.
For even though Egan peppers his tales with cutting-edge science, and despite his uncompromising (and sometimes fiercely disapproving) view of human frailties and beliefs, he never forgets to give us characters who are warm, compassionate beings—people we can care about. And it's that, quite apart from the speculative pyrotechnics, that keeps me reading his work.
Sometimes this makes Egan seem really rather angry, as in the collection's title story, with its titular allusion to the events of 9-10 November 1938. The story is didactic —all of these stories are, to some extent—and yes, Egan's urge to teach us is sometimes so powerful that it gets in the way of the tale, weakening instead of strengthening Egan's points. We are supposed to equate the forced evolution of artificial intelligences in a simulated environment with Kristallnacht—with multiple Kristallnachts, and while Egan makes a good case for this belief, he also manages to Godwinize himself in the process.
But... even with all of this sturm und drang, Egan remains capable of telling a good story. Ali, the protagonist of "Lost Continent," is a likeable character whose sidestep through time makes for some poignant commentary on refugees closer to home; Robert Storey, the embattled British mathematician and veiled parallel of "Oracle," evokes sympathy; and I stayed up late to finish "Hot Rock," the story that concludes the collection (with its worldbuilding worthy of Hal Clement or Robert L. Forward), to find out what happened to Azar and Shelma.
For even though Egan peppers his tales with cutting-edge science, and despite his uncompromising (and sometimes fiercely disapproving) view of human frailties and beliefs, he never forgets to give us characters who are warm, compassionate beings—people we can care about. And it's that, quite apart from the speculative pyrotechnics, that keeps me reading his work.
August 20, 2018
Most of these stories are really 3-stars ("liked it"), but the last story "Hot Rock" is very good, and "Steve Fever" and "Lost Continent" are also probably worth 4 stars.
A nitpick: In "Oracle", people apparently take their mother's last name as their own—so Turing is named Stoney, and Lewis is named Hamilton—but this doesn't actually make sense, since if their mothers had also been given their own mother's last names, and so on, they'd have different family names going back to generations immemorial.
A nitpick: In "Oracle", people apparently take their mother's last name as their own—so Turing is named Stoney, and Lewis is named Hamilton—but this doesn't actually make sense, since if their mothers had also been given their own mother's last names, and so on, they'd have different family names going back to generations immemorial.
September 3, 2012
Most of the setups were phenomenal. Follow through varied: one was amazing, most were pretty good, and one ending was a terribly over-moralizing cop-out. Overall, I was intrigued by the imagination coupled with hard science.
May 6, 2015
Ningún relato es especialmente memorable, porque en los que la ciencia es interesante/accesible la ficción ni importa demasiado; y en los que la ficción/personajes interesan, la ciencia es aburrida/inaccesible (para mi). Solo a destacar el relato que da nombre a la colección y el último- Hot Rock
August 17, 2014
(3.7) Lost Continent
(4.8) Crystal Nights
(4.3) Steve Fever
(4.8) TAP
(3.9) Induction
(4.8) Singleton
(4.2) Oracle
(4.4) Border Guards
(4.5) Hot Rock
(4.8) Crystal Nights
(4.3) Steve Fever
(4.8) TAP
(3.9) Induction
(4.8) Singleton
(4.2) Oracle
(4.4) Border Guards
(4.5) Hot Rock
April 21, 2016
Read the title story. Good, plug in modern science at high speed evolution. Techies stuff, but no awe.
February 14, 2010
Egan is easily my favorite hard-sf novelist. Here he is shining in shorter lengths, too.
Displaying 1 - 18 of 18 reviews