Beyond Singularity: Dann and Dozois (ed).

In Beyond Singularity editors Jack Dann and Gardner Dozois give us over a dozen (14 to be exact) stories of what life might be like after the Singularity takes place. Singularity is the point, first described by author and mathematician Vernor Vinge, at which the rate of technological advance, which has been increasing exponentially by some measures, becomes so fast that merely human intelligence cannot keep up and superhuman intelligence is first created and then becomes the dominant life on Earth (or beyond). Depending on who you talk to, Singularity may involving the creation of artificial intelligence, the amplification of human intelligence, or simply the development of new technologies that radically alter the structure of our entire civilization into something almost unrecognizable to people now. Of course, if you’re a regular on the Orion’s Arm website or discussion lists you probably know all this already.

OA Relevance: Moderate to High

The Good, the Bad, and the Ugly:

The stories themselves cover a wide range in terms of both their approach to Singularity and their quality. Some are really good, some are just OK, and some are a bit of a disappointment. A few are just weird.

Greg Egan’s Border Guards shows us a future of direct neural interfaces, implant based immortality and artificial universes. And where human frailty and kindness are still a factor.

Charles Stross gives us two goodies, first about the future of agriculture (you’ll never look at the family farm the same way again), and then a joint piece with Cory Doctorow that shows that even Singularity won’t necessarily solve the problem of pre-wedding jitters.

In Paul J. McAuley’s All Tomorrow’s Parties we see a time millions of years after post-Singularity intelligence has reshaped the galaxy but is still all too human. Incidentally, this story is also a prequel to his Child of the River trilogy for anyone who particularly enjoyed the series.

Gregory Benford’s Naturals is nothing more than a short story variation of his Beyond Infinity novel and is a disappointment in that it makes no real effort to address Singularity, instead simply telling a story set millions of years in the future.

And so on. Odds are you’ll find several stories to really enjoy, several more that are good solid reads, a couple you won’t like, and a few that will feel somewhat surreal.

Overall Rating: Highly Recommended, especially if you’re thinking of writing fiction set in the OA universe and would like to see examples of dealing with human sized characters living in a Post-Singularity sized setting.

More about the reviewer, Todd Drasher, here.