|
Instantiation (collection)
''Instantiation'' is a collection of eleven science-fiction short stories by Australian writer Greg Egan, published in 2020. Contents Reception Reviews Russell Letson, writing in the ''Locus Magazine'', claims that the short stories "Bit Players", "3-adica", and "Instantiation" all "outline the technical-legal problems of AI personhood as artificial personalities try to escape the virtual-reality game worlds that they have been programmed into." For "Bit Players", he adds that "is so sloppily worked out that newly generated character Sagreda intuitively knows that the physics can’t be consistent." For "3-adica", he adds that it contains "a game employing a topology based on an exotic number theory", which he "still can’t quite follow, though the bit players do, to their eventual benefit." Awards "The Discrete Charm of the Turing Machine" was a finalist for the Theodore Sturgeon Memorial Award in 2018 and reached the 4th place of Asimov's Reader Poll in 2018. "Zero f ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Greg Egan
Greg Egan (born 20 August 1961) is an Australian science fiction writer and mathematician, best known for his works of hard science fiction. Egan has won multiple awards including the John W. Campbell Memorial Award, the Hugo Award, and the Locus Award. Life and work Egan holds a Bachelor of Science degree in mathematics from the University of Western Australia. He published his first work in 1983. He 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 uploading, sexuality, artificial intelligence, and the superiority of rational naturalism to religion. He often deals with complex technical material, like new physics and epistemology. He is a Hugo Award winner (with eight other works shortlisted for the Hugos) and has also won the John W. Campbell Memorial Award for Best Science Fiction Novel. His early stories feature strong ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
English Language
English is a West Germanic language that developed in early medieval England and has since become a English as a lingua franca, global lingua franca. The namesake of the language is the Angles (tribe), Angles, one of the Germanic peoples that Anglo-Saxon settlement of Britain, migrated to Britain after its End of Roman rule in Britain, Roman occupiers left. English is the list of languages by total number of speakers, most spoken language in the world, primarily due to the global influences of the former British Empire (succeeded by the Commonwealth of Nations) and the United States. English is the list of languages by number of native speakers, third-most spoken native language, after Mandarin Chinese and Spanish language, Spanish; it is also the most widely learned second language in the world, with more second-language speakers than native speakers. English is either the official language or one of the official languages in list of countries and territories where English ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Science Fiction
Science fiction (often shortened to sci-fi or abbreviated SF) is a genre of speculative fiction that deals with imaginative and futuristic concepts. These concepts may include information technology and robotics, biological manipulations, space exploration, time travel, Parallel universes in fiction, parallel universes, and extraterrestrials in fiction, extraterrestrial life. The genre often explores human responses to the consequences of projected or imagined scientific advances. Science fiction is related to fantasy (together abbreviated wikt:SF&F, SF&F), Horror fiction, horror, and superhero fiction, and it contains many #Subgenres, subgenres. The genre's precise Definitions of science fiction, definition has long been disputed among authors, critics, scholars, and readers. Major subgenres include hard science fiction, ''hard'' science fiction, which emphasizes scientific accuracy, and soft science fiction, ''soft'' science fiction, which focuses on social sciences. Other no ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Hard Science Fiction
Hard science fiction is a category of science fiction characterized by concern for scientific accuracy and logic. The term was first used in print in 1957 by P. Schuyler Miller in a review of John W. Campbell's ''Islands of Space'' in the November issue of ''Astounding Science Fiction''. The complementary term ''soft science fiction'', formed by analogy to the popular distinction between the "hard" (natural science, natural) and "soft" (social science, social) sciences,) first appeared in the late 1970s. Though there are examples generally considered as Hard and soft science, "hard" science fiction such as Isaac Asimov's Foundation (book series), ''Foundation'' series, built on mathematical sociology, science fiction critic Gary Westfahl argues that while neither term is part of a rigorous Taxonomy (general), taxonomy, they are approximate ways of characterizing stories that reviewers and commentators have found useful. History Stories revolving around scientific and technical ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Australia
Australia, officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a country comprising mainland Australia, the mainland of the Australia (continent), Australian continent, the island of Tasmania and list of islands of Australia, numerous smaller islands. It has a total area of , making it the list of countries and dependencies by area, sixth-largest country in the world and the largest in Oceania. Australia is the world's flattest and driest inhabited continent. It is a megadiverse countries, megadiverse country, and its size gives it a wide variety of landscapes and Climate of Australia, climates including deserts of Australia, deserts in the Outback, interior and forests of Australia, tropical rainforests along the Eastern states of Australia, coast. The ancestors of Aboriginal Australians began arriving from south-east Asia 50,000 to 65,000 years ago, during the Last Glacial Period, last glacial period. By the time of British settlement, Aboriginal Australians spoke 250 distinct l ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Zero For Conduct (novelette)
"Zero for Conduct" is a science-fiction short story by Australian writer Greg Egan, first published in ''Twelve Tomorrows'' (a special fiction edition of ''MIT Technology Review'') edited by Stephen Cass in September 2013. The short story was included in the anthology '' The Year's Best Science Fiction: Thirty-First Annual Collection'' edited by Gardner Dozois in July 2014 as well as the collections ''The Best of Greg Egan'' in 2019 and '' Instantiation'' in 2020. Plot Latifa is an Afghan teenager living in Iran and also a chemistry prodigy, both of which leads to her being bullied in school. By playing the virtual online game ChemFactor, used to find new molecules and new configurations, she has saved much time for its clients during the past three years. In order to stay under the radar, she has changed her virtual identity five times as her accomplishments are usually rewarded by computing power by the clients. Using this computing power and lab equipment in her school, she m ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
The Slipway
"The Slipway" is a science-fiction novelette by Australian writer Greg Egan, first published in ''Analog'' in July/August 2019. It describes the discovery of a wormhole approaching the Earth. It was included in the collection '' Instantiation''. Greg Egan described the scientific background of the short story in the essay ''The View through a Wormhole''. Plot With the hint of a farmer, who has already discovered an asteroid, Fatima and Gabrielle discover new stars in the night sky, which turn out to come from a wormhole, called the Pane. Theories of alien intergalactic transport networks or a proof of string theory spread across the world, but all measurements of size, position and velocity of the Pane fail. After the Pane has reached twice the size of the full moon, Fatima proposes that the Pane is actually as large as the Solar System and travels close to the speed of light, hence the Solar System has already passed it and the night sky is only an illusion created by the light t ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Locus (magazine)
''Locus: The Magazine of The Science Fiction & Fantasy Field'', founded in 1968, is an American magazine published monthly in Oakland, California. It is the news organ and trade journal for the English-language science fiction and fantasy fields. It also publishes comprehensive listings of all new books published in the genres (excluding self-published). The magazine also presents the annual Locus Awards. '' Locus Online'' was launched in April 1997, as a semi-autonomous web version of ''Locus Magazine''. History Charles N. Brown, Ed Meskys, and Dave Vanderwerf founded ''Locus'' in 1968 as a news fanzine to promote the (ultimately successful) bid to host the 1971 World Science Fiction Convention in Boston, Massachusetts. Originally intended to run only until the site-selection vote was taken at St. Louiscon, the 1969 Worldcon in St. Louis, Missouri, Brown decided to continue publishing ''Locus'' as a mimeographed general science fiction and fantasy newszine. ''Locus'' succ ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Theodore Sturgeon Memorial Award
The Theodore Sturgeon Memorial Award is an annual literary award presented by the Theodore Sturgeon Literary Trust and the Center for the Study of Science Fiction at the University of Kansas to the author of the best short science fiction story published in English in the preceding calendar year. It is the short fiction counterpart of the John W. Campbell Memorial Award for Best Science Fiction Novel, which was awarded until 2020 by the Center at the same conference. The award is named in honor of Theodore Sturgeon, one of the leading authors of the Golden Age of Science Fiction from 1939 to 1950. The award was established in 1987 by his heirs—including his widow, Jayne Sturgeon—and James Gunn, at the time the Director of the Center for the Study of Science Fiction. From 1987 through 1994 the award was given out by a panel of science fiction experts led by Orson Scott Card. Beginning in 1995, the committee was replaced by a group of jurors, who vote on the nominations submitt ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Locus Award For Best Novelette
The Locus Award for Best Novelette is one of a series of Locus Awards given annually by Locus Magazine ''Locus: The Magazine of The Science Fiction & Fantasy Field'', founded in 1968, is an American magazine published monthly in Oakland, California. It is the news organ and trade journal for the English-language science fiction and fantasy fields. .... Awards presented in a given year are for works published in the previous calendar year. The first award in this category was presented in 1975. Winners Winners are as follows: accessed 4 March 2015 References {{Locus Award Novelette Short story awards[...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
BSFA Award
The BSFA Awards are literary awards presented annually since 1970 by the British Science Fiction Association (BSFA) to honour works in the genre of science fiction. Nominees and winners are chosen based on a vote of BSFA members. More recently, members of the Eastercon convention have also been eligible to vote. BSFA Award categories The award originally included only a category for novels. A category for artists was added in 1979 and for short works in 1980. A category for younger readers was added in 2021. The artists category became artwork in 1986, and a category for related non-fiction was added in 2002. A number of new awards were created in 2023. A media category was awarded for 1978 to 1991. The ceremonies are named after the year that the eligible works were published, despite the awards being given out in the next year. The current standard award categories are: * BSFA Award for Best Novel (from 1969) * BSFA Award for Best Shorter Fiction (from 2023) * BSFA Award for ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Seiun Award
The is a Japanese speculative fiction award given each year for the best science fiction works and achievements during the previous calendar year. Organized and overseen by , the awards are given at the annual Nihon SF Taikai, Japan Science Fiction Convention. It is the oldest SF award in Japan, being given since the 9th Japan Science Fiction Convention in 1970. "Seiun", the Japanese word for "nebula", was taken from the first professional science fiction magazine in Japan, which had a short run in 1954. The award is not related to the American Nebula Award. It is similar to the Hugo Award, which is presented by the members of the World Science Fiction Society, in that all of the members of the presenting convention are eligible to participate in the selection process, though it is not a one-on-one comparison as the Hugo Awards are open to works from anywhere in any language, while the Seiun is implicitly limited to works released in Japan and written in or translated to Japane ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
