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Phoresis And Other Journeys
''Phoresis and Other Journeys'' is a collection of three science-fiction novellas by Australian writer Greg Egan, published in 2023. Contents Reception Reviews The Four Thousand, The Eight Hundred ''Publishers Weekly'' writes that the short story "successfully incorporates hot-button issues of intellectual property rights and government reparations for systematic bigotry into a far-future SF story" and is a "top-notch thought-provoking and suspenseful space opera, with impressively effective worldbuilding given its short length." Dispersion Russell Letson writes in the ''Locus Magazine'', that the story "combines motifs from all over Egan territory: the social-ethical drama of people under extreme stress of 'Perihelion Summer' and 'The Four Thousand, the Eight Hundred'; the diseases of '' Distress'', 'Silver Fire', and ' Reasons to Be Cheerful'; and the gnarlier physics-and-math exertions of '' Schild’s Ladder'' or ''Incandescence'' or the ' Luminous'/'Dark Intege ... [...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] |
Schild's Ladder
In the theory of general relativity, and differential geometry more generally, Schild's ladder is a first-order method for ''approximating'' parallel transport of a vector along a curve using only affinely parametrized geodesics. The method is named for Alfred Schild, who introduced the method during lectures at Princeton University. Construction The idea is to identify a tangent vector ''x'' at a point A_0 with a geodesic segment of unit length A_0X_0, and to construct an approximate parallelogram with approximately parallel sides A_0X_0 and A_1X_1 as an approximation of the Levi-Civita parallelogramoid; the new segment A_1X_1 thus corresponds to an approximately parallel translated tangent vector at A_1. Formally, consider a curve γ through a point ''A''0 in a Riemannian manifold ''M'', and let ''x'' be a tangent vector at ''A''0. Then ''x'' can be identified with a geodesic segment ''A''0''X''0 via the exponential map. This geodesic σ satisfies :\sigma( ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Locus Award
The Locus Awards are an annual set of literary awards voted on by readers of the science fiction and fantasy magazine '' Locus'', a monthly magazine based in Oakland, California. The awards are presented at an annual banquet. Originally a poll of ''Locus'' subscribers only, voting is now open to anyone, but the votes of subscribers count twice as much as the votes of non-subscribers. The award was inaugurated in 1971, and was originally intended to provide suggestions and recommendations for the Hugo Awards. They have come to be considered a prestigious prize in science fiction, fantasy and horror literature. '' The Encyclopedia of Science Fiction'' regards the Locus Awards as sharing the stature of the Hugo and Nebula Awards. Gardner Dozois holds the record for the most wins (43), while Neil Gaiman has won the most awards for works of fiction (18). Robert Silverberg has received the highest number of nominations (158). Frequently nominated As of the 2021 awards, the follo ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Ditmar Award
The Ditmar Award (formally the Australian SF ("Ditmar") Award; formerly the "Australian Science Fiction Achievement Award") has been awarded annually since 1969 at the Australian National Science Fiction Convention (the "Natcon") to recognise achievement in Australian science fiction (including fantasy and horror) and science fiction fandom. The award is similar to the Hugo Award The Hugo Award is an annual literary award for the best science fiction or fantasy works and achievements of the previous year, given at the World Science Fiction Convention (Worldcon) and chosen by its members. The award is administered by th ... but on a national rather than international scale. They are named for Martin James Ditmar "Dick" Jenssen, an Australian fan and artist, who financially supported the awards at their inception. The current rules for the award (which had for many years been specified only in the minimalist "Jack Herman constitution") were developed in 2000 and 2001 as a ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Flatland
''Flatland: A Romance of Many Dimensions'' is a satirical novella by the English schoolmaster Edwin Abbott Abbott, first published in 1884 by Seeley & Co. of London. Written pseudonymously by "A Square", the book used the fictional two-dimensional world of Flatland to comment on the hierarchy of Victorian culture, but the novella's more enduring contribution is its examination of dimensions. A sequel, '' Sphereland'', was written by Dionys Burger in 1957. Several films have been based on ''Flatland'', including the feature film '' Flatland'' (2007). Other efforts have been short or experimental films, including one narrated by Dudley Moore and the short films '' Flatland: The Movie'' (2007) and '' Flatland 2: Sphereland'' (2012). Plot The story describes a two-dimensional world inhabited by geometric figures (flatlanders); women are line segments, while men are polygons with various numbers of sides. The narrator is a square, a member of the caste of gentlemen and p ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Edwin Abbott Abbott
Edwin Abbott Abbott (20 December 1838 – 12 October 1926) was an English schoolmaster, theology, theologian, and Anglican priest, best known as the author of the novella ''Flatland'' (1884). Early life and education Edwin Abbott Abbott was the eldest son of Edwin Abbott (educator), Edwin Abbott (1808–1882), headmaster of the Philological School, Marylebone, and his wife, Jane Abbott (1806–1882). His parents were first cousins. He was born in London and educated at the City of London School and at St John's College, Cambridge, St John's College, University of Cambridge, Cambridge, where he took the highest honours of his class in classics, mathematics and theology, and became a fellow of his college. In particular, he was 1st Smith's Prize, Smith's prizeman in 1861. Career In 1862 he took orders. After holding masterships at King Edward's School, Birmingham, he succeeded George Ferris Whidborne Mortimer, G. F. Mortimer as headmaster of the City of London Scho ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Dark Integers
"Dark Integers" is a science-fiction short story by Australian writer Greg Egan, first published in ''Asimov's Science Fiction'' in October/November 2007. The short story was included in the collections '' Dark Integers and Other Stories'' in 2008, '' Oceanic'' in 2009 and '' The Best of Greg Egan'' in 2020. It was nominated for the Hugo Award for Best Novelette in 2008. It is a sequel to the short story " Luminous". Plot Ten days after the far side of mathematics launched its counterattack, Bruno Costanzo and Alison Tierney make contact with the alien being responsible, which they call Sam. They begin to exchange insights about their sides and try to hold up the peace between them, but can only see each other as digital icons. Sam hints that other worlds and alien life are a lot more common on the far side, but hesitates to reveal as much as Bruno and Alison. Ten years later, Bruno learns about a new theory by Tim Campbell, which involves the connection of certain integers with ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Luminous (short Story)
"Luminous" is a science-fiction short story by Australian writer Greg Egan, first published in '' Asimov’s Science Fiction'' in September 1995. The short story was included in the collections '' Luminous'' in 1998, '' Dark Integers and Other Stories'' in 2008, and '' The Best of Greg Egan'' in 2020. It was nominated for the Hugo Award for Best Novelette in 1996. It has a sequel, the short story "Dark Integers". Plot Bruno and Alison, who made her PhD under the supervision of Yuen Fu-ting at Fu-tan university in China, discuss about arithmetics and the relation of mathematical truth to the physical world. Alison insists that there needs to be a manifestation of theorems by either thought or computation, which would imply them being correct only to spread with the speed of light. She underlines this point of view with a statement about very high integers, which after 423 steps implies its opposite and hence yields a contradiction within arithmetics. Luminous, a computer onl ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Incandescence (novel)
''Incandescence'' is a 2008 science fiction novel by Australian author Greg Egan. The book is based on the idea that the theory of general relativity could be discovered by a pre-industrial civilisation. Plot summary The novel has two narratives in alternate chapters. The first follows two citizens of the Amalgam, a Milky Way-spanning civilisation, investigating the origin of DNA found on a meteor by the Aloof. The Aloof control the galactic core and, until the novel begins, have rejected all attempts at contact by the Amalgam. The second narrative is set on a small world known as the Splinter, and covers the attempts by its inhabitants to understand the environment within which their home exists. As the story progresses, it becomes clear that the Splinter orbits a collapsed star within its accretion disk and is subject to various dangers. The two stories come together in a complex twist which involves a kind of past/future first contact role reversal. Much of the narrative ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Reasons To Be Cheerful (short Story)
"Reasons to Be Cheerful" is a science-fiction short story by Australian writer Greg Egan, first published in ''Interzone'' 118 in April of 1997. The short story was included in the collections '' Luminous'' in 1998 and ''The Best of Greg Egan'' in 2020. Plot In 2004, twelve-year-old Mark suddenly enters a state of constant happiness. After also losing balance when walking, a medulloblastoma is discovered in his brain causing higher levels of Leu-enkephalin, which binds to the same receptors as morphine or heroin and hence is the reason for his happiness. Mark physically cannot be sad about the diagnosis. After the medulloblastoma is removed, he becomes depressive and his relationship with his parents worsens. Psychologists assume that he now associates happiness with a return of the tumor. In 2023, Mark has reflected for many years about happiness just being a result of chemical reactions in the brain and to possibly be meaningless. He travels to Cape Town in South Africa to u ... [...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] |
Distress (novel)
''Distress'' is a 1995 science fiction novel by Australian writer Greg Egan. Plot summary ''Distress'' describes the political intrigue surrounding a mid-twenty-first century physics conference, at which is to be presented a unified Theory of Everything. In the background of the story is an epidemic mental illness, related in some way to the imminent discovery of the TOE. The action takes place on an artificial island called "Stateless", which has earned the wrath of the world's large biotech companies for its pilfering of their intellectual property. The narrator is a journalist for a science channel called SeeNet named Andrew Worth who carries video recording software in an intestinal implant. He is offered a story on a new illness called Distress, but declines. He journeys to Stateless through a series of convoluted flights to cover a presentation by 27-year-old South African physicist Violet Mosala, supplanting the preproduction by a colleague, Sarah Knight. When he arri ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
