Is this the place for this?

October 17, 2005
This Week's Finds in Mathematical Physics (Week 222)
John Baez

"... Actually, just for fun, let's start with this science fiction novel I picked up in Heathrow en route to Berlin":

Charles Stross, Accelerando, Ace Books, New York. Also available at http://www.accelerando.org/book/

"This is one of the few tales I've read that does a good job of fleshing out Verner Vinge's 'Singularity' scenario, where the accelerating development of technology soars past human comprehension and undergoes a phase transition to a thoroughly different world. This is a real possibility, and it's been discussed a lot":

Wikipedia, Technological singularity,

Ray Kurzweil, The Singularity,

Anders Sandberg, The Singularity,

"However, it's not an easy subject for fiction - at least not for mere human readers! Stross makes it gripping: sometimes goofy, sometimes thrilling, and sometimes rather sad. Characters include a robot cat with ever-growing powers and some space-faring uploaded lobsters.

"The hero, Manfred Macx, starts out as a freeware developer, futurist and all-purpose wheeler-dealer. Here's a scene from the beginning of the book, before all hell breaks loose":

[quote within quote within quote trunacted]
 
"An idea a minute - and the book is free online: what more could you want?"

Reading John Baez's stuff is mind-expanding itself, even if most folks (exceptions include Greg Egan, who's been cited there) have to skip the equations.