This is an old revision of this page, as edited by 4.89.246.163 (talk) at 00:40, 23 March 2006. The present address (URL) is a permanent link to this revision, which may differ significantly from the current revision.
Revision as of 00:40, 23 March 2006 by 4.89.246.163 (talk)(diff) ← Previous revision | Latest revision (diff) | Newer revision → (diff)part of the edit on 29 Jan by 203.40.244.79:
"Like all good science fiction writers, Egan deals in ideas, but he also writes very well too. His 1994 novel Permutation City was a highly praised exploration of the copying of human personalities or minds, with a visionary hero who challenges society's understanding of 'copies', and of identity, computing, the laws of physics and reality."
Although I agree he is a good writer I have a sneaking suspicion that he may also not be the most modest person in the world ;) Anyone think this edit was infact perpetrated by Greg Egan himself?
- Nah, that line seems more like the work of a crazed fan (no offense to the author). 63.130.197.32 03:29, 14 Mar 2005 (UTC)
- Agreed - Egan also has a reputation as quite a recluse. - Jdowland
Either here or in Permutation City should include a summary and explanation of Dust Theory, which essentially says something that quantum physics says about reality and has been known in programming for some time -- that instructions computed out of order, so long as they maintain their relativism to each other, will always produce the same result. Time is an illusion; lunch time doubly so. -- zuzu
- I think the correct home for such an article would be Dust Theory. -- Jon Dowland 13:17, 9 January 2006 (UTC)
Is there ever going to be another book? Bethefawn 0011; 9.1.06
- He's apparently signed for two short stories in the near future: details at http://www.ttapress.com/discus/messages/541/660.html?1114156632 -- Jon Dowland 13:17, 9 January 2006 (UTC)
- Thanks very much! Bethefawn 07:46, 11 January 2006 (UTC)
- He has another novel in progress called Incandescence. 4.89.245.114 00:18, 23 March 2006 (UTC)
In one of his earlier stories, Greg Egan wrote (bitterly) about the tendency of modern mystics to invoke quantum physics in their dogma -- from memory, he talked about how much these people love the Uncertainty Principle, and also how little they understand the actual meaning of the whole quantum thing. Since then, I've noticed the phenomenon several times - recently in "What the Bleep Do We Know" movement - and am thinking of naming the principle 'Egan's Law'. Problem is, I've forgotten the title of the story - can any of you help? Adambrowne666 00:21, 28 February 2006 (UTC) -- (oops -- belatedly googling the term, I now see there's already some strange new law in the States called Egan's Law - might have to come up with another name.)Adambrowne666 00:32, 28 February 2006 (UTC)
- There are a lot of stories on those themes, but I don't remember exactly which one dealt with quantum mechanics centrally. Two I can think of are "Silver Fire" and "Our Lady of Chernobyl", from Luminous. Tlogmer 17:02, 28 February 2006 (UTC)
short story footnotes
Just some observations on how the stories tie together. Those who are interested in more non-encyclopaedic analysis may find my page on the subject interesting (when it's finished at least): http://alcopop.org/media/fiction/egan/ . -- Jon Dowland 10:06, 8 March 2006 (UTC)
Add years for all the short stories?
Right now there are years of first publication listed for all the novels but not for the short stories. I'm willing (and inclined) to dredge all the years out of the bibliography on his website and incorporate them. Does anyone object? It'll probably take half an hour or more so I don't want to do it and then get reverted. 4.89.246.163 00:40, 23 March 2006 (UTC)