Weeknotes #10

When Dan Simmons died earlier this year, I put Hyperion and its sequels on my reading list. It’s long been one of my favorite novels, but it’d been almost 6 years since I last read it. When I revisit a novel so many years later I find that different aspects of its story stand out. With Hyperion this time around, the TechnoCore got me thinking. Without spoiling the plot, think of the Core as a network of super-intelligent AIs that separated from (and yet still control large aspects of) humanity. The Core jumped out to me because, amidst all the present day chatter about AGI, it can be easy to think in singular terms. What will AGI look like? What will that AI’s perspective on humans be? The AIs of Hyperion, though, are plural. There are 3 groups: the Ultimates, Stables, and Volatiles, all with different proclivities and priorities. Perhaps the future will be less homogenous than we fear. Sam Holden’s post about human and artificial scale is a good one and I particularly appreciated his…