3
mentions
mentions
On the topic of sci-fi’s I really like books written by scientists turned writers because I find the world building to be much more compelling, interesting and logically consistent. Recently I enjoyed [this].
— Andrej Karpathy
2016-11 on quorasessionwithandrejkarpathy.quora.com
Do you despise "sci-fi" featuring aliens with legs/faces/eyes/fur that highlight the author's intellectual shallowness at best or intentionally insult your intelligence at worst? Does your heart rate accelerate when a spaceship in a book/movie flies between worlds with a flip of a switch magical warp drive - ignore relativity - tech without any expectation that you might be puzzled by the blatant inconsistencies with the physical laws of our universe? If intellectually lazy pretend-sci-fi is not your thing, you will Love Stanislaw Lem, and you will love this book. Hop on a journey to the planet Quinta, and admire the mysteries of a beautifully-composed snapshot of a civilization that evolved along an entirely different path. Ponder the utterly naive notion that civilizations belonging to different regions of a society/mind space can share enough culture to establish effective communication. Admire the thought that informed the detail of each brush stroke and the consistency behind the full composition of this vision of the future. Bask in the philosophical digressions on space travel, inter-civilization morality, or advanced artificial intelligence and its place alongside humans. And watch the mission's seemingly simple objective violently disintegrate into a mirage, recognizing by its somber end its certain futility. There are parts to complain about, parts to question, and parts to skim, but one does not take a ride in a Tesla Model S and then complain in the review that the cup holder was slightly too far to the back. 5/5. 5/5
— Andrej Karpathy
2016-05-15 on goodreads.com
A most interesting alien contact. Inventive, cool.
— Andrej Karpathy