
Ask HN: Which scifi authors to interview about immortality? - kieckerjan
The producers of a serious informative show on Dutch national television are looking for scifi authors to interview on the subject of immortality. Which authors do you think they should pick, and why?
======
danieka
Peter F. Hamilton

Besides writing marvelous sci-fi which I would recommend everyone to read,
many of his books center around a world where humans rejuvenate. Basically you
go to a clinic where your body's age is turned back to whatever age you desire
(or maybe a new body is grown, can't remember). When you are there your
"brain" (memories, thinking patterns etc) is backed up meaning if you are
killed the clinic will simply clone a new body for you and download your
consciousness to the new body. It's been I while since I last read his books
so I can't off-hand remember what moral/social aspects of immortality he
focused on.

If you want to read his books I would recommend you start with Pandora's Star
and Judas Unchained. Those have to be some of the best books I've ever read.
Speaking of which, I'm off to re-read them a third time.

~~~
eesmith
In reading his stories, I couldn't help but think that either
immortality/rejuvenation leads to a very static society, or he has
difficulties in trying to think of what a future society might look like.

His stories felt very much like the present, or the near past, projected into
the future, with very little change.

This could be deliberate. The some of oldest people are also the richest
(including having their own family planet), and least likely to want cultural
change. The entire civilization could be bent to their desire to prevent
change. But I don't think so. I think he just writes the present into the
future.

Of course all authors find it hard to really think about a future culture
different than their own. Take Heinlein, whose future worlds are often
American pioneer or mid-20th century. But Heinlein added a few things to
remind you that it is the future. Kilts are a trend in Methuselah's Children,
white gloves for men in Double Star, nail polish for men in Beyond this
Horizon, and at the end of Time For The Stars we realize that women throughout
the story were always wearing hats, while back on Earth that fad had passed
and women had naked heads "like an animal."

While in Pandora's Star and Judas Unchained, the future was now, with a few
extra gadgets, and a view of sexism which already feels dated. (I agree with
the comment about sexism at
[https://www.goodreads.com/review/show/149949969?book_show_ac...](https://www.goodreads.com/review/show/149949969?book_show_action=true)
. And yes, Heinlein's stories were also sexist. I like the description that he
write about a future with woman's lib, with women characters as doctors and
engineers, but the reality of women's lib was quite different.)

On a technical side-note, the power sources really bug me. There are super-
duper capacitors that can be charged over a century in order to change the
weather, and incredible power sources that can be surgically embedded in
humans so that a fight between two such augmented human ends up knocking down
walls, but there are still diesel engines?

~~~
WorkLobster
I think you may have picked up on something there, talking about a "static
society". I remember reading a comment from Hamilton at one point (possibly in
the fore/afterword?) that the goal of the Night's Dawn trilogy was to write
about a society so stable and stagnant that change has to be forced upon it
from without. And while the Commonwealth saga may not have shared the same
explicit premise, there were definite parallels.

------
cm2012
Going to second Eliezer Yudkowsky. He wrote the most popular Harry Potter
fanfic in the world, Harry Potter and the Methods of Rationality (I know it's
funny, but it's probably been read more than most of the other scifi in this
thread). The whole theme was about the philosophy of the rejection of death as
the natural order.

[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Harry_Potter_and_the_Methods_o...](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Harry_Potter_and_the_Methods_of_Rationality)

[http://yudkowsky.net/](http://yudkowsky.net/)

------
galeforcewinds
Mr. Bruce Sterling authored "Holy Fire" in 1996, a novel which deals with the
topic of radical life extension through a protagonist who is an elderly woman.
Contemplative, and a fun read.

Were he alive, Jules Verne would have been an excellent choice. Verne's tomb
has a statue dedicated to immortality and eternal youth,
[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jules_Verne#/media/File:Verne_...](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jules_Verne#/media/File:Verne_tomb.jpg)

~~~
steven_noble
+1

------
pjc50
Try Charlie Stross (@cstross), if he's not interested in being interviewed
himself I'm sure he'll still give you an interesting reccomendation set.

~~~
arethuza
The ending of _A Colder War_ hints at the rather bad possibilities of virtual
immortality...

~~~
goatlover
And he doesn't actually think the singularity or mind uploading will happen:

[http://www.antipope.org/charlie/blog-
static/2011/06/reality-...](http://www.antipope.org/charlie/blog-
static/2011/06/reality-check-1.html)

~~~
arethuza
Well, who knows exactly how Cthulhu (or K-Thulu) eats souls?

------
starshadowx2
Greg Egan, but he probably wouldn't say yes.

[http://www.gregegan.net/](http://www.gregegan.net/)

[https://www.wikiwand.com/en/Greg_Egan](https://www.wikiwand.com/en/Greg_Egan)

~~~
kieckerjan
Yes, I understand he shuns the spotlight. Too bad, because he was the first
one who came to my mind as well.

~~~
starshadowx2
I haven't read most of the authors here (this thread is doing double duty,
being great for finding more authors/books to read, thanks) but from what I
know so far, Egan is the best at writing about true immortality. Like
trillions of years to actually infinite time level.

Diaspora (my favourite book) goes so far as to just stop counting time anymore
because it just goes so unimaginably far.

------
duckingtest
1\. Jacek Dukaj [0] - virtually unknown due to refusal to write directly in
English :( "Perfect Imperfection" is imo the best sf book about
trans/posthumanism there is.

"Dukaj has interesting take on post-humanism, both as a state of being and as
a process. If you recall Accellerando, even though Manfred Macx was a futurist
and trans-humanist he was hesitant to augment himself past certain limits.
Stross pretty much drew a line in sand and said: up to here, you are human and
if you rewire yourself further you will become something both
incomprehensible, inhuman and frightening. Dukaj is very aware of this
problem, but in his universe there is no line – there is a blurred spectrum of
humanity. Yes, if you continue augmenting yourself for pure performance you
may eventually lose track of your humanity." [1]

2\. Hannu Rajaniemi

[0]
[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Perfect_Imperfection](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Perfect_Imperfection)

[1] [http://www.terminally-
incoherent.com/blog/2011/07/08/perfect...](http://www.terminally-
incoherent.com/blog/2011/07/08/perfect-imperfection-perfekcyjna-
niedoskonalosc-by-jacek-dukaj/)

------
mynegation
Although not very known outside of Russian-speaking people, I would recommend
Sergey Lukyanenko. He deals with mortality/immortality in several of his
novels: "Line of Delirium" [1] and "The Stars are Cold Toys" [2] dilogies
immediately come to mind.

[1]
[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Line_of_Delirium](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Line_of_Delirium)
[2]
[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Stars_Are_Cold_Toys](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Stars_Are_Cold_Toys)

~~~
dsr_
Translations into English have happened in the last few years, which is why
I've enjoyed several of his books.

------
linsomniac
Daniel Suarez in Daemon and Freedom (tm) writes about a game designer that
creates an AI that restructures the world. Very similar in idea to Ready
Player One, but a very different take.

~~~
noblethrasher
Interesting choice since the “AI” in the first book was grounded in reality,
and was explicitly neither sentient nor sapient.

------
headcanon
John C Wright

Wrote the Golden Ocumene trilogy which explores a post-post-singularity
society where not only is immortality taken for granted, post-humans can swap
between species and lifestyles, IRL or virtually, pretty much at will.
Essentially the book itself explores the will to push boundaries in a world
where everything conceivable is plentiful and readily available, and as a
result, most of humanity and culture has grown stagnant, because how can you
get better than perfect?

------
GeekyBear
John Varley - His "Eight Worlds" future history has combined the concepts of
backing up and restoring human consciousness with cloning a new body to house
that consciousness in stories going back to the 70's.

Perhaps he would be most famous for his short story "Overdrawn at the Memory
Bank" which was dramatized on PBS. This production was later to be soundly
mocked during the original run of Mystery Science Theater 3000.

~~~
dsr_
And he has a new book coming out in August 2018, so he's probably interested
in some publicity.

[https://varley.net/nonfiction/news/irontown-blues-
blues/](https://varley.net/nonfiction/news/irontown-blues-blues/)

------
debugloop
Dennis E. Taylor, mainly for his Bobiverse Series (only thing I've read by
him).

I think he's not very well known, but his Triology fits the theme very well:
It is about the engineer Bob, who is uploaded as a "replicant" into a
spaceship. Humanity mostly wipes it self out using nukes after they got the
Bob failsafe away into space, and Bob gets too deal with the remnants of
humanity. He replicates himself, too the point that the Bobs can host a
Bobmoot and vote on things. Due to being immortal, some Bobs starts calling
humans ephemerals, wheras others are offended at the implication that they're
not human.

It's a very interesting and entertaining read. I'm also writing this from the
top of my head and have only read this triology by him.

------
radicaledward
It is not scifi, but I think some mention of Tuck Everlasting should be made.
The book was really important to my understanding of death when I was growing
up.

Unfortunately it looks like the author, Natalie Babbitt, passed away last
year. So they can't interview her.

------
wpietri
Richard Morgan. His first trilogy, the one that starts with Altered Carbon, is
set in a society where people can move to new bodies. Rich people are
effectively immortal, leading to interesting societal effects.

~~~
bwanab
Strong second for Richard Morgan and Altered Carbon. The story is gangbusters
action fiction, but the thought he's given to the implications are spot on.

------
knlb
Iain M Banks, the culture series touches on immortality and choosing / not
choosing it. [edit: didn't read carefully enough. Sadly, he won't be available
for interviewing]

------
TimMeade
James L. Halprin His "The first immortal" from 1998 is the best example I've
ever seen of the next 150 years. It's amazing to go back and reread this and
see what he predicted is unfolding in our current time.

Free download:
[https://coins.ha.com/information/tfi.s?type=-FIRSTIMMORTAL.C...](https://coins.ha.com/information/tfi.s?type=-FIRSTIMMORTAL.COM)

------
bpizzi
I was going to say that Heinlein did a wonderful and poetic try at immortality
with 'Time enough for love', before quicly realizing that, alas, this great
soul has passed away almost 20 years ago.

There's authors that achieve a sort of personnal connection with readers
through their stories. Heinlein did that for me, along with the also greatly
regretted Iain M. Banks.

------
goatlover
Ferrett Steinmetz

His book The Uploaded deals with the consequences of a world where the dying
are granted digital immortality in a fantasy filled utopian adventure, but
they still get to vote. The real world is falling apart, few people care about
their bodily existence, looking for any excuse to die, and the uploaded have
all the political power.

~~~
logfromblammo
That brings to mind a short story where only those under a certain age were
allowed to vote or hold political offices or command position, while the
clinically immortal elders were still allowed to have advisor and observer
roles. It might have been the one with the baby-eaters, but I can't recall
now. It also brings to mind the Futurama where Prof. Farnsworth ages out and
is forced to move to the retirement planet.

Even our ancestors feared rule by the dead, which is where the rule against
perpetuities comes from.

~~~
icebraining
Jonathan Swift wrote masterfully about that in Gulliver's Travels (1726),
which is one of best SF works ever written, in my opinion. He describes a
nation in which some people are born immortal (called the struldbrug):

 _As soon as they have completed the term of eighty years, they are looked on
as dead in law; their heirs immediately succeed to their estates; only a small
pittance is reserved for their support; and the poor ones are maintained at
the public charge. After that period, they are held incapable of any
employment of trust or profit; they cannot purchase lands, or take leases;
neither are they allowed to be witnesses in any cause, either civil or
criminal, not even for the decision of meers (metes) and bounds._

------
Null-Set
Eliezer Yudkowsky

~~~
goatlover
Nick Bostrom if Eliezer counts as a scifi author.

------
drofmij
Howard Tayler - [http://howardtayler.com/](http://howardtayler.com/) He has
been writing a sci-fi comic for 17 years and has spent some considerable time
investigating and exploring the concept of immortality in the last couple of
years of comics.

------
zantana
Honorable mention: Roger Zelazny
[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Roger_Zelazny](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Roger_Zelazny)

It's a sad irony that an author who's work was so focused on immortality died
at 58.

------
roryisok
Cory Doctorow's first book, _Down and Out in the Magic Kingdom_ , is about a
society in which everyone is pretty much immortal thanks to brain back up
technology. I would definitely add him to the list.

Also: Hannu Rajaniemi - author of _The Quantum Thief_

------
reasonattlm
Damien Broderick, given his related non-fiction on the singularity and other
topics.

[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Damien_Broderick](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Damien_Broderick)

------
dep_b
A close related subject is the technological singularity because it would mean
we would more or less melt together with technology. People like Ray Kurzweil
and the writer Vernor Vinge are famous for this.

What broadcasting company is this? VPRO?

~~~
kieckerjan
I am not supposed to tell (yet). I understand the show might still be canceled
and they don´t want people spending eternity waiting for something that
doesn't materialize. :)

------
fluffybunnyfeet
As a fairly recent author in the genre, look at Dennis E. Taylor and the "We
Are Bob" trilogy revolving around brain scanning and self-replicating von
Neumann probes. I thought it was a great series.

~~~
luvbb
Way to many pop culture references for my taste. There are a few plot holes,
especially in the first book.

Still worth reading.

------
nickhalfasleep
Alastair Reynolds has numerous stories dealing with astronomical distances and
ages. He has dealt with characters facing and using a variety of life
extension methods and how that affects their attitude.

------
kieckerjan
Thanks for the great tips, people. The producers something to chew on. The
show will likely air in January. It should become available online as well. If
someone is interested, I can toss them a link.

------
paulajohnson
Ramez Naam, for the Nexus trilogy.
[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Nexus_Trilogy](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Nexus_Trilogy)

------
BDGC
Claire North (aka Catherine Webb). Her book "The First Fifteen Lives of Harry
August" addresses a different "type" of immortality than we typically think
of.

------
batbomb
Philip K Dick. Somehow there's a new Blade Runner so he must be alive still.

~~~
qbrass
[http://www.pkdandroid.org/disappearance-of-
android.htm](http://www.pkdandroid.org/disappearance-of-android.htm)

They built a robot clone of him and his head made a run for it and is still on
the lam.

------
sideshowb
John Wyndham and Arthur C Clarke both wrote on the topic. Good luck.

~~~
sgt
Both are dead.

~~~
sideshowb
I know.

------
guyt00
John Scalzi

~~~
pilsetnieks
Why? I mean I like his books a lot but he doesn't exactly ponder immortality
all that much. "Old man's war" maybe touches on this a little - but I think
it's more about regaining youth than immortality.

