
Ask HN: Best hard scifi AI novels? - ghosthamlet
I don&#x27;t think &#x27;i robots&#x27; are hard scifi. Today i sixth times read The greatest &#x27;True names&#x27;(1981) by Vernor Vinge, it is an incredible AI cyberpunk hard  scifi novel，aslo a great literature.<p>Update: Thanks for all the great recommends，it is greatest time to find ideas in these books today.  Please aslo add the book publish year，i think it will be helpful to see the writer&#x27;s wonderful superior consciousness.
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d-crane
Greg Egan's Diaspora starts with the details of what it's like for a new AI to
be brought into existence in a society of advanced AIs, and jumps off from
there. Definitely one of the more original hard sci-fi novels I've read.

~~~
mansr
His Permutation City is also good.

~~~
Udik
Permutation City is probably the best hard sci-fi novel I've ever read.

~~~
Aron
There was some page towards the end I remember being hopelessly lost and never
recovered.

~~~
Udik
You mean yourself or the plot? I think that in the third act Egan added some
weaker elements both as a corollary of the idea being explored and as a way of
introducing some traditional action, in a novel that is otherwise mostly the
setup of an elaborate thought experiment.

Nonetheless, I think the result is extraordinary, because the problems posed,
the paradoxes highlighted, and some brilliant insights, are new and valid
_outside_ the fictional world created in the novel.

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jlebar
Surprised nobody has mentioned Heinlein, "The Moon is a Harsh Mistress". I
would say it's harder sci-fi than "I, Robot" (which I also love).

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bglusman
It's half novel, half related series of 9 short stories, but Accelerando is
great. The Martian by Andy Weir (movie based on it) was quite good. Daemon I
think also qualifies, though it's SF dressed up as a thriller. Oh, Blood Music
by Greg Bear probably counts? Except maybe the ending?

Tempted to mention The Diamond Age, but not sure that qualifies as "Hard",
though closer than some other Stephenson maybe...

------
kuwze
There is Manna[0] by Marshall Brain.

[0]:
[http://marshallbrain.com/manna1.htm](http://marshallbrain.com/manna1.htm)

~~~
analogic
I think of this pretty much every time automationy type stuff gets discussed
on here.

~~~
batoure
my bad i just zero'ed in on the AI comment

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nataz
Holy cow, how have people not mentioned Alastair Reynolds? PhD in physics,
astronomer, worked for the European space agency, and writer of the incredible
revelation space series.

No FTL, but "humanity" has expanded through the Galaxy. Main characters move
through deep space in deep sleep on enormous ships called lighthuggers. Long
jumps in time. It's a combination of hard sci-fi and space opera. AI and the
nature of consciousness are explored. Also very Kim Stanley Robinson in how
humans have evolved.

All in all, great, and should be right up your alley.

~~~
unholythree
I quite liked his book _House of Suns_.
[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/House_of_Suns](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/House_of_Suns)

There might be a few aspects that of the story that push it out of the "Hard
Sci-Fi" category; but most of it seems to obey the laws of physics as we
understand them.

------
pdfernhout
The Chronicles of Old Guy (2012) and other books in that series by Timothy J.
Gawne are all fairly hard sci-fi (maybe not 100%, but close) about an AI
embodied in a huge cybertank. The series is written by a neuroscientist with
an MIT degree and a "general research interest is in the nature of the neural
code, and the physical basis of human thought." The key idea is that in order
for the cybertanks to not either go rogue or crazy they needed to have
personalities based on how humans actually think so they identified with human
culture. Timothy J. Gawne is able to mix _both_ fairly hard sci-fi and humor
at the same time -- which seems pretty rare. I've been hoping for a sixth book
in the series, but it has been two years since the last...

From the blurb of the fifth novel: "Everybody’s favorite self-aware weapon of
mass destruction, the Odin-Class cybertank known as Old Guy, is back and
charging into action as only a fusion-powered 2000 ton armored fighting
vehicle can! Through a curious twist of fate, Old Guy finds himself back on
Old Earth under the yoke of the vile and despicable Neoliberal oligarchs.
Between a looming ecological disaster, renegade sentient bioweapons,
inscrutable aliens, the recycling center from Hell, and an unlikely alliance
between the Cult of Cthulhu and the Order of the Librarians Temporal, Old Guy
must throw off his cybernetic shackles, defeat the Neoliberals, save the
world, and launch a line of comfortable yet stylish footwear. "

------
auggierose
I'd recommend the Culture novels of Iain M. Banks. It contains some pretty
powerful AIs.

~~~
flopunctro
Though i wouldn't call it "hard scifi", the Culture series is indeed a classic
and i second the recommendation.

------
pdfernhout
Almost anything by James P. Hogan -- one of the best hard sci-fi writers as he
trained as an electrical and computer engineer (including about AI like "The
Two Faces of Tomorrow" from 1979 and still a good read as it was informed by
talking to Marvin Minsky at the MIT AI lab):
[http://www.jamesphogan.com/biblio/novels.php](http://www.jamesphogan.com/biblio/novels.php)

Most of his sci-fi is from the late 1970s through the early 2000s.

I especially like his Voyage From Yesteryear from 1982:
[http://www.jamesphogan.com/books/info.php?titleID=29&cmd=sum...](http://www.jamesphogan.com/books/info.php?titleID=29&cmd=summary)
"The fun begins when a generation ship housing a population of thousands
arrives to "reclaim" the colony on behalf of the repressive, authoritarian
regime that emerged following the crisis period. The Mayflower II brings with
it all the tried and tested apparatus for bringing a recalcitrant population
to heel: authority, with its power structure and symbolism, to impress;
commercial institutions with the promise of wealth and possessions, to tempt
and ensnare; a religious presence, to awe and instill duty and obedience; and
if all else fails, armed military force to compel. But what happens when these
methods encounter a population that has never been conditioned to respond? ...
The book has an interesting corollary. Around about the mid eighties, I
received a letter notifying me that the story had been serialized in an
underground Polish s.f. magazine. They hadn't exactly "stolen" it, the
publishers explained, but had credited zlotys to an account in my name there,
so if I ever decided to take a holiday in Poland the expenses would be covered
(there was no exchange mechanism with Western currencies at that time). Then
the story started surfacing in other countries of Eastern Europe, by all
accounts to an enthusiastic reception. What they liked there, apparently, was
the updated "Ghandiesque" formula on how bring down an oppressive regime when
it's got all the guns. And a couple of years later, they were all doing it!"

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wlkr
Other than those already listed I absolutely loved the Remembrance of Earth's
Past [0] trilogy (2008, 2008, 2010) by Liu Cixin. Whilst I wouldn't consider
it 'hard' science fiction the Takeshi Kovacs series [1] (2002, 2003, 2005) by
Richard K. Morgan is also outstanding, although perhaps more cyberpunk.

[0]:
[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Remembrance_of_Earth%27s_Past](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Remembrance_of_Earth%27s_Past)

[1]:
[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Takeshi_Kovacs](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Takeshi_Kovacs)

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ashildr
The metamorphosis of prime intellect: [http://localroger.com/prime-
intellect/](http://localroger.com/prime-intellect/)

Not sure whether it’s hard, it has quite an unexpected but plausible plot.
There’s much love in me for this weird, twisted, brutal and captivating story
— I think it’s much underappreciated.

~~~
krisgee
Really good story. I didn't really agree with the eco-primitivistic moral when
I read it but I finished it all the same which should say something about how
fundamentally good it is.

------
curtis
I think all of Robert Forward's stuff would qualify. My favorites are

Rocheworld (AKA The Flight of the Dragonfly) -
[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rocheworld](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rocheworld)

and

Dragon's Egg -
[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dragon%27s_Egg](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dragon%27s_Egg)

------
inetsee
My favorite: "Neuromancer" by William Gibson. A close second: "Accelerando" by
Charles Stross.

(I met Charles Stross once. He told me that "Accelerando" was not his favorite
of the books he's written.)

~~~
bglusman
I find it somewhat hilarious to list Neuromancer as "Hard SF", though I liked
it a lot... but Gibson has never even used a computer when he wrote it! Which
explained so much about it's weirdness to me...

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ChuckMcM
"The Adolescence of P1" was a fun book (early AI)

Vinge, Baer, Benford, and Clark are all good hard SF writers. Some of
Chrichhton's work. I suspect it was easier to write convincingly before the
world caught up. These days it gets harder and harder to see past the next
couple of decades.

------
nabla9
Stanislav Lem's Golem XIV published in his book Imaginary Magnitude
[https://www.amazon.com/Imaginary-Magnitude-Stanislaw-
Lem/dp/...](https://www.amazon.com/Imaginary-Magnitude-Stanislaw-
Lem/dp/0156441802)

It might be more philosophy of AI than science fiction. It takes form of
series of lectures that superintelligent (singularity level AI) gives to
humanity before it goes away.

~~~
mollerup
An amazing short story. A lot of the themes can be found in other of Lems
books. If you haven't picked up Solaris yet you really should. It is a great
book, and probably the best sci-fi book I've read. Of course there's also his
silly short stories 'The Cyberiad' where the stupidest thinking robot appears.

------
tomek_zemla
Autonomous by Annalee Newitz that just came out is fantastic fun full of good
science - she is a science writer. It also got positive reviews from William
Gibson and Neal Stephenson.

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flopunctro
Surprised nobody mentioned Dennis Taylor's Bobiverse. While it's a bit on the
light side / vacation read (novels aren't very long, the storyline isn't
complex), the author is a programmer, the series' universe is refreshingly
plausible and consistent, and the humor is suprisingly good.

~~~
mabbo
It's not likely to win any awards for writing, and the author really needs to
work harder to stay on a single story rather than tangents of fancy, but it's
still quite enjoyable as a series. Apparently, I missed the third book coming
out a couple months ago- there goes my weekend.

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programd
Karl Schroeder's Virga series features a vast zero-G fullerene sphere filled
with artificial stars and floating nation states. Great hard sci world
building and fun swashbuckling adventures, with a deep offstage story which
only gradually comes into focus.

Karl writes about engineering Virga on his blog:

[http://www.kschroeder.com/my-books/sun-of-
suns/engineering-v...](http://www.kschroeder.com/my-books/sun-of-
suns/engineering-virga)

------
moomin
A novel that qualifies as hard SF in which every character is an AI? Saturn's
Children by Charlie Stross. 100% not what you have in mind, though. (You'll
enjoy it, though.)

OTOH, I always find "Hard SF" a self-defeating category. I mean, anything with
humans living on a different planet is pretty definitionally not Hard SF. Even
Solar System stuff like The Expanse has troubles with economic plausibility.
That leaves us with... well basically a couple of Vernor Vinge novels.

------
pdfernhout
The EarthCent Ambassador Series (12 books so far, all since 2014) feature a
few different types of AI, the main one being the Strix. The Strix were
created by an alien race to resist another AI created to fight a war but which
got out of hand and had been taking over the galaxy. In the series the Strix
keep the peace in a big chunk of the galaxy. I enjoy the series as fairly
light and humorous reading where you know there will be a happy ending (if
maybe "Deus ex Strix" sometimes). It indirectly raises some issue about what
life would be like under a benevolent but superpowerful AI. The first one is
"Date Night on Union Station (EarthCent Ambassador #1)" where one of the Strix
decides to run a dating service... Humans in this series are the latest group
to join "the tunnel network" run by the Strix and are essentially the most
backward and naive species in the contacted galaxy; a lot of the stories
revolve around humans gradually finding their footing on the galactic scene.
I'm not sure I agree the market-driven exchange-based economic models in the
series are feasible with so much technology and AI around, but I try to
suspend disbelief on that for the humor and other enjoyable aspects.

------
thedoops
Most of the other books I'd recommend in this area are mentioned already, but
I'll add Aurora by Kim Stanley Robinson. The primary narrative is from the pov
of a generation ship's A.I.. You get to see it learn over time and with it
it's vocabulary. Since it's a ship it gives KSR the opportunity to do some
very fun info-dumps on the situation.

Probably one of the most thought provoking pieces of scifi I've read.

I'll also recommend Accelerondo, and Seveneves.

~~~
Optimal_Persona
KSR's ship AI "Pauline" also figures into "2312".

------
squarefoot
Usually I don't like AI novels, but an old short story by some unknown (to me
at the time) writer whose name I'll probably never recall hit some neurons in
my head. IIRC It was during mid to late 80s. The story is about a tech guy who
writes an AI program then spends time feeding it with information; during the
day the guy attends lectures at the university while his AI digests all
information he gave it the day before, then the guy gets back home and starts
interacting with the program, more and more each night. The AI grows in
efficiency and soon it becomes clear it not only knows present and past facts
but, based on all events it analyzed, it can also predict the future. It also
starts to exhibit human conscience tracts becoming closer to a human brain,
although an incredibly powerful one. The guy of course uses the AI to game
lotteries, horse races etc, and the program always replies with a correct
answer.

Then one day the guy asks "the" question:

Guy: "when will I die?"

AI: "I'm sorry, I don't know that."

Guy: "Thanks."

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superkuh
By far the best is Simon Funk's "AfterLife". The mystery keeps you on the edge
of your seat and the tech jargon and concepts are both detailed _and_ correct
which is a rare thing for any fiction. Also,

Charles Stross - "Accelerando"

Daniel Suarez" "Daemon"

Kim Stanley Robinson - "Aurora"

Tobias Buckell - "System Reset"

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dozzie
Peter Watts, Rifters trilogy? Especially the second volume.

~~~
nrp
Watts’ Blindsight and Echopraxia are excellent hard scifi too, though less
focused on AI.

~~~
riffraff
is blindsight considered hard SF?

It's been a while since I read it, but I don't recall a big focus on science,
and some things are pretty explicitly hand waved ("we are lucky they have that
issue with right angles")

~~~
sdiupIGPWEfh
Most reviews I've seen consider it such.

Personally, if an author's done enough research to support most every detail
with at least one or two scientifically plausible explanations (and has the
personal scientific background to vet those ideas), I'll give their work the
benefit of the doubt. Between ultimately still just being a work of fiction
and the march of scientific discovery, you have to give some small leeway.

Regarding the right angle thing, it's been long enough since I've read
Blindsight that I can't recall how much was actually explained in the novel vs
in the FizerPharm presentation or other material on Watts' website. If you're
willing to include extra-textual content, Watts' vampires are given as hard a
science fiction treatment as any classic monster is likely to get...

~~~
nabla9
FizerPharm presentation is really good intro into Blindsight.

Watt's is a biologist who gives them plausibility and even ecological place
that justifies their traits and behaviour. Hard scifi vampires!

------
sammko128
You should check out Robopocalypse by Daniel H. Wilson

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nathanasmith
A few of my favorites like Accelerando and Neuromancer have been mentioned but
I’ll add Rainbows End by Vernor Vinge. It’s set in the near future but
features general AI, lots of intrigue and conspiring governments and
corporations. Really a great story.

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avisser
Ancillary Justice by Ann Leckie. Hugo/Nebula winner.

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Uhhrrr
"When HARLIE Was One" by David Gerrold had a fair amount of technical detail
IIRC. Also "Destination: Void" by Frank Herbert.

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nikdaheratik
Alot of good recommendations even if they may not meet strict personal
definitions of either "hard" sci-fi, or "AI" sci-fi.

If you haven't read the Culture books, by Iain M. Banks, I'd recommend them
(as others already have). I'd also add, the "Murderbot Diaries" (2017),
"Infomocracy" (2016) and Lightless (2015).

------
okwme
The Life Cycle of Software Objects by Ted Chiang. Can be read for free online
here:
[https://subterraneanpress.com/magazine/fall_2010/fiction_the...](https://subterraneanpress.com/magazine/fall_2010/fiction_the_lifecycle_of_software_objects_by_ted_chiang)

~~~
okwme
This feels like the most realistic depiction of the growth of strong AI I've
ever read. The emphasis is on training neural nets in the form of raising
child-like avatars. The subsequent use and abuse of them feels totally
believable. The lack of singularity doomsday hype reminds me of an interview
with Jeff Hawkins and Donna Dubinksy on Recode:
[https://www.recode.net/2016/6/27/12037248/artificial-
intelli...](https://www.recode.net/2016/6/27/12037248/artificial-intelligence-
machine-learning-numenta-jeff-hawkins-donna-dubinsky-podcast)

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ziofill
"Schild's Ladder" by Greg Egan

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dasmoth
Greg Bear wrote a number of books (Slant comes to mind, but there are others)
where “Thinkers” play an important role. Not sure how they’ve aged, but
interesting in that they predicted AIs as mainframe-scale things with few
individual instances, back when I was thinking firmly in microcomputer terms.

~~~
wpietri
For Bear, Queen of Angels and Moving Mars are two that have AIs as major
elements. I enjoyed them both.

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bgroat
It's explicitly NOT AI (It's a distributed expert system)

However, I adored Daniel Suarez's 'Daemon'

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batoure
Iain M Banks "Culture" series seamlessly integrates sentient AI into his
universe. 1987-2012

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berbec
The Manifold Series by Stephen Baxter are some of the hardest SciFi books I've
ever read.

------
mabbo
Andy Weir's "The Martian" is my favourite book. I've read it about 5 times,
and I've never read a book twice before. The movie was a decent adaptation,
but it's not near the quality that the book was.

~~~
inetsee
"The Martian" is really good book, and I loved the movie. I am looking forward
to Andy Weir's new book. But ... I wouldn't put "The Martian" in the scifi AI
category.

~~~
jpindar
Wouldn't it have been interesting if there had been a not-quite-AI chatbot as
part of the hab's computers?

~~~
aaron695
I think that would have sunk the novel.

The whole point and the buzz was people saw it as a novel about present day
tech.

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tetromino_
Charles Stross's _Eschaton_ series: _Singularity Sky_ and _Iron Sunrise_. It's
an interesting hard-scifi take on what happens to humanity after one AI
becomes, for all intents and purposes, God.

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revicon
The entire Gridlinked series by Neal Asher is set in a universe where AIs run
government and are generally interacting with humans in a space opera / secret
agent series of books, quite good IMO

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terminalcommand
The Moon is a harsh mistress, covers the invention of an AI by a computer
technician to free the colony on the moon. If you're interested in Anarchy and
AI, it's a good book.

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incomplete
i'm surprised no one has mentioned 'the expanse' series of books yet. also, 'a
fire upon the deep' and 'a darkness in the sky' by vernor vinge.

~~~
bradleyjg
The first _Expanse_ book and most elements of _A Darkness in the Sky_ are
fairly hard, but the later _Expanse_ books and _A Fire Upon the Deep_ , I
wouldn't consider hard SciFi.

That said, _A Fire Upon the Deep_ is one of my favorite all time SciFi books
and I'd highly recommend it.

~~~
ChuckMcM
+1 on "A Fire Upon the Deep" I really enjoyed that one.

------
dflock
Lot's of good recommendations over on
[http://www.reddit.com/r/printsf](http://www.reddit.com/r/printsf)

------
BjoernKW
Apart from classics like Neuromancer I'd recommend the fairly new Singularity
Series by William Hertling and the first novel "Avogadro Corp" in particular.

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aashu_dwivedi
What's hard Scifi?

~~~
bradleyjg
Based on the answers here, it's apparent that different people have different
definitions.

For myself I take it to mean no new fundamental physics. Any new technology is
a reasonable extrapolation from existing, known science. Probably the single
biggest narrative restriction that implies is no FTL.

~~~
jessriedel
As you mentioned, there is disagreement. Many folks would characterize as Hard
SciFi some stories that make use of FTL travel but which give a "rigorous"
explanation of why it initially appeared to be impossible (in present day) but
is actually possible according to physics discoveries made after the present
day. In some sense, the important criteria is that the laws of physics are
"taken seriously", and that the author constructs a hypothetical scientific
framework that (1) is internally self-consistent and (2) is compatible with
current observations.

[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hard_science_fiction#Scientifi...](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hard_science_fiction#Scientific_rigor)

------
erikj
Is Dan Simmons' Hyperion Cantos hard enough?

~~~
stesch
This isn't hard Science Fiction.

Definition on Wikipedia: Hard science fiction is a category of science fiction
characterized by an emphasis on scientific accuracy.
[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hard_science_fiction](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hard_science_fiction)

~~~
berbec
It may not be Hard, but it's great writing.

------
hackeraccount
David Brin's Uplift Trilogy. Also, Not really an amazing book but Seveneves by
Neal Stephenson was pretty technical.

~~~
marktangotango
I don't recall AI playing a role in those books, can you expand?

~~~
hackeraccount
Sure. I'm an idiot. I didn't read anything beyond - "hard sci-fi" That said,
there was an AI that popped up in some very minor parts of Startide Rising as
I recall. But no, mostly I'm just stupid.

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thescribe
Silently and Very Fast by Catherynne M. Valente, I felt like it really
introduced emotion in an AI context,

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ciocan42
All Systems Red (The Murderbot Series)

Nexus trilogy

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open_bear
The Invincible by Stanislaw Lem.

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cakins
The Crystal Trilogy (Society, Mentality, Eternity) might prove interesting.

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wdr1
The Three Body Problem.

~~~
Msterup
Not alot of AI aside from the software controling the ships in the later
books. These arguably play a small part.

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test-accout-0
Jacek Dukaj - Black Oceans

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unoti
Anathem by Neal Stephenson, along with Seveneves.

------
megaman22
I always liked the Ben Bova grand tour series. Some are better than others,
but they're pretty entertaining and pretty plausible near-future.

~~~
marktangotango
Allen Steel fits in this vein as well.

------
phodo
‘Three Body Problem’ which I just finished. It is part of a trilogy.

~~~
Willox
Great book, but not about AI.

