RE: https://mathstodon.xyz/@gregeganSF/116689984437258435
What a master class
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@tristanC Nah. Bad logic, lots of handwaving and slipping in the assumptions. He's been doing it for a while, which is quite surprising. How can the author of Arrival can then be so myopic about this?
Same deal with Charles Stross. First he writes how the future unfolds, then disavows it with “I write lies for money” (therefore my words have such a power over reality that even if something is happening as described it is a lie?).
And Egan, having described the literal birth of a software entity from scratch, now holds the "nananana can't be true" view about that very thing.
Amazing levels of self-dismissiveness.
@dpwiz I found it introduces a good argument about moral agency and responsibility that I haven't read before. I'm not familiar with Stross, but for Egan, I believe his fiction is sufficiently different to be compared with the current state of affairs.
I am also not super familiar with this topic, and I can't tell what's the bad logic in this piece.