[geeks] Good computer fiction books

[Andrew Jones]

On 11/05/12 18:22, Phil Stracchino wrote:
> On 11/05/12 18:03, Brian Dunbar wrote:
>> On Mon, Nov 5, 2012 at 4:50 PM, Jonathan Patschke<jp at celestrion.net>  wrote:
>>
>> Vinge's 'Deepness in the Sky' isn't computer-centric, but computers
>> are such a part _of_ any space-faring culture they're as necessary to
>> survival as water and air.

Vinge's other great work in the same universe, 'A Fire Upon The Deep,' 
has almost no spacefaring in it... but hangs the bulk of the expository 
material on multi-species, poorly-translated Shiny Future Usenet.

>
> Actually, one could argue the case for at least half of Iain M. Banks'
> Culture novels, particularly _Excession_, _Look to Windward_, and
> _Surface Detail_, in all three of which major characters are
> artificially-hyperintelligent[1] starship minds.  (As a matter of fact,
> in _Excession_, the actual *biological* characters are in the minority.)
>

'Excession' also makes heavy, heavy use of Shiny Future Usenet and 
mailing lists, as these are apparently the way that hyperintelligent 
super-minds (who recreate via math) prefer to communicate.