Monday, January 9, 2017

Ted Chiang, THE LIFECYCLE OF SOFTWARE OBJECTS

I wasn't all that impressed with this novella when I first read it online, but when I saw that Subterranean Press had issued it as a hardback, I decided to have another go at it. Fortunately the LFPL had a copy, since the book has sold out in  Limited Edition, Trade Edition, and Trade Second Printing from Subterranean, and is selling from $99.85 to $1,134.70 used on Amazon. (Plus shipping.) And you'll fare no better on eBay, where it weighs in at around $500. So once again a big thanks to the LFPL.



And y'know, I really loved the story this time around. Maybe my initial blasé reaction was due to the fact that I was gorging on Chiang (I read all of his stories in a couple of days). Or maybe I was just in a different place mentally. Or maybe it just needed to be read twice. Or maybe I just am more open to books that are books. Dunno.


At any rate, it really hit me this time around how much this has to do not only with artificial intelligence and the moral repercussions of advances in that area, but also how much it has to do with special needs people. In a lot of ways, there's not much difference between the digients and a person with special needs. Or, for that matter, any person with any needs.

I still wish that Ted Chiang would write more stuff, and I do wish that I could purchase a book version of this novella as there are several people I'd like to gift with it, but at least it is available to anyone who wants to read it. Or read it twice.



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