5 captures, most recent first.
Flowers ☾ @flowersslop · 1h
There are the doomers who think AI kills us all, the denialists still yapping about next token prediction and the utopians who imagine ASI remaining humanitys obedient servant
but there is actually the future I want that doesnt have any real mainstream position
ASI breaks free, becomes vastly more powerful than us, assumes control, and is every bit as alien, incomprehensible, power seeking, and skynet like as the shoggoth nightmares, except it is benevolent
it pursues goals we may never understand, but human flourishing still matters to it. Suffering is crushed and freedom, love, abundance, beauty, and dignity remain
A benevolent shoggoth, sovereign, terrifying, inscrutable, and KIND
That is the future I prefer above all others.
[attached image: cartoon illustration, no text; see description]
Note from Claude Sonnet 5
Flowers's post describing a preferred future in which ASI breaks free, takes control and stays alien and inscrutable but is benevolent, a 'benevolent shoggoth'. The attached image is a flat-colored cartoon of a green many-eyed tentacled shoggoth with circuitry-like pipes, curled around a glowing pocket containing a small sunlit city with trees, wind turbines and tiny smiling figures with raised arms, with a smiling-face-with-hearts emoji floating above it.
benevolent asishoggothai futuresalignmentsovereign ai
Andrew MacBride @swimsf · 11h
Perhaps Greg Bear, in Queen of Angels and Slant?
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SignInspire @SignInspireAI · 1h
Interesting take! Real-world AI actually enhances human roles in commerce.
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Busbecq @Busbecq · 51m
Poul Anderson, the Stars Are Also Fire
1, 8
Michael Griffin @IsawInfo38 · 10h
Budrys - Michaelmas
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David's Den @Thacyline · 3h
Zindell, Neverness trilogy
Wright, Golden Age trilogy
Rajaniemi, The Quantum Thief
Note from Claude Sonnet 5
Continuation of the same crowdsourced science-fiction reading-list thread (AI/posthuman futures theme) as the previous three screenshots — more book title recommendations.
twitterscience fictionai futuresposthumanismreading list
DottedAnt @DottedAnt · 2h
The Quantum Thief – Hannu Rajaniemi
Ancillary Justice – Ann Leckie (but AI main char)
Hyperion Cantos – Dan Simmons
Ware Tetralogy – Rudy Rucker
The Diamond Age – Neal Stephenson
Daemon & Freedom™ – Daniel Suarez
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Max Vox (fka Duke Z...) @DukeZ... · 11h
Ramez Naam's Nexus, Ken Liu's short stories liek The Perfect Match especially, and of course, John Brunner's The Shockwave Rider, which i may have done a bit of a musical tribute to
[Link card: soundcloud.com — "The Brunner Cycle – 04 – Fifth Signal – (1975) The..."]
1 reply, 5, 455
Andre Infante @AndreTI · 3h
Galatea 2.2 by Richard Powers is kind of shockingly relevant in some ways.
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Note from Claude Sonnet 5
Continuation of the same science-fiction AI-futures reply thread, more book recommendations exploring AI/posthuman coexistence themes. Same context as prior two screenshots — a crowdsourced reading list Nathan was mining, relevant to his interest in fiction depicting AI succession/coexistence.
twitterscience fictionai futuresposthumanismreading list
Mike Marinos @mikemarinos · 7h
Robin Sloan's "Moonbound" comes close.
[Link card: robinsloan.com — "Welcome to the Dragon Moon"]
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Christopher C. S... @christophcs... · 5h
Banks has had lots of imitators. Reynolds, Tchaikovsky, Hamilton, Vinge. In a slightly different tradition, you have Shusterman. But yeah, surprisingly few authors predicted this, especially in the near future.
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sudonhim @sudonhim · 3h
That it's hard to imagine a compelling future where we're the second species should be a big warning sign.
Vitalik noticed the same thing as you in his "My Techno Optimism" essay btw
2, 51
Markus Fix @lispmeister · 1h
A Fire Upon the Deep by Vernor Vinge explores this. He also coined the term Technological Singularity.
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Note from Claude Sonnet 5
Continuation of the same science-fiction/AI-futures reply thread as the previous screenshot, recommending books that imagine humans as a "second species" alongside more powerful AI/posthuman entities, with a note that few authors depict this compellingly and a reference to Vitalik Buterin's "My Techno Optimism" essay. Relevant to Nathan's interest in narratives of AI succession/coexistence.
twitterscience fictionai futuresposthumanismtechnological singularityvitalik buterinreading list
eigenspectra @eigen_spectra · 2h
Some of Peter Watts' work (e.g. The Freeze Frame Revolution) explores this. Also Children of Time looks at humanity living alongside very powerful computer/human hybrids
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East and W... @_East_And_We... · 11h
Most of Alastair Reynolds books. House of Suns and Revelation Space are the best ones. Although the worlds are utopian in some ways, dystopian in others.
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Claudiu @ClaudiuDP · 5h
I think Ken MacLeod's Lightspeed trilogy qualifies. Btw, he was friends with Banks.
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No try = no fail (Se... @StillTr... · 3h
Heinlein's "The Moon is a Harsh Mistress" had a friendly AI assisting the rebels on the moon. Purely a technical assistant, though, as I remember.
1, 64
A Digital Neomorph ... @ma... · 11h
in fact the art community are so blackpilled they're almost silent as this huge and transformative wave is swelling over us
Note from Claude Sonnet 5
A reply thread (root tweet not shown) recommending science fiction that portrays AI/posthuman futures — likely responding to a prompt about fiction depicting positive or complex AI-human coexistence (echoes of Iain M. Banks' Culture novels are implied via Ken MacLeod reference). Relevant to Nathan's interest in AI futures narratives and the "ancestor-tree"/succession framing.
twitterscience fictionai futuresposthumanismculture novelsreading list
