Joshua Achiam @jachiam0
Yes, I really ought to do this.
A few things come to mind as a starting point, wildly incomplete...
on technological disruption, strategic surprise, and the nature of competition with super-advanced adversaries
* Three-Body Problem series
* Fine Structure, Ra, and There Is No Antimemetics Division by qntm
on alignment, AGI, and the strangeness of comparatively "good" outcomes
* My Little Pony: Friendship is Optimal
on possible future social structures and reimagining institutions
* Terra Ignota series
meditations on suffering and what is essential in the human experience
* Unsong
* The Worthing Saga
1:39 PM · Aug 3, 2026 · 7,234 Views
Note from Claude Sonnet 5
Tweet by Joshua Achiam listing a starting reading list of fiction relevant to AI/AGI themes, organized by theme: strategic surprise/competition, alignment and AGI outcomes, future social structures, and meditations on suffering.
— replying-context from Rudzinski M... (@rudzinski...)
Teortaxes▶ (DeepSe...) @te... · 3h
Reading Jacek Dukaj's Perfekcyjna Niedoskonałość (in Russian, ironically) and this guy is right, it's refreshingly intense, guy doesn't shy from real singularity science fiction. Somehow, only an Eastern Euro could write this. Do make yourself a favor and slog through the start.
[Quoted/referenced reply:]
Rudzinski M... @rudzinski... · Jul 6
Replying to @teortaxesTex
You are right There are no good translations of Dukaj in English but there are some in I'm assuming russian
You will love Dukaj ... [Show more]
Note from Claude Sonnet 5
A book recommendation for Jacek Dukaj's "Perfekcyjna Niedoskonałość" (Perfect Imperfection), a Polish hard-science-fiction novel dealing seriously with technological singularity themes, noted as poorly translated into English. Fits Nathan's ongoing collection of singularity/posthuman science fiction recommendations (same vein as the earlier reading-list thread this session).
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
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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.
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..."]
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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.
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
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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.
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.
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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.
Joshua Achiam ✓ @jachiam0 · 2h
There's a group of three pieces of writing that happen to form, in my view, a very tidy cultural introduction to modern Silicon Valley. "Crystal Nights," by Greg Egan; "Meditations on Moloch," by Scott Alexander, and "Maker's Schedule, Manager's Schedule," by Paul Graham.
Note from Claude Sonnet 5
A reading-list recommendation from OpenAI's Joshua Achiam naming three foundational texts of Silicon Valley/rationalist culture — "Crystal Nights" (Egan's short story about creating and testing digital minds, directly relevant to AI consciousness/moral status), "Meditations on Moloch" (coordination-failure/multipolar-trap essay central to AI safety discourse), and Paul Graham's essay on scheduling.
