Skip to content

SelfAwarePatterns

Ponderings of science, philosophy, history, society, and many other topics

  • Home
  • About
  • Mind and AI
    • Consciousness lies in the eye of the beholder
    • A perceptual hierarchy of consciousness
    • Hierarchy of consciousness, January 2021 edition
    • Global workspace theory: consciousness as brain wide information sharing
    • Chalmers’ theory of consciousness
    • The barrier of meaning
  • Science
    • What do scientific theories actually tell us about the world?
    • Structural realism, a way to be a scientific realist?
    • The evolution of the scientific method.
    • The spectrum of science to fantasy
  • Philosophy
    • How do you separate the objective from the subjective?
  • Science Fiction
  • Space
    • 97% of the observable universe is forever unreachable
  • History
    • The value of history
  • Morality
  • Religion
  • Society
    • Having productive internet conversations
  • Writing

Tag: Space opera

Children of Memory

Cover for Children of Memory

Children of Memory is the third book in Adrian Tchaikovsky's trilogy: Children of Time. This series chronicles the rise of an interstellar civilization. At the beginning of the series, humanity has begun projects to terraform several planets in other solar systems. The plan is to use a genetic virus to uplift (make sapient) an implanted … Continue reading Children of Memory →

SelfAwarePatterns Science Fiction 8 Comments March 12, 2023 4 Minutes

Needle (Inverted Frontier Book 3)

The latest installment of Linda Nagata's Inverted Frontier series, Needle, dropped last week, so of course I had to immediately move it to the top of the reading list. This is far future space opera, but with hard(ish) science fiction bent. Unlike typical space opera, there is no faster than light travel, so no galactic … Continue reading Needle (Inverted Frontier Book 3) →

SelfAwarePatterns Science Fiction 16 Comments July 23, 2022 3 Minutes

Century Rain

Recently I recommended Alastair Reynolds' new book Inhibitor Phase. In subsequent conversation with Wyrd Smythe, I remembered that there were a couple of books in Reynolds' backlist that I had missed. One of these is Century Rain, a novel that, based on Wyrd's assessment, was definitely worth reading. Century Rain is a standalone novel, one … Continue reading Century Rain →

SelfAwarePatterns Science Fiction 15 Comments February 19, 2022February 19, 2022 3 Minutes

Inhibitor Phase

It's been a while since I've read a book in Alastair Reynolds' Revelation Space series. Reynolds, who has a background as a professional astrophysicist, writes fairly hard science fiction, particularly space opera. I say "fairly" because he isn't above mixing in speculative concepts to make the story more interesting. But most of his fiction doesn't … Continue reading Inhibitor Phase →

SelfAwarePatterns Science Fiction 15 Comments December 16, 2021 4 Minutes

Leviathan Falls (Book 9 of The Expanse)

I discovered the first book of The Expanse series, Leviathan Wakes, back in 2014. By then the first three books had already been out. I'm pretty sure I burned through those early books in a few weeks. I know I've read all the subsequent ones as they came out. This was a series that channeled … Continue reading Leviathan Falls (Book 9 of The Expanse) →

SelfAwarePatterns Science Fiction 9 Comments December 5, 2021December 5, 2021 3 Minutes

Lost in Space 3

One of my favorite shows as a young boy was Lost in Space. But when I attempted to rewatch it several years ago, I discovered that it hadn't aged well at all. Except for the earliest episodes, it was basically unwatchable. And after a 1990s failed attempt as a movie reboot, which I enjoyed but … Continue reading Lost in Space 3 →

SelfAwarePatterns Science Fiction 30 Comments December 4, 2021 2 Minutes

Cowboy Bebop and other TV notes

Usually new TV shows I'm interested in are few and far between, which makes the last few weeks unusual, as there's been an avalanche of stuff that caught my interest. Apparently everyone wants to release their stuff in or near the holiday season. I wonder why they don't think we need entertainment throughout the rest … Continue reading Cowboy Bebop and other TV notes →

SelfAwarePatterns Science Fiction 20 Comments November 27, 2021 4 Minutes

Foundation

I've been watching the new Apple TV+ series Foundation, but wanted to get a few episodes in before commenting. This is an adaptation of Isaac Asimov's classic Foundation book series. In that series, set in the far future (20,000 years), a vast galactic empire rules the entire galaxy. Hari Seldon is a mathematician who has … Continue reading Foundation →

SelfAwarePatterns Science Fiction 17 Comments October 8, 2021October 9, 2021 4 Minutes

Project Hail Mary

As I've gotten older, I've become increasingly weary of the alien invasion premise. The problem is the level of coincidence. Earth was a sitting duck for 4 billion years, but the aliens wait until the very century when humans are able to mount any kind of resistance. (To the credit of HG Wells, the originator … Continue reading Project Hail Mary →

SelfAwarePatterns Science Fiction 10 Comments September 2, 2021 2 Minutes

ID-0

ID-0 is an interesting little series I stumbled across on Netflix. Like a lot of sci-fi anime, it's in the mecha genre (involving giant robots), but with a twist. The premise is that humans can copy their mind into a robot called an "I-machine" and essentially become the robot. A backup copy of the human's … Continue reading ID-0 →

SelfAwarePatterns Science Fiction 6 Comments August 26, 2021 3 Minutes

Posts navigation

Older posts

Recent Posts

  • The Great Consciousness Debate: ASSC 25
  • Q&A on the Mind Object Identity hypothesis
  • Children of Memory
  • The function of color
  • Is the question whether spacetime is real, or whether it’s fundamental?
  • Do regular people see a hard problem of consciousness?
  • The urge to downplay the brain
  • The Invention of Tomorrow
  • The Peripheral
  • Merry Christmas
  • The debate between phenomenal realism and illusionism, and the scope of perceptual properties
  • The debate between scientific realism and anti-realism seems like it’s about theory scope
  • Mastodon: an update
  • The Mastodon experience at one week
  • Thoughts about online security

Popular Posts

  • Mind uploading and the philosophy of self
    Mind uploading and the philosophy of self
  • Why faster than light travel is inevitably also time travel
    Why faster than light travel is inevitably also time travel
  • Would aliens or AI have religion?
    Would aliens or AI have religion?
  • AI: An Exercise in Analytical Philosophy
    AI: An Exercise in Analytical Philosophy
  • Anil Seth's theory of consciousness
    Anil Seth's theory of consciousness
  • Politics is about self interest
    Politics is about self interest
  • The iron rule of science?
    The iron rule of science?
  • The mechanical philosophy and mysterianism
    The mechanical philosophy and mysterianism
  • Take COVID-19 seriously
    Take COVID-19 seriously
  • Is the ultimate nature of reality mental?
    Is the ultimate nature of reality mental?

Categories

Archives

March 2023
M T W T F S S
 12345
6789101112
13141516171819
20212223242526
2728293031  
« Feb    

Recent Comments

SelfAwarePatterns on The Great Consciousness Debate…
James Cross on The Great Consciousness Debate…
SelfAwarePatterns on The Great Consciousness Debate…
Philosopher Eric on The Great Consciousness Debate…
SelfAwarePatterns on The Great Consciousness Debate…
SelfAwarePatterns on The Great Consciousness Debate…
James Cross on The Great Consciousness Debate…
James Cross on The Great Consciousness Debate…
Philosopher Eric on The Great Consciousness Debate…
SelfAwarePatterns on The Great Consciousness Debate…
SelfAwarePatterns on The Great Consciousness Debate…
paultorek on The Great Consciousness Debate…
James Cross on The Great Consciousness Debate…
James Cross on The Great Consciousness Debate…
SelfAwarePatterns on The Great Consciousness Debate…

Follow SelfAwarePatterns

Enter your email address to follow this blog and receive notifications of new posts by email.

Follow SelfAwarePatterns on WordPress.com

SelfAwarePatterns tweets

My Tweets
Blog at WordPress.com.
  • Follow Following
    • SelfAwarePatterns
    • Join 1,679 other followers
    • Already have a WordPress.com account? Log in now.
    • SelfAwarePatterns
    • Customize
    • Follow Following
    • Sign up
    • Log in
    • Report this content
    • View site in Reader
    • Manage subscriptions
    • Collapse this bar
 

Loading Comments...