Permutation City

by Greg Egan

352 pages

English language

Published Oct. 4, 1995

ISBN:: 978-0-06-105481-5
Goodreads:: 156784

(3 reviews)

The story of a man with a vision - immortality : for those who can afford it is found in cyberspace. Permutation city is the tale of a man with a vision - how to create immortality - and how that vision becomes something way beyond his control. Encompassing the lives and struggles of an artificial life junkie desperate to save her dying mother, a billionaire banker scarred by a terrible crime, the lovers for whom, in their timeless virtual world, love is not enough - and much more - Permutation city is filled with the sense of wonder.

7 editions

Abstract Reader reviewed Permutation City by Greg Egan

Did not make sense

2 stars

I did not finish this one. The whole premise seems to hinge on the idea that you can just arbitrarily reorder the steps of a deterministic computation. This clearly is not possible in general and the book does not even try to come up with an excuse why it should be possible in their setting. Am I just supposed to suspend my belief for that? It then goes on to expound lots of philosophy based on this premise, but it all rings rather hollow for me given that the lynch pin is so ridiculous.

Justin Younger reviewed Permutation City by Greg Egan

Review of 'Permutation City (Subjective Cosmology #2)' on 'Goodreads'

3 stars

Tough read but very prescient.

loppear reviewed Permutation City by Greg Egan

I love the 90s scifi cover, "people on a chip" is not really what this is at all, although it is too.

5 stars

Speaking my language at 14 or 40, hard implications for immortality and self-redefinition in computationally simulated brain scans and artificially evolved life.