Sci-fi Book Group - Simulated realities

A regular book group night to discuss sci-fi and expand our reading horizons! It's very informal, you don't even have to have read a book - just as long as you enjoy talking sci-fi and having a glass of wine (or coffee!)

This month we're reading science fiction that deals with any type of simulated reality.

Some (AI generated) suggestions - [if you have any other ideas, suggest them in a comment]:


1. Simulacron-3 — Daniel F. Galouye (1964)
Excellent fit for the theme
A computer-generated city is populated by simulated people who believe their lives are real. But what if the people creating the simulation are themselves simulated?
Discussion potential: Layers of reality, consciousness, identity and the unsettling possibility that we might be somebody else's experiment.


2. The Three Stigmata of Palmer Eldritch — Philip K. Dick (1965)
One of Dick's strangest and most fascinating novels. In a future where colonists escape their grim lives through hallucinogenic experiences, a mysterious figure introduces something that makes it impossible to distinguish between reality and illusion.
Discussion potential: Who controls our perception? Can an artificial experience be more real than everyday life?


3. Permutation City — Greg Egan (1994)
Perhaps the most intellectually ambitious choice. Digital copies of human consciousness are created and allowed to inhabit simulated worlds. Egan explores whether simulated life can become independent of its creators.
Discussion potential: What is consciousness? Does a copy of you actually count as you? Can a simulation create its own reality?
A particularly good choice for a group that enjoys philosophical and scientific debate.

)

4. The City & the City — China Miéville (2009)
Two cities occupy the same physical space, but their inhabitants are conditioned not to see or acknowledge one another. Not a conventional computer simulation, but a brilliant exploration of constructed realities.
Discussion potential: How much of reality is determined by social conditioning? Can we be trained not to see what is right in front of us?


5. The Raw Shark Texts — Steven Hall (2007)
A wonderfully inventive, experimental novel in which ideas, information and language take on a physical existence. Reality itself seems vulnerable to manipulation.
Discussion potential: Is reality something we experience, or something constructed by information and language?

## More accessible and entertaining choices

If your group prefers a gripping story alongside the philosophical ideas, I'd add these:


6. Dark Matter — Blake Crouch (2016)
A fast-paced thriller about alternate realities, different versions of ourselves and the choices that create our lives.
Discussion: If multiple versions of you exist, which one is the real you?


7. Otherland: City of Golden Shadow — Tad Williams (1996)
The first in a series involving an extraordinarily sophisticated virtual reality network. People become trapped in artificial worlds with potentially devastating consequences.
Discussion: What happens when virtual worlds become more compelling than physical existence?


8. Ubik — Philip K. Dick (1969)
A wonderfully disorientating novel in which the rules of reality seem to be breaking down. One of the great psychological science-fiction mysteries.
Discussion: How can we know that our experiences are real?

)

9. Ready Player One — Ernest Cline (2011)
Set in a dystopian future where people spend much of their lives in an enormous virtual world called the OASIS.
Discussion: Why might people prefer an artificial world to the real one? What makes a virtual experience meaningful?


10. The Lathe of Heaven — Ursula K. Le Guin (1971)
A man's dreams alter reality itself, and a psychiatrist tries to exploit this extraordinary power. Not strictly a computer simulation, but a fascinating exploration of the instability of reality.
Discussion: If you could redesign reality, should you?

Join us to discuss what you've read, what you'd like to read and help us decide on some topics for the rest of the year.

The topic for our next book group might be a specific book, author or general topic like first encounters, robots, etc - we'll decide on the night depending on people's interests. Feel free to submit a suggestion in the comments below.

As always, you can join our chat room on matrix at #bookgroup:glasgow.social (if you don't already have access to matrix, you can sign up at https://glasgow.social/matrix).

This meeting will be held in The Gamer Club - there'll be free tea, coffee and wine, but feel free to BYOB too! There are some directions to the venue here: https://www.thegamerclub.co.uk/gettinghere