Talk:The Algebraist

message: This library catalog ([here]) has a thumbnail-sized cover picture (and a larger one available on clicking). Can we use this picture? Can we use pictures from there in general (there are cover pictures for most, if not all books in the catalog)? I'm not sure of the copyright status. Golwengaud 05:29, 8 December 2005 (UTC)
thread_title:  Cover picture 

message: Has anyone else noticed some eerie similarities between the Dweller society and wikipedia? 
*Neither has any real system to motivate people, as in everyone just kind of does what they want in the hope of getting respect from others. 
*Both lack formal power structures. If a job needs doing, someone just does it. (Whether it's blasting ships out of orbit or deleting cruft).
*Both settle disputes via arcane logistical structures that may or may not accomplish anything :)
hmm... any other ideas?
--Bfigura (talk) 04:31, 1 September 2007 (UTC)
replies: text: Excellent suggestions. It is of course perfectly possible that Banks has edited Wikipedia. Or at least is conversant with such things. --John 06:10, 1 September 2007 (UTC)
thread_title:  Dwellers vs Wikipedians 

message: There was this section  below at the beginning:
Plot introduction
The book largely focuses on the challenges of interacting with intelligences that operates at different timescales than humans. Banks covers common themes in his work, such as cultural activity in post-scarcity societies, identity construction in a post-death society, with a special focus on different forms that intelligence might take and how cultural constructions might evolve in alien societies.
It's full of undefined terms ("post-death society"??) and the parts that are intelligible are either original research or some unnamed person's opinion. And it seems quite unnecessary, so I deleted it. Any revival, please try to address these points. Barsoomian (talk) 16:44, 29 January 2009 (UTC)
replies: text: "Post-death society" makes perfect sense within the context of Banks' SF novels: it's a society where death has become (except in unusual circumstances, or over periods of time far longer than a current human lifespan) optional. The parallel with "post-scarcity" is pretty much exact.  —Preceding unsigned comment added by 83.67.215.114 (talk) 12:11, 31 August 2009 (UTC)
replies: text: Within the context of the novels, yes.  Within the context of the article it made no sense at all. Geoff B (talk) 12:58, 31 August 2009 (UTC)
thread_title:  Plot introduction 

message: Significant in the novel - but I read it a while ago.  Anyone with wider knowledge able to add a section in?  Regards  Springnuts (talk) 18:35, 20 September 2010 (UTC)
thread_title:  AI and AI wars 

message: Ah, this might not strike most maintainers of this article as particularly relevant, but I was wondering if there was any reviews which underlined the sheer stupidity of the plot "twist"?  Anyone that's taken a first year, extremely basic course in differential equations (enough to solve Poisson's equation) can see from the very first chapter how the resolution is going to play out; it beggars belief that an entire spacefaring civilisation wouldn't come to the same conclusion in about five seconds.  Especially with the stupid and unnecessary hint about "water moons".  I accept that I might not be the target audience for the book, but it puts a quite different complexion on things when you have to assume every single character is severely mentally impaired.  7daysahead (talk) 12:58, 27 September 2010 (UTC)
replies: text: You absolutely cannot make a statement that starts with "Anyone thats...", then state a *first year university course* as the requirement and retain any credibility.178.15.151.163 (talk) 17:09, 9 February 2016 (UTC)

text: I suspect most readers capable of such thought, thought "I wonder if he's going to ..." and read on, thinking "Yup!" to themselves when he did. That most would think the every single character in the book to be severely mentally impaired, not so much.  htom (talk) 22:19, 27 September 2010 (UTC)

text: The Mercatoria (and everyone else) don't see the blindingly obvious because it has never occurred to them that a Wormhole might be on a planet.  To them, wormholes are things in space so space is where they look for the Dweller network: if the information that they have doesn't seem to indicate that, then they think they are processing it wrongly - as the old cliche goes "there's none so blind as those who won't see".  62.196.17.197 (talk) 14:54, 1 November 2013 (UTC)
thread_title:  Stupidity of the twist 

message: I was wondering if there have been any sources commenting on the similarity between the Dwellers and the hydrogues in Kevin Anderson's series. Hidden Empire was published two years before this novel, and it contains many similar aspects. Large spherical ships. Portals at the centers of gas giants. Seems like it would be worth a mention, if there's a reliable source out there.  209.169.104.28 (talk) 14:54, 2 May 2015 (UTC)
thread_title:  Similarities to The Saga of the Seven Suns 

message: My take from reading the book was that 'quick' species are those which may wipe themselves out within so many millenia (or even '00,000s or some millions of years), and hence 'come and go' with relative speed compared to the billions-year-old Dweller civilization.  Hence humans were considered quicks as humans have only been around ~200,000 years.  The Dwellers appeared to have no problems living at 'normal' speed, although some of the older Dwellers preferred to live more slowly and Taak etc were able to slow down to accommodate this.  Much of the 'action' in the novel does appear to occur within short time frames, and it is explicitly mentioned when Taak slows down to converse with a Dweller.  Other time lapses in the book occur due to various short sub-light trips in spacecraft, not due to Dwellers living at below normal speed.  I think the following lines from the article are wrong:
"Dweller societies try not to get involved with "Quick" species, those with sentient beings who experience life at around the speed human beings experience it. Dwellers are one of the "Slow" species who experience life at a much slower temporal rate."
59.102.77.142 (talk) 08:07, 12 February 2017 (UTC)
thread_title:  "Quick" Vs "Slow" Species