Permutation of the real: Greg Egan’s reinterpretation of virtual reality

Dorota McKay

doi:10.56583/fs.332

Published : 2008-12-31

Vol. 1 No. 1 (2008)

Permutation of the real: Greg Egan’s reinterpretation of virtual reality

Dorota McKay

DOI: https://doi.org/10.56583/fs.332

Abstract

The article is a detailed study of the concept of virtual reality as portrayed in Permutation City, a 1994 novel by an Australian science fi ction author Greg Egan. The objective of the argument is to show how contemporary science fi ction literature portrays the shift in perception of reality brought about by the growing importance of cyberspace and computer generated environments in today’s world. Detailed analysis of the original text and critical sources is used to explain the author’s scientific claims behind the central to the novel “dust theory” of multiple universes, and how this theory might be used to discredit the virtual vs. real distinction. The results thus obtained show that the novel is more of a serious thought experiment based on actual theories of quantum physics and quantum ontology than just a literary game designed primarily to amuse the reader.

Keywords:

Permutation City, dust theory, multiverse, quantum ontology, virtual reality, cyberspace, conscious software

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McKay, D. (2008). Permutation of the real: Greg Egan’s reinterpretation of virtual reality. Facta Simonidis, 1(1), 209–223. https://doi.org/10.56583/fs.332

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This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 4.0 International License.

References

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