Karl Schroeder
Encyclopedia
Karl Schroeder is an award-winning Canadian
science fiction
author. His novels present far-future speculations on topics such as nanotechnology
, terraforming
, augmented reality
and interstellar travel
, and have a deeply philosophical streak. One of his concepts, known as thalience, has gained some currency in the artificial intelligence
and computer networking communities.
community in Brandon, Manitoba
. He moved to Toronto, where he now lives with his wife and daughter, in 1986. After publishing a dozen short stories, Schroeder published his first novel, Ventus
, in 2000. A prequel to Ventus, Lady of Mazes, was published in 2005. He has published seven more novels and is co-author (with Cory Doctorow
) of the self-help book The Complete Idiot's Guide to Writing Science Fiction. Schroeder currently writes, teaches science fiction
writing, and provides technology consulting services.
community to describe the self-organizing properties of fine-grained distributed networks. As presented in the novel, however, the concept may refer to the attempt to determine whether non-human sentient systems are truly independent minds, or whether they are merely "parrots" that give back to human researchers what the researchers expect to hear. The novel says that the word was deliberately chosen as an allusion to "silent Thalia", the muse
of Nature. However, Ventus also more consistently refers to thalience as a state of being. Entities are considered "thalient" if they succeed in developing their own categories for understanding the world.
Canada
Canada is a North American country consisting of ten provinces and three territories. Located in the northern part of the continent, it extends from the Atlantic Ocean in the east to the Pacific Ocean in the west, and northward into the Arctic Ocean...
science fiction
Science fiction
Science fiction is a genre of fiction dealing with imaginary but more or less plausible content such as future settings, futuristic science and technology, space travel, aliens, and paranormal abilities...
author. His novels present far-future speculations on topics such as nanotechnology
Nanotechnology
Nanotechnology is the study of manipulating matter on an atomic and molecular scale. Generally, nanotechnology deals with developing materials, devices, or other structures possessing at least one dimension sized from 1 to 100 nanometres...
, terraforming
Terraforming
Terraforming of a planet, moon, or other body is the hypothetical process of deliberately modifying its atmosphere, temperature, surface topography or ecology to be similar to those of Earth, in order to make it habitable by terrestrial organisms.The term is sometimes used more generally as a...
, augmented reality
Augmented reality
Augmented reality is a live, direct or indirect, view of a physical, real-world environment whose elements are augmented by computer-generated sensory input such as sound, video, graphics or GPS data. It is related to a more general concept called mediated reality, in which a view of reality is...
and interstellar travel
Interstellar travel
Interstellar space travel is manned or unmanned travel between stars. The concept of interstellar travel in starships is a staple of science fiction. Interstellar travel is much more difficult than interplanetary travel. Intergalactic travel, or travel between different galaxies, is even more...
, and have a deeply philosophical streak. One of his concepts, known as thalience, has gained some currency in the artificial intelligence
Artificial intelligence
Artificial intelligence is the intelligence of machines and the branch of computer science that aims to create it. AI textbooks define the field as "the study and design of intelligent agents" where an intelligent agent is a system that perceives its environment and takes actions that maximize its...
and computer networking communities.
Biography
Schroeder was born into the MennoniteMennonite
The Mennonites are a group of Christian Anabaptist denominations named after the Frisian Menno Simons , who, through his writings, articulated and thereby formalized the teachings of earlier Swiss founders...
community in Brandon, Manitoba
Brandon, Manitoba
Brandon is the second largest city in Manitoba, Canada, and is located in the southwestern area of the province. Brandon is the largest city in the Westman region of Manitoba. The city is located along the Assiniboine River. Spruce Woods Provincial Park and CFB Shilo are a relatively short distance...
. He moved to Toronto, where he now lives with his wife and daughter, in 1986. After publishing a dozen short stories, Schroeder published his first novel, Ventus
Ventus
Ventus is a 2001 science fiction/fantasy novel by Karl Schroeder. It was Schroeder's debut solo novel, and introduced his concept of thalience. The novel is available for free under the Creative Commons license at Schroeder's website...
, in 2000. A prequel to Ventus, Lady of Mazes, was published in 2005. He has published seven more novels and is co-author (with Cory Doctorow
Cory Doctorow
Cory Efram Doctorow is a Canadian-British blogger, journalist, and science fiction author who serves as co-editor of the blog Boing Boing. He is an activist in favour of liberalising copyright laws and a proponent of the Creative Commons organization, using some of their licences for his books...
) of the self-help book The Complete Idiot's Guide to Writing Science Fiction. Schroeder currently writes, teaches science fiction
Science fiction
Science fiction is a genre of fiction dealing with imaginary but more or less plausible content such as future settings, futuristic science and technology, space travel, aliens, and paranormal abilities...
writing, and provides technology consulting services.
Thalience
Thalience is a concept invented by Schroeder in Ventus. The idea of thalience has been adopted by some members of the artificial intelligenceArtificial intelligence
Artificial intelligence is the intelligence of machines and the branch of computer science that aims to create it. AI textbooks define the field as "the study and design of intelligent agents" where an intelligent agent is a system that perceives its environment and takes actions that maximize its...
community to describe the self-organizing properties of fine-grained distributed networks. As presented in the novel, however, the concept may refer to the attempt to determine whether non-human sentient systems are truly independent minds, or whether they are merely "parrots" that give back to human researchers what the researchers expect to hear. The novel says that the word was deliberately chosen as an allusion to "silent Thalia", the muse
Muse
The Muses in Greek mythology, poetry, and literature, are the goddesses who inspire the creation of literature and the arts. They were considered the source of the knowledge, related orally for centuries in the ancient culture, that was contained in poetic lyrics and myths...
of Nature. However, Ventus also more consistently refers to thalience as a state of being. Entities are considered "thalient" if they succeed in developing their own categories for understanding the world.
Awards
- 1982. Pierian Spring Best Story award for The Great Worm.
- 1989. Context '89 fiction contest winner for The Cold Convergence.
- 1993. Aurora AwardAurora AwardThe Prix Aurora Awards are given out annually for the best Canadian science fiction and fantasy literary works, artworks, fan activities from that year, and are awarded in both English and French...
for Best Short Work in English for The Toy Mill. - 2001. New York Times Notable book for Ventus.
- 2003. Aurora Award for best Canadian SF novel for Permanence.
Novels
- The Claus Effect (with David Nickle). (Tesseract Books, 1997) ISBN 978-1-895836-35-6
- Ventus (Tor Books, 2000.) ISBN 978-0312871970
- PermanencePermanence (novel)Permanence is a 2002 science fiction novel by Karl Schroeder.-Plot:The novel tells the story of two characters, Rue Cassels and Michael Bequith, and their encounter with an alien spacecraft Rue has named Jentry's Envy. Schroeder uses the story as a venue for discussing the information economy and...
(Tor Books, 2002.) ISBN 076530371X - Lady of Mazes (Tor Books, 2005.) ISBN 978-0-7653-5078-7
- Crisis in Zefra (Directorate of Land Strategic Concepts, National Defense Canada; 2005.) ISBN 978-0662406433
The Virga series
- Sun of SunsSun of SunsSun of Suns, Book One of Virga, is a science fiction novel by Karl Schroeder, published by Tor in 2006. It is set in the fictional world of Virga, a world of multiple artificial suns, a fullerene sphere filled with air and full of drifting rocks and nations floating around Candesce, . The story...
(Tor Books, 2006.) ISBN 978-0-7653-5453-2 - Queen of Candesce (Tor Books, 2007.) ISBN 978-0-7653-1544-1
- Pirate Sun (Tor Books, 2008.) ISBN 978-0-7653-1545-8
- The Sunless Countries (Tor Books, 2009.) ISBN 978-0-7653-2076-6
- Ashes of Candesce
Short stories
- The Great Worm. (Pierian Spring, Fall 1983.)
- The Pools of Air. (Tesseracts3 anthology, Press Porcepic, 1991.) ISBN 978-0888782908
- Hopscotch. (On Spec magazine, summer 1992.)
- The Toy Mill (with David Nickle). (Tesseracts4 anthology, Beach Holme Press, 1992.) ISBN 978-0888783226
- Solitaire. (Figment magazine; Fall/Winter 1992.)
- The Cold Convergence. (Figment magazine, spring 1993.)
- Making Ghosts. (On Spec, Hard SF Issue, spring 1994.)
- The Engine of Recall. (Aboriginal SF, Winter 1997.)
- Ball of Blood. (Horrors! 365 Scary Stories anthology, Barnes and Noble, 1997). ISBN 9780760701416
- Halo. (Tesseracts 5 anthology, Tesseract Books, 1996.) ISBN 978-1895836264
- Dawn. (Tesseracts 7 anthology, Tesseract Books, 1999.) ISBN 978-1895836585
- The Dragon of Pripyat. (Tesseracts 8 anthology, Tesseract Books, 1999.) ISBN 978-1895836615
- Allegiances. (The Touch: Epidemic of the Millennium. iBooks, 2000.)
- The Engine of Recall (collection) (Red Deer Press, 2005.) ISBN 978-0889953451
- Book, Theatre, and Wheel. (Solaris Book of New SF #2, Solaris, 2008.)
- Mitigation. (Fast Forward #2, Pyr Books, 2009.)
- To Hie from Far Cilenia. (Metatropolis, Tor, 2010). ISBN 978-0765327109
Nonfiction
- Merry Christmas, You Ungrateful Bastards. (On Spec Summer 1993.)
- Warm Fuzziness: Quantum Mechanics and the New Age. (Transforum, August 1993.)
- Worldbuilding (SF Canada, Spring 1999.)
- The Complete Idiot's Guide to Writing Science Fiction (with Cory Doctorow). (MacMillan, 2000.) ISBN 978-0028639185
- Traitor to Both Sides. (The New York Review of Science Fiction, April 2005.)
External links
- Official site - including Creative CommonsCreative CommonsCreative Commons is a non-profit organization headquartered in Mountain View, California, United States devoted to expanding the range of creative works available for others to build upon legally and to share. The organization has released several copyright-licenses known as Creative Commons...
-licensed text of some of his works - Permanence - An Adaptationist Solution to Fermi's Paradox? by Milan M. Cirkovic
- Adaptationism Fails to Resolve Fermi’s Paradox, Serbian Astronomical Journal, Vol. 170, pp. 89-100 (2005), by Milan Cirkovic with Ivana Dragicevic and Tanja Beric-Bjedov.
- Interview with Karl Schroeder - small WORLD Podcast 2006
- Video of Karl Schroeder on The Agenda with Steve Paikin, "Are We Bound for Space?" panel discussion with Chris HadfieldChris HadfieldChris Austin "Chris" Hadfield, O.Ont, MSC, CD is a Canadian astronaut from the Canadian Space Agency who was the first Canadian to walk in space. Hadfield has flown two space shuttle missions, STS-74 in 1995 and STS-100 in 2001. He has served as CAPCOM for both Space Shuttle and International...
, Donna ShirleyDonna ShirleyDonna Shirley is a former manager of Mars Exploration at the NASA Jet Propulsion Laboratory. She is the author of the book Managing Martians: The Extraordinary Story of a Woman's Lifelong Quest to Get to Mars—and of the Team Behind the Space Robot That Has Captured the Imagination of the World...
, Lawrence Krauss and Robert D. RichardsRobert D. RichardsRobert D. Richards is a Canadian-born space entrepreneur. He is co-founder and CEO of Moon Express, Inc., a U.S. company awarded a $10M commercial lunar contract by NASA and a competitor in the Google Lunar X PRIZE... - Audio of Karl Schroeder, "The Rewilding: A Metaphor" presentation at the O'Reilly Media Open Source Conference.