True Names - Vernor Vinge
— 246 words — 2 min
An absolute gem! I enjoyed reading one of the earliest cyberpunk novellas out there. I stumbled upon this book by going down a rabbit hole starting from an email on a mailing list providing some articles, papers, and blog posts about identity. I came across the post True Names Not Required that mentioned this book. So I got the book spontaneously and I couldn’t put it down. The book draws you in, has a decent story that almost completely happens in cyberspace—except those parts in which the protagonist interacts with the state. All the magic, spells, and wizardry is an interesting approach to portraying technology and it does work well. As Arther C. Clarke said:
Any sufficiently advanced technology is indistinguishable from magic.
Vernor Vinge wrote True Names in 1981. It does not contain any technical details, but lots of spells and magic, which is part of the reason I’d consider this book timeless.
Another reason I like this book is that it shines light on true or real names. Often, names are not required and we—as humans—can interact, trade, exchange information without knowing the true or legal name of another person. Yet, we grew so accustomed to providing our name, our identity, to anyone who asks nicely or just tells us that it is necessary—whatever that really means. It’s ridiculous.
Great book! I recommend to read it if you’re into that kind of stuff.
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