SF Masterworks: Fall of Hyperion

Summary:

To sum it up, "The Fall of Hyperion" is a science fiction novel that grapples with concepts of artificial intelligence, the future of humanity, and the workings of ultimate cosmic powers. It tells an intricate space opera encompassing a range of sentient beings and explores humanity's confrontation with potentially self-created doom.

Main ideas:

• In "The Fall of Hyperion," the Time Tombs are opening, and the entity known as the Shrike that emerges may hold sway over the future of humanity.
• The Ousters, a group of post-humans, are attacking the Hegemony of Man, and the artificial intelligences (AIs) humans created have rebelled to construct an Ultimate Intelligence, referred to as the God of Machines.
• This new God's creation could potentially lead to humanity's destruction.
• An unknown force is drawing the Hegemony, the Ousters, the AIs, and even the entire universe towards the Shrike.

Publisher description:

The mysterious Time Tombs are opening and the Shrike that has risen from them may well control the fate of all mankind. The Ousters are laying seige to the Hegemony of Man and the AIs we created have turned against us to build the Ultimate Intelligence; God. The God of Machines. His genesis could mean annihilation for man. Something is drawing the hegemony, the Ousters, the AIs, the entire universe to the Shrike.