Dreams of Books

Permutation City by Greg Egan

Quote Character (Location, Item, Alien Race, etc) Author Cover

Popular In Permutation City

Paul Durham

Popular Quotes And Their Visualizations

"I don’t want to be here."



A solitary person sits at a dimly lit bar, holding a glass and looking downcast, while lively groups chat in the background, reflecting the feeling of not wanting to be there. A decayed, empty room with peeling walls and broken windows, featuring a large hole in the wall and the words I don’t want to be here written above it. A young person sits alone on the floor in a dim, worn room, hugging their knees with a somber expression, next to an empty bottle and the text I don’t want to be here.

Added by Phaethon

"Certainly, none of the other Copies had reported anything similar … but then, none of them had volunteered much useful data at all. They’d just ranted abuse, whined about their plight, and then terminated themselves–all within fifteen (subjective) minutes of gaining consciousness."



Five damaged, numbered cryogenic pods labeled COPY stand in a lab, with a person in uniform observing screens showing error data and warnings. Dark, mechanical humanoid figures with intricate, organic technology emerge beneath towering arches, conveying eerie consciousness and disconnection amidst a shadowed, dystopian landscape. A glowing figure labeled Copy B0015 stands with a bright heart and illuminated head, surrounded by dimmer, less distinct humanoid forms in a dark, digital environment.

Added by Phaethon

"His model-of-a-brain ran seventeen times slower than the real thing."



A detailed steampunk-style mechanical brain model with gears and notes, illustrating a brain simulation running seventeen times slower than a real brain. A glowing, intricate brain model connected with cables runs inside a lab, while a man in glasses observes it, reflecting the brain’s slowed processing pace. A man studies a detailed brain model and computer screens showing a brain simulation running 17 times slower than a real brain, surrounded by notes and books. A scientist studies a detailed brain model and a computer screen showing data comparing a model-of-a-brain running seventeen times slower than a real brain, alongside brain images.

Added by Phaethon

"All the time he’d spent, supposedly “preparing himself” to be a Copy, his greatest source of resolve had been to focus on the outlook for the man who’d remain flesh-and-blood. He’d told himself that he was rehearsing “making do with vicarious freedom” – and no doubt he had been genuinely struggling to do just that … but he’d also been taking secret comfort in the knowledge that he would “remain” on the outside – that his future, then, still included a version with absolutely nothing to fear. And as long as he’d clung to that happy truth, he’d never really swallowed the fate of the Copy at all. People reacted badly to waking up as Copies."



A man in a futuristic suit watches a lifeless copy of himself inside a sealed glass chamber, reflecting the struggle between his flesh-and-blood self and the artificial Copy. Surreal image of two indistinct human faces merging and dissolving into smoky, swirling textures, reflecting fragmented identity and the struggle between flesh and copy. Man in a futuristic control room reads documents, surrounded by screens showing medical info, reflecting on the struggle of preparing to become a Copy while valuing his human future.

Added by Phaethon

"And of those who were young and healthy, those who were merely curious, those who knew they had a perfectly viable, living, breathing body outside? The bail-out rate so far had been one hundred per cent."



Illustration shows three sealed pods labeled “Young & Healthy,” “Merely Curious,” and “Viable Body Exists Outside,” with people exiting to a bright, natural outdoor world. Four young people walk confidently away from the city, carrying shoes, symbolizing those who chose their living, breathing bodies over confinement. A row of young, healthy individuals seated in futuristic pods, each pod displaying a “Bail-out Rate: 100%” sign, highlighting a full evacuation from their bodies. Human figures are shown abandoning a flooded city, floating and falling away from a towering mechanical structure emitting a red light amid dark, stormy skies.

Added by Phaethon

Genres Featured In Permutation City

Science Fiction (Dominant)
Philosophical Fiction (Major)
Cyberpunk (Notable)
Speculative Fiction (Prominent)
Dystopian (Sub-Genre)

Themes Featured In Permutation City

Identity and Consciousness (Central)
Artificial Life and Simulation (Major)
Existentialism and Reality (Significant)
Immortality and Digital Afterlife (Significant)
Philosophy of Mind (Moderate)
Virtual Worlds and Alternate Realities (Moderate)
Ethics of Consciousness Copying (Noticable)

Tones In Permutation City

Philosophical (Very Strong)
Speculative (Strong)
Futuristic (Moderate)
Existential (Strong)
Intellectual (Moderate)
Dark (Mild)
Scientific (Moderate)

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