The Infinite Regression

by Michael Gagnon

This is a story about about a person in a rush to create world peace.

62 pages, Paperback

Published April 16, 2019

Reviews

[Andrew · Rating 4 out of 5]

So this slim little book didn't take me very long to read, but it is an interesting and surprisingly entertaining little science-fiction tale. In a not really very distant future, a group of MIT researchers build a simulation in an effort to determine the best way to bring about global peace and prosperity. But when one scientist decides that a short cut to the final solution would be a good idea, he inserts a simulation of the simulation into the simulation, and creates an infinite regression. And then things get weird. Much of the premise of this book is built around the idea that is popular among many scientist today that free will is an illusion, that all action is governed deterministically by elementary particle interactions. I'm not sure that conclusion is well founded and future research may shed a clearer light on that issue, but as a vehicle for an intriguing, albeit brief, adventure.