Talk:Greg Egan

Computer Programmer
Why is this in the category of Australian computer programmers? --198.160.96.7 (talk) 19:39, 8 March 2012 (UTC)
 * Well, that's a tricky one, but my guess is that it's because Greg Egan (a) is Australian, and (b) says on the front page of his own website "I am a science fiction author and computer programmer". Acasson (talk) 23:18, 8 March 2012 (UTC)

Picture Of The Author?
Is there a picture available to use of Egan anywhere on the net? There is a picture on Facebook in a users group paying tribute to his work, but unfortunately everyone there is fairly sure its the *wrong* Greg Egan. It would be nice to know what the man actually looks like. —Preceding unsigned comment added by 203.219.123.251 (talk) 13:37, 7 July 2008 (UTC)
 * No, there is not. See https://www.gregegan.net/ESSAYS/GOOGLE/Google.html – Fayenatic  L ondon 16:31, 3 July 2019 (UTC)
 * It would be contrary to the wishes of Mr. Egan to include an image on this page, as he's known to have expressed a desire for anonymity. Atomic putty? Rien! (talk) (talk) 18:42, 6 July 2022 (UTC)

Trivia section
Trivia sections on Wikipedia are considered very bad form. All imformation within this section should be dispersed to apropriate places within the article. --The_stuart 18:26, 25 May 2006 (UTC)

In the short story compilation Luminous, the word "luminous" occurs exactly once in every story (except for the title story Luminous in which it occurs many times). Continuing the tradition, a large number of Egan's other published novels and short stories include the word "luminous" exactly once.


 * I've confirmed it for the story The Planck Dive. Has anyone confirmed it with the other stories?  —Preceding unsigned comment added by 59.167.111.178 (talk) 13:38, 6 January 2008 (UTC)

In an issue of the Top 10 comic book, an AI officer is asked whether he would have ethical issues with transferring his mind into a new body for purposes of undercover work. He answers that, as he is a "High Church Eganite", he would have no problem.

Other discussion
part of the edit on 29 Jan by 203.40.244.79:

"Like all good science fiction writers, Egan deals in ideas, but he also writes very well too. His 1994 novel Permutation City was a highly praised exploration of the copying of human personalities or minds, with a visionary hero who challenges society's understanding of 'copies', and of identity, computing, the laws of physics and reality."

Although I agree he is a good writer I have a sneaking suspicion that he may also not be the most modest person in the world ;) Anyone think this edit was infact perpetrated by Greg Egan himself?


 * Nah, that line seems more like the work of a crazed fan (no offense to the author). 63.130.197.32 03:29, 14 Mar 2005 (UTC)


 * Agreed - Egan also has a reputation as quite a recluse. - Jdowland

Either here or in Permutation City should include a summary and explanation of Dust Theory, which essentially says something that quantum physics says about reality and has been known in programming for some time -- that instructions computed out of order, so long as they maintain their relativism to each other, will always produce the same result. Time is an illusion; lunch time doubly so. -- zuzu


 * I think the correct home for such an article would be Dust Theory. -- Jon Dowland 13:17, 9 January 2006 (UTC)

Is there ever going to be another book? Bethefawn 0011; 9.1.06


 * He's apparently signed for two short stories in the near future: details at http://www.ttapress.com/discus/messages/541/660.html?1114156632 -- Jon Dowland 13:17, 9 January 2006 (UTC)


 * Thanks very much! Bethefawn 07:46, 11 January 2006 (UTC)


 * He has another novel in progress called Incandescence. 4.89.245.114 00:18, 23 March 2006 (UTC)
 * There's a new short story set in the same universe -- not sure how long it's been on his site: Riding the Crocodile Tlogmer ( talk / contributions ) 17:29, 5 July 2007 (UTC)

In one of his earlier stories, Greg Egan wrote (bitterly) about the tendency of modern mystics to invoke quantum physics in their dogma -- from memory, he talked about how much these people love the Uncertainty Principle, and also how little they understand the actual meaning of the whole quantum thing. Since then, I've noticed the phenomenon several times - recently in "What the Bleep Do We Know" movement - and am thinking of naming the principle 'Egan's Law'. Problem is, I've forgotten the title of the story - can any of you help? Adambrowne666 00:21, 28 February 2006 (UTC) -- (oops -- belatedly googling the term, I now see there's already some strange new law in the States called Egan's Law - might have to come up with another name.)Adambrowne666 00:32, 28 February 2006 (UTC)


 * There are a lot of stories on those themes, but I don't remember exactly which one dealt with quantum mechanics centrally. Two I can think of are "Silver Fire" and "Our Lady of Chernobyl", from Luminous. Tlogmer 17:02, 28 February 2006 (UTC)

Greg Egan happens to be listed also on the Wikipedia List of Anarchists - Now I realise that in Egan's novel 'Distress', the narrative is largely sympathetic towards the Anarcho-syndicalist island where much of the tale unfolds, but if Egan is indeed an anarchist, would it be worth mentioning in the Greg Egan article? I'll also put something in the discussion fro the list of Anarchists with a view to clarifying whether he in fact is etc. - Unregistered user.

Greg Egan has now been removed from the article List of Anarchists - so I guess that's the end of that. ;) - Unregistered user.

short story footnotes
Just some observations on how the stories tie together. Those who are interested in more non-encyclopaedic analysis may find my page on the subject interesting (when it's finished at least): http://alcopop.org/media/fiction/egan/. -- Jon Dowland 10:06, 8 March 2006 (UTC)

Add years for all the short stories?
Right now there are years of first publication listed for all the novels but not for the short stories. I'm willing (and inclined) to dredge all the years out of the bibliography on his website and incorporate them. Does anyone object? It'll probably take half an hour or more so I don't want to do it and then get reverted. 4.89.246.163 00:40, 23 March 2006 (UTC)

Australian Atheist category
Egan was placed into category: Australian Atheists and then removed. I think it's pretty clear he is an atheist, and that he's from Australia ... Ppe42 19:32, 8 December 2006 (UTC)


 * yes well it does seem that way. but we should realy find something to back it up first.
 * Joeyjojo 15:21, 10 January 2007 (UTC)


 * Egan is an intelligent man. Of course he's an atheist .... 1 .... 2Gardener of Geda 15:58, 10 January 2007 (UTC)


 * Please die in a fire, Gardener of Geda. The world will be a better place without you being enlightened by your intelligence. — Preceding unsigned comment added by 24.0.82.213 (talk) 23:17, 7 July 2015 (UTC)

WikiProject class rating
This article was automatically assessed because at least one article was rated and this bot brought all the other ratings up to at least that level. BetacommandBot 16:31, 27 August 2007 (UTC)

removed picture
I removed the picture from the article which was added by an unlogged in user on 29th September (forgot to log in myself though, doh!)

It's completely out of place in the article, doesn't conform to Wikipedia image guidelines and is a pretty ugly picture to be put in the middle of an article!

If you want to add it, please discuss why you think it would make a good addition on the talk page first, as well as making sure you can legally upload and use the picture.

Grahamhopgood 13:43, 4 October 2007 (UTC)

political picture
In one of the stories that Greg Egan wrote there's a section about a picture where John Howard is a small lice trying to suck on an appendage of bigger picture of George Bush. There are also other world leaders on there as well each sucking on an appendage of a bigger leader.

Has there been any artwork that is similar that was either the inspiration for the greg egan story or was inspired by the story? What was the story called?


 * Can't answer your other questions but the story was Chaff (and published in 1993, pre-George W. Bush). AnimalExtender (talk) 03:09, 6 January 2009 (UTC)

Ditmar Awards
In the Awards section of this page there is the following statement: "Egan was nominated for award of the 2000 Ditmar Award for best novel with Teranesia. He declined the award, which resulted in any of his future works being ineligible for the award." It is true that Egan declined the nomination of his novel in 2000, but I don't think that the rest of the sentence holds true. If he stated, in 2000, that he declined the Ditmar Award nomination for his novel Teranesia and all future works then that is a different matter. Just because he declined one nomination does not automatically preclude him from other nominations.Perry Middlemiss (talk) 23:13, 28 March 2008 (UTC)

Removed Japanese collections
Removed Japanese books from the collections list since I think they don't fit in English wikipedia. --Fukumoto (talk) 17:07, 5 June 2009 (UTC)
 * Oceanic and Other Stories (2000), ISBN 4-15-011337-8
 * Reasons to Be Cheerful and Other Stories (2003), ISBN 4-15-011451-X

Removed New Scientist quote
Removed the following quotation from New Scientist from the top of the article:


 * "The Universe may be stranger than we can imagine, but it's going to have a tough time outdoing Egan."

The problem is not the content of this quotation, but the style of presentation, which is not appropriate for Wikipedia (and you won't find comparable examples in other well-written articles). If you wish to include this quotation, it should be worked into the main text in a suitable place, and accompanied by an objective commentary. —Preceding unsigned comment added by Acasson (talk • contribs) 13:03, 30 November 2009 (UTC)

should go on wikiquotes then crosslink it. --Buridan (talk) 15:56, 30 November 2009 (UTC)

External links modified (January 2018)
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Hi, Greg! Welcome to your Wikipedia Page.
Having read your novels, I believe that you're exactly the sort of eccentric author who may feel the urge to visit his own Wikipedia page from time to time. If that's the case, I've left this as a little easter egg for you! Also, check out this link. Happy Wikipedia-ing, and gotcha. Atomic putty? Rien! (talk) (talk) 18:53, 6 July 2022 (UTC)