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by gshubert17 4064 days ago
Another of Stross's short stories, Antibodies [0], examines the consequences if P = NP, a key problem in theoretical computer science.

[0] http://www.antipope.org/charlie/blog-static/fiction/toast/to...

2 comments

Reminds me of Traveling Salesman (2012) [1], also set in P = NP and discussing the ethics of selling the algorithm to the government. (Literally discussing, it's a low-budget 4-men-in-a-room movie).

I can't say the whole film is worth the time, but I really loved how in the first minutes it establishes it's alternative history by a single sentence: introducing a scientists who "in 2008 was awarded ... the fields medal for his proof of the nonexistence of one-way functions"

[1] http://www.travellingsalesmanmovie.com/

Whoa, that was a good read! Thanks, going to buy some books by Stross :-)

[when I said "reminds me of Traveling Salesman (2012)" I just meant examining the consequences if P=NP; that was before I followed your link and was reminded how good sci-fi _should_ be — it absolutely pales in comparison to Antibodies.]