The context is, the person called Tyrena is an editor for a major intergalactic publisher. She’s talking to an author about his sophomore effort, which has flopped. Transline is the publisher. And the TechnoCore, as you can guess from the image, is basically a collective of AIs (this is not expanded upon in the book, at least as far as I’ve gotten). And fatline is basically “interstellar broadband”. I think the Expanse books/series uses similar terms, for communications that are sent far and wide, as opposed to privately (called “tight beam” or the like).
Amazing how much of this is relevant to 2026, 37 years after this was published.
I propose we train AI on films (somehow, ethically) and get its opinion on movies, and see if we agree or disagree. What does ChatGPT think of Spielberg’s A.I.: Artificial Intelligence? What does it think of Terminator 2: Judgment Day? Bicentennial Man? Good Luck Have Fun Don’t Die? Or even films that are not about AI (or robots) going too far? I wonder if we would, in fact, disagree with AI’s “opinions” about film or art. I would sure as shit hope so.
(Edit: Added alt text to the image for the vision-impaired.)
I’ll add to all the recommendations to read Hyperion … just do it, seriously.
But I’ll also add that the sequel, while it splits people, contributes on the internet & AI sci fi front and mid probably worth a read if you’re enjoying those aspects of the first book. Generally, together, I think they’re great commentaries on modern tech, especially for books from the 80s.