Ramblin' & Amblin' (2026-10-19): Spoiler warning for another book
Ramblin' & Amblin' Field Notes with Mike Hall (Staff Software Engineer) Recorded on the move: engineering observations, systems architecture, and software craftsmanship reflections.
The Interviewer
Mike Hall
Host, ramblin-amblin
Mike Hall
Host, ramblin-amblin
▶ Speaking
Okay, uh, spoiler warning for another book. I'm gonna, I'm
gonna talk about a different book, uh, Existence by David
Brin. Um, here's the beauty of that book, is it's, like, it
's a little, it's a little busy. It's got a lot of stuff
going on, uh, and it's got several threads that, um,
intersect.
Mike Hall
Host, ramblin-amblin
▶ Speaking
It's, it's a, it's a, it's a real fun book. Um,
so know that if, uh, I totally spoil one plot line,
that, uh, there's, like, five other ones, uh, that, like,
completely change everything. So just, just know that we're
gonna talk about a concept here that he introduces in this
book, and I'll probably end up doing more than one episode
on this one just because of the different plots. But, um,
okay, so first plot that I care about here is the biggest
one, and it's kind of the founding premise.
Mike Hall
Host, ramblin-amblin
▶ Speaking
What does it
mean? to be told something about your future from something
outside that is clearly more knowledgeable than you? Okay,
um, so kind of, uh, hamfisting that there in the story. So, okay, it starts off, I'm gonna pick this place that I'm
gonna start off with is the, uh, and I can't remember names
.
Mike Hall
Host, ramblin-amblin
▶ Speaking
I'm terrible with names. Uh, the, uh, there's an astronaut
. He's out, he's, in the future, basically, collecting space
garbage, space debris. Um, and that's the job.
Mike Hall
Host, ramblin-amblin
▶ Speaking
All right? So he's always out there collecting space debris around
Earth. And, uh, that's kind of fun. Um, but, uh, he, uh,
comes across a, an artifact that is, is, is abnormal and
just decides to go for it.
Mike Hall
Host, ramblin-amblin
▶ Speaking
Again, uh, you read the book. I,
I, I'm, I'm doing a terrible job because I don't want to be
too specific. Um, so, um, so he, he retrieves this object and a little
bit of time passes. He realizes that, that it's, um, it's
an alien artifact.
Mike Hall
Host, ramblin-amblin
▶ Speaking
It's not of this Earth. Um, and then it starts to talk to us. And then we find out
that these freaking things are everywhere. Um, and they've
been just kind of waiting for a moment.
Mike Hall
Host, ramblin-amblin
▶ Speaking
Um, and that these
aren't all from the same place. Okay. This is a competing
ideas thing. Um, these, and again, big spoiler, uh, warning here, cause
I'm going to, I mean, but then again, it's like saying that
there's, that, that, that, that a race is run on roads.
Mike Hall
Host, ramblin-amblin
▶ Speaking
Um,
a car race is run on roads. Usually it is. Um, this, uh,
this case, these pro, these, these artifacts are, are like
crystalline, um, rocks. Um, and that they have been on the Earth forever.
Mike Hall
Host, ramblin-amblin
▶ Speaking
Um, that
they've interacted with humanity in, in, at different times
. Um, you know, there's some questions about attributing
them to early gods and, and spirits and demon possessions
and all that. Um, but it doesn't matter because the rocks
don't really know each other. Um, so one rock is largely
isolated from the next, but they can be degraded.
Mike Hall
Host, ramblin-amblin
▶ Speaking
They can be damaged. And there are, um, um, there are
entities in these rocks and they're, uh, virtual entities
that are basically the consciousnesses of representatives
from these various species that have propagated this chain
letter of all of these probes, these, these, um,
these rocks that we're finding. And that, uh, what it is,
is that at some point in time, there's a war somewhere in
the universe. Or is this a, uh, a virus, a true mental meme virus, um, is
, is the thing that we're experiencing, um, and it's telling
us,
hey, come join our, our, our, our galactic council, um, we
can't, literally cannot be at war with each other.
Mike Hall
Host, ramblin-amblin
▶ Speaking
Okay. We literally can't be at war with each other because
we are too far apart. Um, and, um, we're never going to compete for resources and
, um, matter of fact, by the time any of us were able to, to
reach each other, our civilizations, civilizations would
already be dead because of, you know, reasons. And that every species, when they finally get to a point
where they're able to interact with these, these probes and
do something meaningful, will inevitably
turn their entire planet and their entire species inside
out to do everything they can to build more of these
viruses.
Mike Hall
Host, ramblin-amblin
▶ Speaking
Um, you know, I, I, I, I, I brought that attribution of
viruses in there, but to, um,
because that is a question, is this a virus, um, but to
turn their entire species inside out to, um,
um, build and launch these probes and, and figure out the
technologies and that these probes, these, these artifacts,
have the requisite knowledge in them to teach us how to
build these probes and hijinks ensue. So, okay, the question is, is here, the, um, uh, predic
aments in Dave Wren, it's a lot of fun with this. It's, it's, it's, it's really interesting. Um,
is, is, is a question of when you hear something, and this
is where I tie back to the questions we're having with AI
and, and, um, you know, I, I don't even say propaganda
because it's not even about, um, um,
the intended, but also knowing that there is intent and
there are actors who have agendas
and, and they go forward in each other and get to that in a
, in a series on Hyperion.
Mike Hall
Host, ramblin-amblin
▶ Speaking
Um, but, uh, in this book, and the question really is, is
when is it our idea and were we going to do this eventually
anyway,
or were we probably going to just end up, um, uh, dead as a
species, or do we, uh, like I'm doing right now,
turn around and go back the way we came? I don't know, um, you know, there's in the three body
problem, uh, you know, the retreat to, uh, sub a slower
light constant,
uh, to become a dark system, uh, there before signaling to
all the other, uh, neighbors in, in your area
that you have taken yourself out of the game. Um, you cannot physically be a threat. Um, so, yeah, these, these probes come out and they
interact with the humans.
Mike Hall
Host, ramblin-amblin
▶ Speaking
Inside of them, they have all these intelligences from all
the species that had experienced them. That, that's where that, uh, chain letter, uh, thing goes
in, is that each probe, like I said,
contains some representatives from the species that, that
launched that probe out. And that the probes are an acceptance of that, that we'll
never interact, we'll never go to war. The only thing we have is the propagation of our ideas, our
culture, um, and, and our uploaded consciousnesses here.
Mike Hall
Host, ramblin-amblin
▶ Speaking
So, so do we, you know, so now what? You know, and we have to have an, an existential crisis as
a species, um, and, uh, hence Existence, uh, by David Brent
. I'm not a, uh, a super book connoisseur, but I do love
these books and I will revisit them. I'm, um, more of an audiobook guy at this, at this stage of
my life.
Mike Hall
Host, ramblin-amblin
▶ Speaking
Um, and also I, I feel like around, I don't know, 2015 or
so, reading books became very difficult. Um, but, uh, yeah, yeah, Existence by David Brent. We're looking at AI and it's, and it's introducing concepts
that are coming from models that were derived from who
knows where,
because it may as well be aliens to us. And then it's telling us things and we're either doing them
or not doing them.
Mike Hall
Host, ramblin-amblin
▶ Speaking
But one way or the other, it introduced a thought to our
head that may have not been something we could have thought
if we hadn't been introduced to it by an external force. So, to date, that, that external force was always some,
ultimately some human who had a, uh, a motivation, an
incentive to say whatever they said, um, and pass that idea
along. But what happens when an external system or an unknowable
system, an inscrutable system, introduces a concept and we
'll never know whether our decisions were, were ever ours to
begin with, uh, ever again after that. So, Existence by David Brent, check it out.
Mike Hall
Host, ramblin-amblin
▶ Speaking
All right, thanks, bye.