In Accelerando, it’s abundance of physical compute which carries transhuman society as a whole beyond human comprehension. In A Fire Upon the Deep, it’s some kind of algorithm which makes the difference—when that algorithm runs, unstoppable superintelligence is created.
I think that’s not quite right? The Blight can only run when the Straumli researchers break open the sealed archive because it’s located in the almost-highest-physical-computation-possible zone, the Low Transcend. The Blight can reach into the lower zones but only after running in the Low Transcend ie. there is an abundance of physical compute which carries the Blight beyond human society-level comprehension.
You have a point in that Vinge portrays outward migration into higher Zones, with all their unexplained advantages including computational advantage, as part of the process by which a civilization of natural intelligences evolves to the point of producing a superintelligence. (For those who haven’t seen the book, the Zones are concentric regions of the galaxy, in which the further out you go, the more advanced the technology that is possible, including superintelligence and faster-than-light travel.)
I think that’s not quite right? The Blight can only run when the Straumli researchers break open the sealed archive because it’s located in the almost-highest-physical-computation-possible zone, the Low Transcend. The Blight can reach into the lower zones but only after running in the Low Transcend ie. there is an abundance of physical compute which carries the Blight beyond human society-level comprehension.
You have a point in that Vinge portrays outward migration into higher Zones, with all their unexplained advantages including computational advantage, as part of the process by which a civilization of natural intelligences evolves to the point of producing a superintelligence. (For those who haven’t seen the book, the Zones are concentric regions of the galaxy, in which the further out you go, the more advanced the technology that is possible, including superintelligence and faster-than-light travel.)
Did the zones of thought work by limiting abundance of physical compute?
It sounds more like there is some kind of moderator, who throttles smart things in intelligent, targeted way. Which is my headcanon.