The Bell of Daybreak

Yuandong TianPublishing House of Electronics Industry · ChinaJul 2024

Rating 3.7
Word count
343K words
Chapters
89
ISBN
9787121478543

Tags

Science Fiction Science EnlightenmentStep-by-Step GuidePractical GuideCase AnalysisPopular ExplanationBeginner Friendly

Summary

We have all imagined aliens arriving in massive battleships to demonstrate their military might to humanity on Earth—but is that a genuinely possible future, or merely the fantasy of us shallow two-dimensional beings, hoes in hand? When tranquil life is shattered by an eerie comet, when agonizing choices bear on humanity's fate, when the virtual world becomes the last refuge, how do the finest minds break through under an unsolvable open scheme? *The Bell of Daybreak*, a science fiction for the metaverse and AI era.

Editor's review

*The Bell of Daybreak* places alien civilization, the virtual world, and artificial intelligence within a single narrative framework; its focus lies not in piling up spectacle but in how humanity's finest minds reason and break through under an "unsolvable open scheme." Author Tian Yuandong grounds the sci-fi premise in a research background; plot elements such as the comet shattering everyday life and the virtual world becoming a refuge carry real-world echoes of the metaverse and AI era. The book's unfolding of decision chains and game-theoretic logic is more worth close reading than mere action sequences. Best read in uninterrupted blocks, treating each key decision as an exercise in reasoning and watching how characters build judgments from fragments of information. It suits readers willing to embrace conceptual density and enjoy the interweaving of technological speculation and social fate; those seeking only fast-paced space opera may find the speculative passages excessive.

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Reading tips

  1. Read the first few chapters to establish the world and character relationships before entering the core conflict, so the density of worldbuilding does not interrupt you.
  2. Keep a sheet of paper to record key decisions and information gaps, following the characters as they reason out a path through the "open scheme."
  3. After finishing, revisit the turning point from the comet's appearance to taking refuge in the virtual world, and examine how the author plants cause and effect.
  4. Readers interested in AI or metaverse issues can compare real-world technology news as they read, for further reflection.

About the publisher

Publishing House of Electronics Industry China · Founded in 1982

The Publishing House of Electronics Industry is a comprehensive publisher distinguished by its focus on electronic information and related fields. Judging from the more than 3,000 titles in its catalogue, its publishing covers programming and design, artificial intelligence, computer science, finance and economics, photography, and social sciences, attending both to cutting-edge technology and to general readers. Representative titles include Factor Investing: Methods and Practice, x86 Assembly Language: From Real Mode to Protected Mode, The RISC-V Reader, Artificial Intelligence: Speech Recognition, Understanding and Practice, Phased Array Radar Technology, Radar Target Characteristics, and 100 Go Mistakes and How to Avoid Them, most of which centre on technical methods and engineering practice. Its authors include Shi Chuan, Li Zhong, Wang Xiaobo, David Patterson, Andrew Waterman, and Yu Zihao, among others from China and abroad. Owing to limited public information, no further publishing features are elaborated here.

Contents

  1. 版权信息
  2. 作者简介
  3. 推荐语
  4. 推荐序1 困境的意义
  5. 推荐序2 反模式的探索
  6. 序 人工智能时代的科学幻想
  7. 第1章 落日
  8. 第2章 困局
  9. 第3章 彻夜
  10. 第4章 回家
  11. 第5章 后浪
  12. 第6章 伤逝
  13. 第7章 彗星
  14. 第8章 歼星花
  15. 第9章 告别
  16. 第10章 担忧
  17. 第11章 灵界
  18. 第12章 任命
  19. 第13章 碎议
  20. 第14章 立方
  21. 第15章 撤退
  22. 第16章 盛名
  23. 第17章 崇拜
  24. 第18章 兴趣
  25. 第19章 笔记
  26. 第20章 疑问
  27. 第21章 反戈
  28. 第22章 辞职
  29. 第23章 波及
  30. 第24章 小聚
  31. 第25章 意图
  32. 第26章 现实
  33. 第27章 搬家
  34. 第28章 风雪
  35. 第29章 应对
  36. 第30章 比赛
  37. 第31章 邂逅
  38. 第32章 相亲
  39. 第33章 心路
  40. 第34章 破晓之梦
  41. 第35章 入职
  42. 第36章 B计划
  43. 第37章 宴会
  44. 第38章 风起
  45. 第39章 追忆
  46. 第40章 谜团
  47. 第41章 真相
  48. 第42章 阳谋
  49. 第43章 破绽
  50. 第44章 巧合
  51. 第45章 同盟
  52. 第46章 实验
  53. 第47章 深海
  54. 第48章 交锋
  55. 第49章 猜测
  56. 第50章 援救
  57. 第51章 连接
  58. 第52章 大难
  59. 第53章 惊惶
  60. 第54章 宣言
  61. 第55章 争辩
  62. 第56章 温暖
  63. 第57章 不归
  64. 第58章 撤退
  65. 第59章 行动
  66. 第60章 火传
  67. 第61章 挣扎
  68. 第62章 道路
  69. 第63章 赌命
  70. 第64章 临界
  71. 第65章 幽灵
  72. 第66章 转折
  73. 第67章 意识
  74. 第68章 商议
  75. 第69章 死斗
  76. 第70章 豪赌
  77. 第71章 黎明
  78. 第72章 抉择
  79. 第73章 终点
  80. 第74章 集合
  81. 第75章 直播
  82. 第76章 复刻
  83. 第77章 囚笼
  84. 第78章 大梦先觉
  85. 第79章 重逢
  86. 第80章 揭秘
  87. 第81章 星星之火
  88. 后记
  89. 内容简介

FAQ

Does this book require a strong science background to read? No professional threshold is required. The book touches on concepts such as artificial intelligence and the virtual world, but these mainly serve the plot and reasoning; ordinary science fiction readers can follow the characters' decisions to understand the story. When encountering technical setups, grasp their function and consequences rather than delving into every principle.
What does the "unsolvable open scheme" refer to in the book? It refers to a predicament in which the opponent lays out their plan openly, yet one's own side finds it hard to counter directly. The novel links humanity's fate with the virtual world as a refuge, focusing on how top minds seek room to break through when information is incomplete and choices carry high costs, rather than relying on a single hero to force a reversal.
Is the virtual world merely a background setting in the story? Not entirely. The virtual world is both a refuge and a force that shapes characters' judgments about the boundary between reality and virtuality, affecting how they make trade-offs. As you read, note changes in how much characters depend on the virtual world; these often correspond to shifts in their attitudes toward choices about humanity's fate.

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About the author

Yuandong Tian Author · Chinese

Tian Yuandong, whose English name is Yuandong Tian, is a Chinese artificial intelligence researcher. He holds a PhD from Carnegie Mellon University and previously worked at Meta FAIR on deep learning research. The library currently holds one work by him, the science fiction novel The Bell of Dawn, commonly classified as science fiction. Public information about his birth and death dates, other creative experience, and literary activities is limited, so no speculation is made here. Based on the available information, he combines a research background with a role as a science fiction writer; this cross-disciplinary knowledge structure may lend his fiction a quality oriented toward technological imagination and rational deduction. However, his specific writing style and the influence of his work still require more materials and reader response for confirmation. This introduction is based only on library facts and verifiable public common knowledge, and strives to be objective without inventing biographical details.