The Quantum Thief (Jean le Flambeur, volume 1) by Hannu Rajaniemi

Con-man/thief Jean le Flambeur is the ideal person for a very
tricky caper. Pity he's banged up in an inescapable prison.

https://jamesdavisnicoll.com/review/sleight-of-hand
--
My reviews can be found at http://jamesdavisnicoll.com/
My tor pieces at https://www.tor.com/author/james-davis-nicoll/
My Dreamwidth at https://james-davis-nicoll.dreamwidth.org/
My patreon is at https://www.patreon.com/jamesdnicoll

James Nicoll wrote:
> The Quantum Thief (Jean le Flambeur, volume 1) by Hannu Rajaniemi
>
> Con-man/thief Jean le Flambeur is the ideal person for a very
> tricky caper. Pity he's banged up in an inescapable prison.
>
> https://jamesdavisnicoll.com/review/sleight-of-hand

The Dilemma Prison was in the summary on the cover of the book, that's what got me to buy it.
The once and future showrunner of Doctor Who had a habit of combining two words for a suggestive background detail, such as "The Abomination Child" or "The Nowhere King." "The Dilemma Prison" struck me as a thinking person's variation of this.

Alas, this prison seems to be merely for warehousing undesirables. I think in the "Computer Recreations" column that replaced "Mathematical Games" (or replaced "Metamagical Themas," which replaced "Mathematical Games") it was mentioned that reiterated versions of The Prisoner's Dilemma with memory of previous transactions indicated that the ethical equations rewarded honesty with one and only one tit for each tat of a dishonest transactor. It seems there should be some rehabilitation in the regimen the prisoners are put through.

Then there was the oubliette where everyone being jacked in, and the computer protocols protecting privacy meant others could only see as much of your identity as you wanted them to. I kept meaning to page back and see if there was some mention of avoiding the obvious hack I saw, but never did.

--
-Jack