ok so I've been hearing of this for a while. Seems to be somehow similar to Diaspora, which I didn't enjoy that much and I have currently put on hold (I am around halfway through). Wonder if I would like it.
I would recommend it not just for the philosophical aspect (it has a very interesting way of placating transhumanism) but also for the entertainment aspect (aforementioned shrimps, did I mention the Iranian space program?)
Stross is a very approachable author, Accelerando is not his most accessible book, but if you can go through half of Diaspora, you can easily go through the entirety of Accelerando.
Accelerando is a fixup of a bunch of short stories, and one was "Lobsters".
https://reiszwolf.wordpress.com/2020/04/11/lobsters-%E2%80%A...