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Vinge has been deeply concerned about the technological singularity which makes writing comprehensible and realistic high-tech SF novels nearly impossible. To sidestep the issue, he postulates that the galaxy is divided up into "zones of thought," where near the center of the galaxy, only simple machines and animal-like intelligences are possible; ranging out to the outer edges of the galaxy, where superhuman intelligences, nanotechnology, and FTL travel are possible. In other words, the laws of physics vary according to location.

• The Unthinking Depths is the lowest level, centered on the galactic core. Organic or machine intelligences of even the simplest level can't function well, if at all. FTL is impossible.
• The Slow Zone is the next layer. FTL travel is not possible because computers cannot run fast enough to do the calculations necessary. Intelligences above the level of human-equivalent are not possible. Molecular nanotechnology also doesn't function well, if at all. The Earth is deep within the Slow Zone.
• The Beyond is where the majority of the action takes place in A Fire Upon the Deep. FTL travel is possible, along with many other technological advances, but there are still limits to how smart organic or machine intelligences may become.
• The Transcend is where super beings known as Powers reside. Here there are no limits on nanotechnology, FTL travel is very fast (relative to the Beyond), and there are no limits upon organic or machine intelligences.

A prequel to this book was subsequently written, A Deepness in the Sky, set twenty thousand years earlier in the "Slow Zone" near Earth.

See also: Death cube