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Charles O'Donnell

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Charles O'Donnell

Goodreads Author


Born
in Ames, Iowa, The United States
Website

Twitter

Genre

Influences

Member Since
December 2012


Charles O’Donnell writes thrillers with high-tech themes in international and futuristic settings. He recently retired from a career of thirty-five years in engineering and manufacturing to write full-time, using his experience leading international teams to create compelling settings in faraway lands.
His latest books, Shredded and Shade are the product of his fascination with the progress of technology to either augment reality or to replace it entirely, and his concern over the erosion of privacy in a world in which everything is shared online, and nobody reads the terms and conditions.
Charles's work has been selected to appear in the Dark Ink Press Spring Anthology, in the online journal Esthetic Apostle, in the anthology Lost and Found
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Charles O'Donnell The sequel to "The Girlfriend Experience" is "Moment of Conception." The protagonist, Matt Bugatti, is a few years older and doing what he loves--teac…moreThe sequel to "The Girlfriend Experience" is "Moment of Conception." The protagonist, Matt Bugatti, is a few years older and doing what he loves--teaching college math. When a national crisis arises, an epidemic of death among teen girls, Matt is tapped to lead a presidential commission to find the truth.(less)
Charles O'Donnell This question has been the subject of speculation for decades. I remember reading Isaac Asimov's "I, Robot" as a teenager. Asimov of course invented t…moreThis question has been the subject of speculation for decades. I remember reading Isaac Asimov's "I, Robot" as a teenager. Asimov of course invented the three laws of robotics: 1) A robot must not harm a human being, or, through inaction, allow a human being to come to harm; 2) A robot must obey the orders of human beings, except when doing so would conflict with the first law; and 3) A robot must protect itself, except when doing so would conflict with the first or second laws. You look at those and it's clear that in Asimov's view, robots are purely servants of humans, a mechanized slave race. In "I, Robot," these laws are embedded in the programming of every robot. Presumably, they also serve as the motivation for the robot race: service to mankind. In such a world, robots would never replace humans, except as surrogates for tasks that humans order them to do.
I don't think the future will be that tidy, assuming AI advances beyond human intelligence. There's no reason to believe that such an intelligence would not be sentient, since we humans are. So they would know that they're not human. There's no reason to believe that an artificial intellect the equal or superior to ours wouldn't have ambition, or need motivation and seek it from whatever source, whether it be humans or its own fulfillment. And there's no reason to believe that such intelligences would be any less subject to the defects that humans suffer from, whether it be envy, greed, vindictiveness, or any other unpleasant character trait that we try to avoid.
Except maybe there are reasons to believe that robots won't be sentient, or aspirational, or deviant, even if their intelligence outstrips ours. We suffer from millions of years of primate evolution, for which intelligence isn't an end in itself, but instead is a factor in reproductive success. If an artificial intelligence could be developed without that evolutionary history, might it have all the virtues of intellect with none of the faults?
Some scientists estimate that the singularity, the point at which artificial intelligence surpasses human intelligence, is only 30 years in the future. If so, we may get an answer to that question in our lifetime, or in the lifetime of our children. It may turn out to be amazing. Or it may be a good day to die.(less)
Average rating: 4.15 · 179 ratings · 55 reviews · 12 distinct works
The Girlfriend Experience

3.98 avg rating — 95 ratings — published 2012 — 4 editions
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Shredded

4.07 avg rating — 41 ratings — published 2017 — 3 editions
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Moment of Conception

4.44 avg rating — 25 ratings — published 2015 — 2 editions
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Shade

4.91 avg rating — 11 ratings2 editions
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Metamorphosis: An Anthology

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it was amazing 5.00 avg rating — 9 ratings6 editions
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Univirtual

4.25 avg rating — 4 ratings2 editions
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Shade Part 3: Madeleine (Sh...

it was amazing 5.00 avg rating — 1 rating
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Shade Part 2: Grace

0.00 avg rating — 0 ratings
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Shade Part 1: Dylan

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Moment of Conception

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More books by Charles O'Donnell…

Metamorphosis Anthology Now Available for Pre-order

My story, "Fair Flip" is featured in the awesome anthology from the Ohio Writers' Association. Order yours today!


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Published on October 27, 2022 08:30

Charles’s Recent Updates

" The following three books are incorrectly attributed to me on Goodreads:

offcicial [sic] register Iowa 1933-34
Marriage on the Rock
The Collected Poems o
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Living Parkinson's by Steve Yellen
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“Bash it out now, tart it up later.”
Nick Lowe
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Notes on Being a Man by Scott Galloway
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Shredded by Charles O'Donnell
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Lightlark by Alex Aster
Lightlark (Lightlark, #1)
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Girl, Serpent, Thorn by Melissa Bashardoust
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After Life by Gayle Forman
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Parable of the Sower by Octavia E. Butler
“Jarret supporters have been known, now and then, to form mobs and burn people at the stake for being witches. Witches! In 2032! A witch, in their view, tends to be a Moslem, a Jew, a Hindu, a Buddhist, or, in some parts of the country, a Mormon, a Jehovah’s Witness, or even a Catholic. A witch may also be an atheist, a “cultist,” or a well-to-do eccentric. Well-to-do eccentrics often have no protectors or much that’s worth stealing. And “cultist” is a great catchall term for anyone who fits into no other large category, and yet doesn’t quite match Jarret’s version of Christianity. Jarret’s people have been known to beat or drive out Unitarians, for goodness’ sake. Jarret condemns the burnings, but does so in such mild language that his people are free to hear what they want to hear. As for the beatings, the tarring and feathering, and the destruction of “heathen houses of devil-worship,” he has a simple answer: “Join us! Our doors are open to every nationality, every race! Leave your ...more Octavia E. Butler
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Daughter of the Moon Goddess by Sue Lynn Tan
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Quotes by Charles O'Donnell  (?)
Quotes are added by the Goodreads community and are not verified by Goodreads. (Learn more)

“INVICTUS Out of the night that covers me,  Black as the pit from pole to pole,  I thank whatever gods may be  For my unconquerable soul.  In the fell clutch of circumstance  I have not winced nor cried aloud.  Under the bludgeonings of chance  My head is bloody, but unbowed.  Beyond this place of wrath and tears  Looms but the Horror of the shade,  And yet the menace of the years  Finds and shall find me unafraid.  It matters not how strait the gate,  How charged with punishments the scroll,  I am the master of my fate,  I am the captain of my soul.  William Ernest Henley”
Charles O'Donnell, Shredded

Topics Mentioning This Author

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So You Want To Be...: Tell, don't show? 13 13 Jan 18, 2017 12:26PM  
Goodreads Librari...: Shredded (new book) 3 20 Feb 25, 2017 05:30PM  
Apocalypse Whenever: This topic has been closed to new comments. Who Are You? (INTRODUCE YOURSELF- read comment #1 first) 3273 2716 Jan 03, 2021 04:39AM  
Apocalypse Whenever: What are you reading now? (Use clickable TEXT book links please!) 8128 2092 Jul 17, 2022 08:04AM  
“Football combines two of the worst things in American life. It is violence punctuated by committee meetings.”
George Will

“Be sure of this, O young ambition, all mortal greatness is but disease.”
Herman Melville

“Jarret supporters have been known, now and then, to form mobs and burn people at the stake for being witches. Witches! In 2032! A witch, in their view, tends to be a Moslem, a Jew, a Hindu, a Buddhist, or, in some parts of the country, a Mormon, a Jehovah’s Witness, or even a Catholic. A witch may also be an atheist, a “cultist,” or a well-to-do eccentric. Well-to-do eccentrics often have no protectors or much that’s worth stealing. And “cultist” is a great catchall term for anyone who fits into no other large category, and yet doesn’t quite match Jarret’s version of Christianity. Jarret’s people have been known to beat or drive out Unitarians, for goodness’ sake. Jarret condemns the burnings, but does so in such mild language that his people are free to hear what they want to hear. As for the beatings, the tarring and feathering, and the destruction of “heathen houses of devil-worship,” he has a simple answer: “Join us! Our doors are open to every nationality, every race! Leave your sinful past behind, and become one of us. Help us to make America great again.”
Octavia E. Butler, Parable of the Sower

“Bash it out now, tart it up later.”
Nick Lowe

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