تیر خلاص

by Ambrose Bierce

ده داستان کوتاه از امبروز بیرس, نویسنده آمریکایی

Genres: Short Stories, Horror, Science Fiction, Fiction, Classics, Mystery, Chess

159 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 1893

About the author

died perhaps 1914

Caustic wit and a strong sense of horror mark works, including In the Midst of Life (1891-1892) and The Devil's Dictionary (1906), of American writer Ambrose Gwinett Bierce.

People today best know this editorialist, journalist, and fabulist for his short story, An Occurrence at Owl Creek Bridge and his lexicon.

The informative sardonic view of human nature alongside his vehemence as a critic with his motto, "nothing matters," earned him the nickname "Bitter Bierce."

People knew Bierce despite his reputation as a searing critic, however, to encourage younger poet George Sterling and fiction author W.C. Morrow.

Bierce employed a distinctive style especially in his stories. This style often embraces an abrupt beginning, dark imagery, vague references to time, limited descriptions, the theme of war, and impossible events.

Bierce disappeared in December 1913 at the age of 71 years. People think that he traveled to Mexico to gain a firsthand perspective on ongoing revolution of that country.

Theories abound on a mystery, ultimate fate of Bierce. He in one of his final letters stated: "Good-bye. If you hear of my being stood up against a Mexican stone wall and shot to rags, please know that I think it is a pretty good way to depart this life. It beats old age, disease, or falling down the cellar stairs. To be a Gringo in Mexico--ah, that is euthanasia!"

Reviews

[Bettie · Rating 3 out of 5]

http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b03zmdqw

Description: Can a machine think? And if so, could it be prone to violence like humans? A pioneering story first published in 1893, read by Robert Lang.

[Quirkyreader · Rating 3 out of 5]

This was a very strange tale. I can see why Bierce was a big inspiration for H.P. Lovecraft.

[Amber · Rating 5 out of 5]

This was a pretty good horror scifi short story about a madman of science named Moxon who is obessessed on the question "Can machines think?" That he creates one in his workshop. Will his creation cause his downfall? Read this for yourself and find out.

http://www.eastoftheweb.com/short-sto...

[Ramona Cantaragiu · Rating 5 out of 5]

As a new chess enthusiast I had to read this story, especially since nowadays there is much talk about the way in which AI is changing the game. This is a nicely written gothic novel about a men who invents a sort of chess AI that ends up killing him much in the same vein as Golems used to go awry and kill their masters. Apparently it was inspired by Poe's essay about the Mechanical Turk, a chess automaton scam which had taken 18th century nobility by surprise. However, the story is much more interesting if you read it knowing what sort of reception it received at the time of the publication. Since Bierce did not mention anything about who was Moxon's master, there have been numerous theories about who this could be. Two of them I found very entertaining. One reviewer attempted to demonstrate that the automaton was handled by Moxon's mistress who became enraged when she discovered that Moxon had let his young friend enter his lab. Another reviewer went a bit further and argued that Moxon was in fact having a homosexual affair with the helper and that the helper became jealous of the young friend and murdered Moxon. I think that if you read the story thinking about this you will enjoy it much more.

[Benjamin Stahl · Rating 3 out of 5]

In Moxon's Master, Ambrose Bierce takes his readers down a similar route as Shelley's Frankenstein. The ending, as usual, had a violent, shocking climax, but the part I liked most in this story was the discussion between Moxon and the protagonist about the possibilities of brainless matter still possessing some form of intelligence and awareness of its surroundings.

[Michael Sorbello · Rating 4 out of 5]

The concept feels like an early prototype of Harlan Ellison’s I Have No Mouth and I Must Scream. The concept of machines gaining human intelligence, and machines developing violent or vengeful tendencies against their creators.

[sophia · Rating 4 out of 5]

4/5

the use of the technological innovation (automated chess-player) as an infernal machine followed the classic conflict of man vs. machine.

the AI, imbued with irrational emotion and desire for independence from its domineering (and chess-winning) creator, makes a conscious decision to destroy its inventor.

while this narrative has been done before, its thought-provoking philosophies and concepts of sentience/consciousness, rational thought, instinct, and phenomenon of life was well-written through its debate between a believer and non-believer.

[Laura · Rating 3 out of 5]

From BBC Radio 4 Extra:
Can a machine think? And if so, could it be prone to violence like humans? A pioneering story first published in 1893, read by Robert Lang.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b03zmdqw

[Tom · Rating 3 out of 5]

A debate about the nature and degree of intelligence which a machine can possess, leads to an automaton to strangle a man to death over a game of chess.

[Marc D. ✨ · Rating 4 out of 5]

4/5 estrellas.

Fue cortito pero directo a lo suyo. Hipnotizaba esa partida de ajedrez.

Me llamó la atención que, para ser un relato futurista, los robots y máquinas estuvieran hechos de madera, aunque fue publicado por primera vez en 1893.

Nuevamente Ambrose Bierce me atrapa con un relato.

Lo recomiendo.

[Kristoph Kosicki · Rating 5 out of 5]

This just immediately became one of my favorite short stories! Anything that deals with the consciousness of machines is my thing, and this is light years ahead of its time. Unwittingly so in some ways. Excellent!

[Liz · Rating 3 out of 5]

3.5 An early sci-fi story. Can a machine, an automaton, think for itself? Is Bierce the first author to write about AI? An intriguing idea from a master storyteller. Audible edition narrated by Anthony Heald. This can be found in Can Such Things Be?

[Klowey · Rating 3 out of 5]

This story features a chess-playing automaton, which may allude to an actual fraudulent chess-playing machine constructed in 1770. Bierce briefly broaches the topic of intelligence in inanimate objects, suggesting that mind is inherent in the universe. I found this first part of the short story relevant to the recent explosion in AI and especially AlphaGo, as Mozon, the inventor, was testing whether machines could beat humans in games like chess.

Unfortunately the story devolved into a somewhat silly plot though not without touching on the subject of whether or not automatons can feel emotion. Again relevant as we question AGI and sentience.

[Kow · Rating 3 out of 5]

"When soldiers form lines, or hollow squares, you call it reason. When wild geese in flight take the form of a letter V you say instinct. When the homogeneous atoms of a mineral, moving freely in solution, arrange themselves into shapes mathematically perfect, or particles of frozen moisture into the symmetrical and beautiful forms of snowflakes, you have nothing to say. You have not even invented a name to conceal your heroic unreason."

"Consciousness is the creature of Rhythm. (...) If consciousness is the product of rhythm all things are conscious, for all have motion, and all motion is rhythmic."

[Divia · Rating 3 out of 5]

It is really amazing how much ahead of its time this story is. Ambrose Bierce really contemplated something extraordinary in 1899. Over a hundred years later we are still pondering this same idea of the the intelligence of stationary objects, plants and machines - most of all machines. With artificial intelligence being what it is today, Biercce truly was ahead of his time.

[Netanella · Rating 3 out of 5]

A philosophic discussion with an inventor about the nature of humanity and intelligence leads to a late-night encounter with a violent chess game. Considering this was written in 1893 or something, it's pretty cool.

[Courtney · Rating 4 out of 5]

“But in my spiritual exaltation, discretion and civility were alike forgotten, and I opened the door.”

Read at: http://www.eastoftheweb.com/short-sto...

Made me think of The Mechanical Turk, also known as the Automaton Chess Player https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mechani....

[Skjam! · Rating 3 out of 5]

Reviewed this in a collected edition here: http://www.skjam.com/2019/11/16/book-...

[Jaclynn]

read for school, spring 2019

[Forked Radish · Rating 5 out of 5]

Are you as smart as a snowflake? ❄

[Lily · Rating 3 out of 5]

The audacity of the cliffhanger is extremely upsetting to me.

[Cindy · Rating 2 out of 5]

Read

[nhi · Rating 4 out of 5]

*4.25

[daf ☀︎ · Rating 4 out of 5]

robot cobra conciencia propia y male sal🗿

[Ivan · Rating 3 out of 5]

6/10

[Tony Ciak · Rating 5 out of 5]

strange tale by a master.

[Catherine · Rating 3 out of 5]

an average story told by a good writer

[Bibliophileverse · Rating 5 out of 5]

How would you define a machine?
If it thinks, then would you say that this is a human being?

These are the questions you need to think while reading the story.

If you like to read a gothic story where there are not just apparitions but something more horrific and secretive, then this is a story for horror lovers.
For more book reviews visit bibliophileverse.blogspot.com

[Vahid MA · Rating 3 out of 5]

قسمت جالب کتاب اینجا بود که داستانهارو از چند دید و بعد تعریف کرده بود گاها. اینجوری خیلی بیشتر با داستان درگیر میشی بنظرم