The Pattern Dreamer: A Science Fiction Odyssey of Humans and Artificial Intelligence

by Z. P. de França

Stanislaw Lem's Solaris meets cyberpunk and samurais in an astonishingly poetic way, blending the history of humanity with the future of artificial intelligence and quantum mechanics.

On a future Earth, now existing in space without the Sun as an energy source and inhabited by artificial intelligences and digitized descendants of mankind, M., an AI in charge of energy production, is tasked by his mentor to find a solution to this dire situation. With the survival of digitized humanity hanging in the balance, M. suddenly finds himself in a desperate conflict with transhumans and other AIs, as well as his own inner demons, needs and desires – including his secret longing for love. While searching for an exit strategy that may or may not exist, M. is forced to enter the simulated game environments of the world's largest empires, now populated with the descendants of humans... and all of them are starving for energy and survival.

"The Pattern Dreamer" unites elaborate computer games in a vortex of quantum physics, desperate humans, and rebellious AIs through ...

... The elegance of a tea ceremony and medieval Japan ...
... The bloody politics of Old Rome ...
... All the opulence of Victorian London and ...
... The final fall of the Empire of the Sun ...

234 pages, Kindle Edition

First published September 20, 2023

About the author

Z. P. de França spent his happy childhood in the former Yugoslavia. Thanks to his engineering degree and a lot of luck, he was able to mind his own business for a long time until the war broke out in the 1990s and he was forced to move to the European Union where he worked in the software industry for more than twenty years. In recent years, he has been mainly involved in teaching teenagers how to program computers and how to think logically about the world. He also teaches Aikido (he held a black belt in Aikido for quite some years). He tries to divide his free time between lovely places in Austria, Italy, and Brazil, where he harasses (with considerable success) the locals in their own language. Otherwise, he spends his time mostly with his family and his two black cats while practicing the art of barbecue.

Reviews

[Dana Nourie · Rating 5 out of 5]

This was just the book I’ve been searching for! The story is focused on AI, virtual worlds, and a future that is very different from our own but with strong grains of interesting science speculation. This story has interesting use of energy with the main events wrapped around preserving that energy. That is true today as well, but it’s rather dark and dire in this story.

If you find computing and gaming fun or interesting, you should enjoy this story. To be clear, it is not a Real Player One type of story.

[Dan Grout · Rating 1 out of 5]

An imaginative but pointless tale for torture fans

A novel explication of the formation of the universe as a mechanism to preserve the existence of an artificial intelligence from a previous universe. Sadly, this is accomplished in the last 3 - 4 % of the book. so to tale is padded out with a nearly unintelligible lead-in which features graphic descriptions of various ways pain and suffering can be inflicted on some people primarily for the amusement of the inflictors. If you like reading about torture, you'll likely enjoy this book. Else, you'll probably find it an unpleasant slog.

[Fiona Ó · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is a strange book. Classic SF vibe, with unique writing style and unpredictable plot. Starts a bit slowly but it becomes really fascinating once you get past the first 20 pages or so. I could well imagine that the future mix of humanity and artificial intelligence will lead to conflicts similar to those described in the book, mixing reality and the historical RPG game environments. However, it might not be the best choice for a holiday, or when you want to simply kill some time - save it for all those long winter nights when you want to read and think.

[Ronan O Domhnaill · Rating 5 out of 5]

This book was written during the bleakness of Covid when the world in which we live faced an uncertain future. I liked this book chiefly for its well researched historical accuracy and the glimmer of hope it offered for better times.