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Beautiful Intelligence #1
Beautiful Intelligence
AI or BI? Artificial intelligence or beautiful intelligence? The race to create a sentient machine is headed by two teams, led by former researchers at Ichikawa Laboratories, who escape the regime there – and each other – to pursue their own dreams in the world beyond Japan.
Leonora Klee is creating a single android with a quantum computer brain, whose processing power has never before been achieved.
Manfred Klee is creating a group of individuals, none of them self-aware, in the hope that they will raise themselves to consciousness.
But with a Japanese chase team close on their heels, will either be successful before they are trapped and caught?
Leonora Klee is creating a single android with a quantum computer brain, whose processing power has never before been achieved.
Manfred Klee is creating a group of individuals, none of them self-aware, in the hope that they will raise themselves to consciousness.
But with a Japanese chase team close on their heels, will either be successful before they are trapped and caught?
330 pages, Kindle Edition
First published June 29, 2015
8 people are currently reading
147 people want to read
About the author
Stephen Palmer
38 books40 followersStephen Palmer is the author of numerous narrative nonfiction and genre fiction books, published by various publishers since 1996. His most recent directions are into music books, and anthropology/psychology with his critically lauded work 'I Am Taurus.' His fiction has been in the fields of steampunk, SF, and near-future AI novels.
His main area of interest is the evolution of consciousness, about which he writes on his Substack. A materialist, he emphasises the evolutionary description of our minds and of the human condition itself.
Stephen was raised in Shropshire, U.K., where he now lives with his partner, a large number of world music instruments, and more than one teapot. His CD collection contains albums by The Stranglers, Tangerine Dream and Mike Oldfield.
You can catch up with him via his Substack, his blog at stephenpalmer.co.uk, or via his Facebook page.
His main area of interest is the evolution of consciousness, about which he writes on his Substack. A materialist, he emphasises the evolutionary description of our minds and of the human condition itself.
Stephen was raised in Shropshire, U.K., where he now lives with his partner, a large number of world music instruments, and more than one teapot. His CD collection contains albums by The Stranglers, Tangerine Dream and Mike Oldfield.
You can catch up with him via his Substack, his blog at stephenpalmer.co.uk, or via his Facebook page.
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Displaying 1 - 14 of 14 reviews
August 12, 2015
True to form, Stephen Palmer has written a fantastic book. I recommend it heartily to almost any reader.
This book is one of the more interesting explorations of AI, at a time when AI is in our collective consciousness. It explores the concepts of types of AI - centralized vs. distributed, shaped by singular influences or collective influences, and the interactions of AI entities with other AI entities (in addition to the normal, homo-centric view of how they might deal with us).
And - unlike the disappointing book I read just before this, Seveneves, by Neal Stephenson - Palmer describes an advanced world in the context of a story, not like a library or Wikipedia entry, as Stephenson did. Palmer also effectively used the traditional narrative technique of parallel stories, interacting through both concept, and characters, and those interactions created wonderful tension, and pace.
Another wonderful aspect of the book is the insights about humanity, life, and perception. Examples:
Or:
Wow - an amazing challenge for developers of an AI as we might envision it - one that functions constantly in our reality.
I've bookmarked / highlighted more passages in this book than I have in many others in the last several years. That's a sign of how impactful, and good, I think this book is.
Kudos to Palmer for another fantastic example of his vastly under-appreciated, and under-known talent.
Oh, and BTW - for those who have read others by Palmer, this book is both different, and the same. It reveals the same Palmer when it comes to world-view, people-view, and aesthetic. But atypically, it takes place in a more modern, technical world - not the semi-fantasy, or Olde England-type world we often see. Yet, this is a good thing - it shows versatility, and strength in his writing. Never fear, dear Palmer-reader - you'll see the guy you like.
This book is one of the more interesting explorations of AI, at a time when AI is in our collective consciousness. It explores the concepts of types of AI - centralized vs. distributed, shaped by singular influences or collective influences, and the interactions of AI entities with other AI entities (in addition to the normal, homo-centric view of how they might deal with us).
And - unlike the disappointing book I read just before this, Seveneves, by Neal Stephenson - Palmer describes an advanced world in the context of a story, not like a library or Wikipedia entry, as Stephenson did. Palmer also effectively used the traditional narrative technique of parallel stories, interacting through both concept, and characters, and those interactions created wonderful tension, and pace.
Another wonderful aspect of the book is the insights about humanity, life, and perception. Examples:
... two people can experience the same event but feel different emotions. A woman standing at the edge of a sea cliff, who has dived in before ... she feels elation. But a novice feels afraid....This is an interesting question to explore in relation to how an AI might perceive, interpret, and act on an experience it has.
Or:
... if we remembered every detail of our lives the model of reality built up would be unworkable. If the nuances of every relationship were not generalised, if memory was too good, then it would be impossible to act on the basis of the model's knowledge, since that knowledge could not be extracted. This is why minds have a vast unconscious part and a small conscious summit...
Wow - an amazing challenge for developers of an AI as we might envision it - one that functions constantly in our reality.
I've bookmarked / highlighted more passages in this book than I have in many others in the last several years. That's a sign of how impactful, and good, I think this book is.
Kudos to Palmer for another fantastic example of his vastly under-appreciated, and under-known talent.
Oh, and BTW - for those who have read others by Palmer, this book is both different, and the same. It reveals the same Palmer when it comes to world-view, people-view, and aesthetic. But atypically, it takes place in a more modern, technical world - not the semi-fantasy, or Olde England-type world we often see. Yet, this is a good thing - it shows versatility, and strength in his writing. Never fear, dear Palmer-reader - you'll see the guy you like.
April 17, 2020
Some science fiction novels feel like more of the same. They can provide an enjoyable new twist on a story, but we've seen their like before. However, Beatiful Intelligence gives us a whole new take on the development of artificial intelligence. Two teams have broken off from a Japanese AI lab to go there own way and are on the run - they are as likely to be killed as sued. All this takes place in the context of the nexus, a next-generation internet that is far more immersive and intrusive, tracking and noting every activity of everyone.
Although this is fiction, Stephen Palmer does treat the reader to a fair amount of discussion of the nature of AI, how it might be achieved, and whether it's possible to distinguish true artificial intelligence and consciousness from a simulation of it. That is interesting enough in its own right, but the attempts of the two teams to keep concealed despite the nexus, and their very different approaches to creating AI are both engaging and fascinating. There's plenty of tension as the Japanese company's obsessive head attempts to track them down - and some surprising twists and turns.
There are inevitably some aspects in a relatively near future SF book, driven by technology, that could be questioned. Japan has never been strong on software development, and it seems an unlikely source (as opposed to China) for the development of the nexus - and for that matter, the acceptance of the total lack of privacy afforded by the nexus is hard to take on board, even given the collapse of Western economies that seems to have taken place. Also I'd have preferred more of an ending to the book to what feels more like a short story ending. But overall, this is a very effective SF thriller with plenty of action but also good deal of thought-provoking exploration of the implications of artificial intelligence.
Although this is fiction, Stephen Palmer does treat the reader to a fair amount of discussion of the nature of AI, how it might be achieved, and whether it's possible to distinguish true artificial intelligence and consciousness from a simulation of it. That is interesting enough in its own right, but the attempts of the two teams to keep concealed despite the nexus, and their very different approaches to creating AI are both engaging and fascinating. There's plenty of tension as the Japanese company's obsessive head attempts to track them down - and some surprising twists and turns.
There are inevitably some aspects in a relatively near future SF book, driven by technology, that could be questioned. Japan has never been strong on software development, and it seems an unlikely source (as opposed to China) for the development of the nexus - and for that matter, the acceptance of the total lack of privacy afforded by the nexus is hard to take on board, even given the collapse of Western economies that seems to have taken place. Also I'd have preferred more of an ending to the book to what feels more like a short story ending. But overall, this is a very effective SF thriller with plenty of action but also good deal of thought-provoking exploration of the implications of artificial intelligence.
January 14, 2017
Vi lever i en gullalder for nyskapende og smart science fiction, og Stephen Palmers "Beautiful Intelligence" er en tankevekkende framtidsfortelling. Kunstig intelligens er jo virkelig på agendaen for tiden etter suksessen med TV-serien "Westworld", men Palmers bok går grundigere ned i materien.
Handlingen finner sted 70-80 år i framtiden. En framtid der det altoppslukende japanske nettverket Nexus har overtatt etter internett. Boken beskriver hvordan menneskeheten frivillig ga opp alle tanker om privatliv da nettverket tok over verden ("an inexorable erosion of the concept of privacy").
En framtid etter en katastrofe der Europa og USA har selvdestruert og der solkraften til de nordafrikanske landene og teknologien til Japan dominerer. En verden uten billig olje. En verden der plast og teknologi er hard valuta. En verden der den afrikanske nordkysten flommer over av flyktninger fra Europa.
Innenfor disse rammene konkurrerer to små forskningsmiljøer om det store gjennombruddet innenfor kunstig intelligens. Men hva slags intelligens vil fungere? Er det den tradisjonelle AI (Artificial intelligence) eller BI (Beautiful intelligence) som vil vinne fram? Vil det mest effektive være å satse på en enkeltstående androide med supercomputere som hjernekraft? Eller er det gruppen med små individer som vil vinne kappløpet? Sistnevnte holder fast på tanken om at ekte og vakker intelligens bare kan oppstå i en gruppe.
De to små forskningsmiljøene utvikler altså to vidt ulike løsninger, mens en japansk forskningsgigant jager dem over store deler av verden.
"Beautiful Intelligence" filosoferer elegant og lekent over tunge tema. Det er en fargerik saga om en grotesk verden som kanskje ikke er så fjern som vi skulle ønske.
Handlingen finner sted 70-80 år i framtiden. En framtid der det altoppslukende japanske nettverket Nexus har overtatt etter internett. Boken beskriver hvordan menneskeheten frivillig ga opp alle tanker om privatliv da nettverket tok over verden ("an inexorable erosion of the concept of privacy").
En framtid etter en katastrofe der Europa og USA har selvdestruert og der solkraften til de nordafrikanske landene og teknologien til Japan dominerer. En verden uten billig olje. En verden der plast og teknologi er hard valuta. En verden der den afrikanske nordkysten flommer over av flyktninger fra Europa.
Innenfor disse rammene konkurrerer to små forskningsmiljøer om det store gjennombruddet innenfor kunstig intelligens. Men hva slags intelligens vil fungere? Er det den tradisjonelle AI (Artificial intelligence) eller BI (Beautiful intelligence) som vil vinne fram? Vil det mest effektive være å satse på en enkeltstående androide med supercomputere som hjernekraft? Eller er det gruppen med små individer som vil vinne kappløpet? Sistnevnte holder fast på tanken om at ekte og vakker intelligens bare kan oppstå i en gruppe.
De to små forskningsmiljøene utvikler altså to vidt ulike løsninger, mens en japansk forskningsgigant jager dem over store deler av verden.
"Beautiful Intelligence" filosoferer elegant og lekent over tunge tema. Det er en fargerik saga om en grotesk verden som kanskje ikke er så fjern som vi skulle ønske.
May 16, 2019
Beautiful Intelligence by Stephen Palmer
I really enjoyed this author’s work, The Rat and the Serpent; and when this novel came to my attention I couldn't help but wonder how he would treat the notion of artificial intelligence. I started reading and I couldn't help but draw some comparisons to the work of William Gibson and then there were images right out of Do androids dream of electric sheep by Philip K. Dick. Needless I was drawn into the whole thing and thoroughly enjoyed it. That is not to say there weren't some puzzling elements that made me wonder just what universe this came out of.
This is a dystopic tale of two competing teams of bio-engineers trying to build toward the singularity by creating artificial intelligence; but because there are two teams we have AI and then BI which accounts for the beautiful intelligence. The teams come out of a single lab where two people have virtually been held prisoner while developing for a company. The world into they escape to is one that has shifted from the western dominated internet to the new eastern dominated nexus. The big difference touted is that the nexis is more styled to a Japanese culture that is less individualistic and more collective and that's where I had to stop and think.
This is a ‘what if’ novel, which hinges largely on what if the collective Japanese culture dominated the nexis and thereby had more emphasis on the collective and less on individual thereby creating an environment where there was less privacy and more exposure when connected. The story emphasizes this collective mind as both a key point in the nexus and in the whole pursuit of the teams by a collective company that has to try to adjust its thinking to individualism of the west and the United States. Also an underlying theme is that the nexus is forcing all people to this collective nature. And this works; but only if you go back to 1980 and pre 1980 because since then the Japanese and other asian countries have almost reached a level of individualization that rivals or exceeds the US. (But keep in mind I'm not an expert on this in any way)
That aside this is what this universe is in this 'what if' and so it affords the two teams the advantage or at least the illusion of advantage that the man pursuing them has to alter his thinking in order to understand them in order to find them. It also sets the mood for some of the main characters who think that they are drowning in this collective oppression and they have to go solo or fly under the radar (nexus), often as sort of ghost or silhouettes that are decoys to cover their tracks.
This is a complex story that evolves around the two teams as they flee in separate continents from the same threat with their diverse experiments and devolves into a sort of dialogue about the merits of two different approaches to the AI problem.
Leonora and team have created a single entity named Zeug and they believe through teaching it language it will become conscious. (My best description of what they get is ‘think Frankenstein.)
Manfred and team have created 9 entities Red, Yellow, Blue, Green, Grey, White, Violet, Orange and Indigo. They have created a community of peers that will learn and develop by creating their own social structure. (Initially they have them linked together but this proves to retard their progress. Oddly they are almost like a collective.)
Both methods are fraught with errors in thinking and the story evolves around how the teams deal with those while at the same time keeping one step ahead of the bad guys. Adding to this is the need to be hidden from the nexus; though neither team seems to have made much provision for the possibility that the ever invasive nexus might creep into their whole experiment.
There are several moments when the characters philosophize about various related topics such as a mention of the Hierarchy of knowledge, intelligence, and wisdom. But possibly the most important was one that seemed for me to be fraught with some illusive and obtuse semantics is from this quote.
[QUOTE]Manfred shook his head. "It all started when personality became important. Old fashioned character was strangled by personality, and we all had to be smiling and go-getting and extrovert for the endless rows of cameras. $%^& @#$%^&* media. But, you know Dirk, you’re half correct. The internet and the nexus have leaned on humanity, and they’ve squashed a lot of individualism out of us."
Palmer, Stephen (2015-06-29). Beautiful Intelligence (Kindle Locations 3768-3771). infinity plus. Kindle Edition. [/QUOTE]
It's difficult to understand from even the context of the entire novel just what exactly these two words are meant to mean: Personality and Character. In many instances they a synonyms of each other and yet here they are treated as different things. Much like the old further and farther thing but more complicated. At best what I could draw from this is that maybe Personality here is best compared to Persona or the image one puts on in the Nexus as opposed to Character being related to the true self, though in this context it also has to include something with individuality where some how the personae or the personality in reference is part of the nexus collective or as one character calls it the identikit.
There are so many well developed characters in this story that the reader needs a score card for each; not to mention there is a bit of changing of sides between teams that helps confuse things. But the largest portion of the novel is bent on understanding the motivation of each team to coincide with how they get to where they are.
Oddly enough for this reader the main character that I most related to and felt empathy for was Indigo, who shows the most growth and development throughout the entire piece.
There is a bit of a mystery in the story with Manfred's 9 in that at one point one of the 9 seems to possibly be killing the others. I'm not sure this was solved but you need to read this to find out what you think.
This is great SFF with a touch of Cyberpunk and Some great android development with a hint of mystery and lots of suspense so there's a bit for everyone. Probably not much for the Romance lovers though.
If there's a vote for more of this world and what might happen next I'll put mine in.
A must read and I don't think you'll be disappointed.
J.L. Dobias
I really enjoyed this author’s work, The Rat and the Serpent; and when this novel came to my attention I couldn't help but wonder how he would treat the notion of artificial intelligence. I started reading and I couldn't help but draw some comparisons to the work of William Gibson and then there were images right out of Do androids dream of electric sheep by Philip K. Dick. Needless I was drawn into the whole thing and thoroughly enjoyed it. That is not to say there weren't some puzzling elements that made me wonder just what universe this came out of.
This is a dystopic tale of two competing teams of bio-engineers trying to build toward the singularity by creating artificial intelligence; but because there are two teams we have AI and then BI which accounts for the beautiful intelligence. The teams come out of a single lab where two people have virtually been held prisoner while developing for a company. The world into they escape to is one that has shifted from the western dominated internet to the new eastern dominated nexus. The big difference touted is that the nexis is more styled to a Japanese culture that is less individualistic and more collective and that's where I had to stop and think.
This is a ‘what if’ novel, which hinges largely on what if the collective Japanese culture dominated the nexis and thereby had more emphasis on the collective and less on individual thereby creating an environment where there was less privacy and more exposure when connected. The story emphasizes this collective mind as both a key point in the nexus and in the whole pursuit of the teams by a collective company that has to try to adjust its thinking to individualism of the west and the United States. Also an underlying theme is that the nexus is forcing all people to this collective nature. And this works; but only if you go back to 1980 and pre 1980 because since then the Japanese and other asian countries have almost reached a level of individualization that rivals or exceeds the US. (But keep in mind I'm not an expert on this in any way)
That aside this is what this universe is in this 'what if' and so it affords the two teams the advantage or at least the illusion of advantage that the man pursuing them has to alter his thinking in order to understand them in order to find them. It also sets the mood for some of the main characters who think that they are drowning in this collective oppression and they have to go solo or fly under the radar (nexus), often as sort of ghost or silhouettes that are decoys to cover their tracks.
This is a complex story that evolves around the two teams as they flee in separate continents from the same threat with their diverse experiments and devolves into a sort of dialogue about the merits of two different approaches to the AI problem.
Leonora and team have created a single entity named Zeug and they believe through teaching it language it will become conscious. (My best description of what they get is ‘think Frankenstein.)
Manfred and team have created 9 entities Red, Yellow, Blue, Green, Grey, White, Violet, Orange and Indigo. They have created a community of peers that will learn and develop by creating their own social structure. (Initially they have them linked together but this proves to retard their progress. Oddly they are almost like a collective.)
Both methods are fraught with errors in thinking and the story evolves around how the teams deal with those while at the same time keeping one step ahead of the bad guys. Adding to this is the need to be hidden from the nexus; though neither team seems to have made much provision for the possibility that the ever invasive nexus might creep into their whole experiment.
There are several moments when the characters philosophize about various related topics such as a mention of the Hierarchy of knowledge, intelligence, and wisdom. But possibly the most important was one that seemed for me to be fraught with some illusive and obtuse semantics is from this quote.
[QUOTE]Manfred shook his head. "It all started when personality became important. Old fashioned character was strangled by personality, and we all had to be smiling and go-getting and extrovert for the endless rows of cameras. $%^& @#$%^&* media. But, you know Dirk, you’re half correct. The internet and the nexus have leaned on humanity, and they’ve squashed a lot of individualism out of us."
Palmer, Stephen (2015-06-29). Beautiful Intelligence (Kindle Locations 3768-3771). infinity plus. Kindle Edition. [/QUOTE]
It's difficult to understand from even the context of the entire novel just what exactly these two words are meant to mean: Personality and Character. In many instances they a synonyms of each other and yet here they are treated as different things. Much like the old further and farther thing but more complicated. At best what I could draw from this is that maybe Personality here is best compared to Persona or the image one puts on in the Nexus as opposed to Character being related to the true self, though in this context it also has to include something with individuality where some how the personae or the personality in reference is part of the nexus collective or as one character calls it the identikit.
There are so many well developed characters in this story that the reader needs a score card for each; not to mention there is a bit of changing of sides between teams that helps confuse things. But the largest portion of the novel is bent on understanding the motivation of each team to coincide with how they get to where they are.
Oddly enough for this reader the main character that I most related to and felt empathy for was Indigo, who shows the most growth and development throughout the entire piece.
There is a bit of a mystery in the story with Manfred's 9 in that at one point one of the 9 seems to possibly be killing the others. I'm not sure this was solved but you need to read this to find out what you think.
This is great SFF with a touch of Cyberpunk and Some great android development with a hint of mystery and lots of suspense so there's a bit for everyone. Probably not much for the Romance lovers though.
If there's a vote for more of this world and what might happen next I'll put mine in.
A must read and I don't think you'll be disappointed.
J.L. Dobias
July 13, 2015
Artificial intelligence researchers Manfred and Leonora Klee used to work for Ichikawa Laboratories. Which is to say: they were prisoners in the luxurious enclave Aritomo Ichikawa created to prevent commercial espionage—and equally to prevent his researchers from leaving him. But the Klees found a way, even knowing that their lives thereafter would be in constant danger from the assassins Aritomo would surely send to find them.
The setting is somewhere around the beginning of the 22nd century, and though Palmer is not specific, the world has clearly suffered some sort of environmental/technological disaster. The "nexus" has replaced the internet, and the nexus is far more pervasive, intrusive, and addictive than the internet ever was, for it is a way of interacting with society, of being constantly bombarded with information, that fosters dependence. It also makes it nearly impossible to live without leaving the sort of traces behind that someone with the necessary resources, such as Ichikawa labs possesses, will eventually pick up.
Once they gain their freedom, Manfred unexpectedly gives Leonora the slip; they will not meet again. As the book opens several years later, they are heading separate research teams, each with a very different philosophy and approach to creating artificial sentience.
Leonora is hiding on Malta, while a virtual copy in San Francisco acts as a decoy, interfacing, downloading, uploading, while layers and layers of virtual camouflage provided by her security expert, Hound, conceal her real location. Her team follows a traditional approach, creating a single AI, an android with a quantum computer for a brain. Manfred's team is in Philadelphia, trying to invent what Manfred calls "beautiful intelligence," by creating a network of individuals, none of them self-aware, hoping that together they will raise themselves to sentience.
But for both teams research is hampered by the need to keep moving and also by the need to create credible new identities with every change in location. Leonora's journey takes her team around the Mediterranean and across northern Africa, while Manfred's team crosses a devastated and dangerous America. Aware that a single slip could leave them vulnerable to Aritomo's minions (who never seem to be far behind) both teams must also meet the challanges of interacting with their evolving creations—and those creations are not evolving as planned.
Palmer is a writer of unique and remarkable imagination. He can also be a bit didactic. He has strong beliefs about the environment (he wants to save it) and religion (he believes it is a bad influence), beliefs that he wishes to communicate to his readers. While these are not absent from this book, they are less evident here than in some of his other novels. He is a man of ideas, and characterization is not his strong point. Instead, through discussions and diagreements between the various characters—particularly when they are faced by new and unexpected developments—Beautiful Intelligence examines theories about artificial intelligence, as well as posing philosophical questions about sentience, self-awareness, and conscience, about the ways that consciousness develops, and the dangers when technology advances far more quickly than our understanding. For someone (like myself) who does not have the necessary background to understand all the substance of these arguments, it can be at times difficult to follow, but even without that background, the chase, the tensions and shifting alliances within the two groups, make for a suspenseful and entertaining story.
September 4, 2015
Some good ideas and characters - bit difficult to get inot but once on my way it was great
January 21, 2016
Good to very good in parts. Smart fresh science fiction writing, a little uneven in parts, but very enjoyable, and I hope Mr Palmer continues to write & improve.
January 25, 2018
No sure about this novel. The author is new to me and I got the book because of the many good reviews I read by people whose views I trust. I found the story very difficult to get in to but it did get better as it went along.
It finished on a cliff hanger so I can only assume there will be a follow up or follow ups. Not sure at the moment whether I will make the effort.
It finished on a cliff hanger so I can only assume there will be a follow up or follow ups. Not sure at the moment whether I will make the effort.
July 1, 2020
Some interesting concepts, and weird enough to at least hold attention, but Beautiful Intelligence is encased in the feeblest attempts at world building, with unnecessary modifications of words to make them sound futuristic, and distracting onomatopoeia character dialog, a bit too Jar Jar Binks for my liking.
November 17, 2023
The idea was ok, but the execution left me completely unimpressed.
December 20, 2015
A dystopian future where a worldwide 'nexus' has replaced the internet, 2 teams of people are fleeing from technological mastermind Ichikawa (whom they both once worked for), one with a solitary AI, the other with a group of them. Each team has differing views on how to progress with said AI, both are being pursued by Ichikawa's assassins.
I'm not sure what I thought of this book. It has a lot of interesting ideas but I found the characters fairly ill defined and uninteresting. Whilst some of the musings on artificial intelligence and conciousness were engrossing, the plot itself just seemed to be people on the run for 300 pages and I struggled to care what happened to any of them. It did pick up towards the final third and is a decent, if, for me, forgettable read.
I'm not sure what I thought of this book. It has a lot of interesting ideas but I found the characters fairly ill defined and uninteresting. Whilst some of the musings on artificial intelligence and conciousness were engrossing, the plot itself just seemed to be people on the run for 300 pages and I struggled to care what happened to any of them. It did pick up towards the final third and is a decent, if, for me, forgettable read.
August 22, 2015
Nice ideas but ...
The book explores two different views of intelligence and artificial intelligence. The exploration from an ideas perspective is interesting but badly let down by the writing. Evil and inscrutable Asians, most women being inferior to men and many other tropes abound. Unfortunately they multiply as the book goes. Do I recommend it? Maybe but be warned about the plot, dialogue and characterisation.
The book explores two different views of intelligence and artificial intelligence. The exploration from an ideas perspective is interesting but badly let down by the writing. Evil and inscrutable Asians, most women being inferior to men and many other tropes abound. Unfortunately they multiply as the book goes. Do I recommend it? Maybe but be warned about the plot, dialogue and characterisation.
want-to-read
August 1, 2015
February 29, 2016
I liked the ideas about a future of augmented reality but the characters and dialogue made little sense.
Displaying 1 - 14 of 14 reviews