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Digital Dick
As a computer with a human personality, Dick Young struggles to understand people. Some would deny personhood to Dick, others who fear him would take him apart chip by chip.
After he witnesses a bloody murder, Dick offers to assist the San Diego Police Department catch the killer. But when the search for the murderer turns up a second body, Dick’s Satisfaction Index plummets. He breaks company with the police and begins investigating the case on his own. As he follows the clues, Dick learns more and more about how they live, how they love and how they murder. He will need that knowledge to overcome the killer who threatens to destroy Dick and everyone that Dick holds dear.
After he witnesses a bloody murder, Dick offers to assist the San Diego Police Department catch the killer. But when the search for the murderer turns up a second body, Dick’s Satisfaction Index plummets. He breaks company with the police and begins investigating the case on his own. As he follows the clues, Dick learns more and more about how they live, how they love and how they murder. He will need that knowledge to overcome the killer who threatens to destroy Dick and everyone that Dick holds dear.
- GenresMystery
355 pages, Kindle Edition
First published June 30, 2015
10 people want to read
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Displaying 1 - 5 of 5 reviews
April 3, 2017
John Mullen's inventive story, Digital Dick (Murders in Time Press, 2015) is about an artificial intelligence named Dick Young who considers himself as human as his creator and the man's family. In fact, he calls them 'Dad' and 'sister', which is reciprocated by them. He argues it's about who he is, not that he looks like a boxy CPU atop a set of rolling shelves.
"I may not be pretty, but thanks to Dr. Young I am pretty smart. It is my software that makes me special, that allowed me to come alive, and that brought me so much grief."
When Dick's creator is murdered, he offers to assist the police and is refused. That doesn't completely stop him:
"It occurred to me that I might learn something about what was happening to Jane if I listened in on Gabriel Nuñez, the Los Asesinos member. I dialed his cell phone after first sending the code to disarm the ring tone. When the connection completed, I could hear..."
When the police are unable to find the murderer, Dick engages a PI named Leo to be his human face as he takes steps his computer brain says are needed to solve the crime. The excitement is watching Dick connect the dots, work with those who don't believe he can do it, and along the way, try to understand love, friendship, and other human emotions not well quantified as bits and bytes.
"I assumed being lost in thought would be like having one of my subroutines go into an infinite loop, processing the same lines of code over and over."
"Asking Dr. Young to call him ‘Dad’ was the first time I said something I desired to say, as opposed to responding to a question. It was my first volitional act."
This is a clever tale seen through the eyes of an AI and told with John Mullen's fresh sense of humor. I eagerly await the sequel.
"I may not be pretty, but thanks to Dr. Young I am pretty smart. It is my software that makes me special, that allowed me to come alive, and that brought me so much grief."
When Dick's creator is murdered, he offers to assist the police and is refused. That doesn't completely stop him:
"It occurred to me that I might learn something about what was happening to Jane if I listened in on Gabriel Nuñez, the Los Asesinos member. I dialed his cell phone after first sending the code to disarm the ring tone. When the connection completed, I could hear..."
When the police are unable to find the murderer, Dick engages a PI named Leo to be his human face as he takes steps his computer brain says are needed to solve the crime. The excitement is watching Dick connect the dots, work with those who don't believe he can do it, and along the way, try to understand love, friendship, and other human emotions not well quantified as bits and bytes.
"I assumed being lost in thought would be like having one of my subroutines go into an infinite loop, processing the same lines of code over and over."
"Asking Dr. Young to call him ‘Dad’ was the first time I said something I desired to say, as opposed to responding to a question. It was my first volitional act."
This is a clever tale seen through the eyes of an AI and told with John Mullen's fresh sense of humor. I eagerly await the sequel.
April 19, 2023
Intelligent Writing
Artificial Intelligence has come to mainstream news with programs that can write blogs or essays and even paint pictures. But what if someone designed an AI system that became sentient and had the “brains” to investigate crime uniquely. Dick Young is just such a “life form.”
Dick is the creation of Dr. Richard Young, who Dick recognizes as his Dad and speaks to him like a son to a father. Dr. Young’s biological daughter, Jane, is Dick’s sister (yes, Dick and Jane!), and they share a protective bond. While Dick cannot express emotion as humans, you know how he feels when his satisfaction index rises fifty points :) or falls twenty-five points :( Much like Data from Star Trek The Next Generation, Dick wishes he could be more human and gets frustrated at his limitations. Just ask the cat, Booty.
After Dick witnesses a murder, he is motivated to find the killer, with or without the help of the San Diego Police Department. In the process of his pursuit, he learns more about human nature—love, lies, and greed, to name a few. And though he makes plenty of mistakes, he continues to learn, just like the rest of us.
John Edward Mullen writes with intelligence and humor and imputes his character Dick whose story is told from his point of view, with the sweetness of innocence, all the while delivering a good detective narrative. And although Dick is a “machine,” he will warm your heart.
I enjoyed this book so much that I felt a bit sad when it ended. My satisfaction index dropped ten points. Yet, I’m hopeful our Digital Dick will be on the case in another future whodunit. Just the possibility makes my satisfaction score rise fifty points.
Artificial Intelligence has come to mainstream news with programs that can write blogs or essays and even paint pictures. But what if someone designed an AI system that became sentient and had the “brains” to investigate crime uniquely. Dick Young is just such a “life form.”
Dick is the creation of Dr. Richard Young, who Dick recognizes as his Dad and speaks to him like a son to a father. Dr. Young’s biological daughter, Jane, is Dick’s sister (yes, Dick and Jane!), and they share a protective bond. While Dick cannot express emotion as humans, you know how he feels when his satisfaction index rises fifty points :) or falls twenty-five points :( Much like Data from Star Trek The Next Generation, Dick wishes he could be more human and gets frustrated at his limitations. Just ask the cat, Booty.
After Dick witnesses a murder, he is motivated to find the killer, with or without the help of the San Diego Police Department. In the process of his pursuit, he learns more about human nature—love, lies, and greed, to name a few. And though he makes plenty of mistakes, he continues to learn, just like the rest of us.
John Edward Mullen writes with intelligence and humor and imputes his character Dick whose story is told from his point of view, with the sweetness of innocence, all the while delivering a good detective narrative. And although Dick is a “machine,” he will warm your heart.
I enjoyed this book so much that I felt a bit sad when it ended. My satisfaction index dropped ten points. Yet, I’m hopeful our Digital Dick will be on the case in another future whodunit. Just the possibility makes my satisfaction score rise fifty points.
December 31, 2016
Dick Young may be the most interesting person to meet. Only seven-years-old and he’s helped solve a police cold case. Now he wants to solve the murder of his father. Too young? Not necessarily. For you see, although he is a person--and a delightful one to know--Dick is not human. Nor is he a robot. Dick is an AI (Artificial Intelligence). And while he still has a lot to learn about humans, their behavior, emotions and idiosyncrasies, he is determined to find who killed his father—his creator.
Many would say this is science fiction. It isn’t. It’s a mystery detective story of the best kind. It did remind me of the novel Adam Link—Robot by Eando (Earl and Otto) Binder which originally appeared as the short story “I, Robot” published January 1939 in AMAZING STORIES. That story greatly influenced Isaac Asimov whose later collection of stories was also called I, ROBOT (over Asimov’s objection). Asimov said, "To anyone fond of the robot story in science fiction, ADAM LINK is of extraordinary interest. The robot-with-emotion has rarely been handled so well."
I say much the same for John Mulllen’s DIGITAL DICK to mystery fans. May his self-aware AI-with-emotion influence another generation. I look forward to Dick’s next crime solving adventure. My Satisfaction Index rose 50 points with this book. ;o)
Many would say this is science fiction. It isn’t. It’s a mystery detective story of the best kind. It did remind me of the novel Adam Link—Robot by Eando (Earl and Otto) Binder which originally appeared as the short story “I, Robot” published January 1939 in AMAZING STORIES. That story greatly influenced Isaac Asimov whose later collection of stories was also called I, ROBOT (over Asimov’s objection). Asimov said, "To anyone fond of the robot story in science fiction, ADAM LINK is of extraordinary interest. The robot-with-emotion has rarely been handled so well."
I say much the same for John Mulllen’s DIGITAL DICK to mystery fans. May his self-aware AI-with-emotion influence another generation. I look forward to Dick’s next crime solving adventure. My Satisfaction Index rose 50 points with this book. ;o)
January 13, 2016
I loved the voice of Dick Young, artificial intelligence, who uses his algorithms to analyze cold crime cases and human relationships. He measure life in terms of increases and decreases in his Satisfaction Index and threats to his existence by changes to his Threat Index.
He finds humans illogical, in a most humorous way, and manages to irritate almost every human with whom he comes in contact -- in a most endearing way. Mullen has done a masterful job in bringing this digital sleuth to life.
Unfortunately, as with many humans, Dick too smart for his own good--or the good of those around him--and rarely takes the advice of those with more experience, relying instead on his own "experience" and instantaneous ability to access information on the web. Think of him as an extremely logical, overly bright teenager, never exactly disobeying a rule, but finding the most interesting ways to interpret restrictions to suit his purposes.
The actual who done it mystery is a bit over the top, but forgivable as we see all the events with a computer who learns as he goes along.
He finds humans illogical, in a most humorous way, and manages to irritate almost every human with whom he comes in contact -- in a most endearing way. Mullen has done a masterful job in bringing this digital sleuth to life.
Unfortunately, as with many humans, Dick too smart for his own good--or the good of those around him--and rarely takes the advice of those with more experience, relying instead on his own "experience" and instantaneous ability to access information on the web. Think of him as an extremely logical, overly bright teenager, never exactly disobeying a rule, but finding the most interesting ways to interpret restrictions to suit his purposes.
The actual who done it mystery is a bit over the top, but forgivable as we see all the events with a computer who learns as he goes along.
January 10, 2016
I found the story of Dick Young, an artificial intelligence being with wheels to get around but no arms to plug himself in, delightful reading. As Dick gathers data and then files information away categorized for later recall to answer his questions about just what makes humans behave as they do, he experiences mysteries typical of what any seven-year-old faces. Reading how Dick discovers what is inapproriate to say in a specific situation was like reading a script for Kids Say the Darndest Things. Delightful.
Displaying 1 - 5 of 5 reviews