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The Turing Option #1
The Turing Option
J. J. Beckworth, of Megalobe Industries, was unimpressed by whiz-kid Brian Delaney's new robot, Robin-I. The thing could talk - after a fashion - and catch paperclips, but so what?
Seconds later Brian was left dead in a savage attack by unknown assassins; his brain shattered. His only hope lay in Robin-I. For he had created a machine capable of rebuilding its inventor's mind from spare parts.
Now Brian's amnesiac brain struggles to bring a new form of intelligence into the world - and the enemies of Megalobe hunted him down like a wounded animal...
The Turning Option combines the talents of the world's leading expert on Artificial Intelligence and a master SF storyteller in a fascinating near-future thriller.
Seconds later Brian was left dead in a savage attack by unknown assassins; his brain shattered. His only hope lay in Robin-I. For he had created a machine capable of rebuilding its inventor's mind from spare parts.
Now Brian's amnesiac brain struggles to bring a new form of intelligence into the world - and the enemies of Megalobe hunted him down like a wounded animal...
The Turning Option combines the talents of the world's leading expert on Artificial Intelligence and a master SF storyteller in a fascinating near-future thriller.
498 pages, Mass Market Paperback
First published August 1, 1992
27 people are currently reading
502 people want to read
About the author
Harry Harrison
1,247 books1,036 followersLibrarian Note: There is more than one author in the Goodreads database with this name.
Harry Harrison (born Henry Maxwell Dempsey) was an American science fiction author best known for his character the The Stainless Steel Rat and the novel Make Room! Make Room! (1966), the basis for the film Soylent Green (1973). He was also (with Brian W. Aldiss) co-president of the Birmingham Science Fiction Group.
Excerpted from Wikipedia.
Harry Harrison (born Henry Maxwell Dempsey) was an American science fiction author best known for his character the The Stainless Steel Rat and the novel Make Room! Make Room! (1966), the basis for the film Soylent Green (1973). He was also (with Brian W. Aldiss) co-president of the Birmingham Science Fiction Group.
Excerpted from Wikipedia.
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 47 reviews
November 22, 2011
I think this was the book that tuned me from a technophobe to a geek.
April 21, 2020
Rasanter Retro-Near-Future SF-Thriller, dessen Welt aus heutiger Perspektive aber sehr unausgewogen wirkt und der sein zentrales Thema - KI - aus heutiger Perspektive zu eindimensional betrachtet.
December 14, 2016
Muy buena novela de ciencia ficción hard. Está escrita en el estilo de la época, principios de 1990. El núcleo de la narración es verosímil en términos científicos, aunque no se haya concretado históricamente todavía. Por eso es ciencia ficción y no del género fantasía, muy próximo. Rodeando ese núcleo se construyen los personajes, su idiosincrasia, sus historias. Desde ese centro científico frío prolifera un mundo humano cálido. Ese era el estilo literario de la ciencia ficción de aquella época. Harry Harrison logró en esta novela un muy buen ejemplar. Marvin Minsky, gran lector de ciencia ficción dura, creo que aportó más bien ideas sobre la forma concreta que tomaría la vida de un ser humano con una computadora implantada en su cerebro. En este punto, la novela es una ilustración de las teorías de Minsky sobre la inteligencia artificial. Según la visión clásica de Alan Turing, los procesos mentales son cómputos. Pensar sería lo mismo que correr un algoritmo, complejísimo pero algoritmo al fin. Pensar sería poner en funcionamiento un mecanismo abstracto de operaciones matemáticas ejecutadas por el cerebro, una computadora biológica. Por ser, en definitiva, una computadora, el cerebro podría reemplazarse por una máquina de otro material. De eso trata esta novela. Una nota interesante está en que la conciencia aparece como irrelevante. El protagonista con el implante siguió pensando igual que antes del implante, pero sin conciencia. Este atributo es propio de la teoría de Minsky sobre la mente humana, tal como se desarrolla en su libro The Society of Mind. Para Minsky la introspección es una ficción, tal como lo evidencia Brian Delaney, el protagonista de esta novela. Se trata de un problema fundamental de investigación de las ciencias cognitivas actuales. The Turing Option es una novela entretenida de ciencia ficción que se lee como una novela de suspenso con un fondo curioso de filosofía de la mente. Hay una versión en español de la editorial Atlántida, 1993, La Utopía de Turing.
September 11, 2010
An excerpt from "Dark Streets," the suspense column I do for Night Owl Reviews: "In our first "Dark Streets" column we mentioned how pan-genre suspense stories are. Since then we've been reading around for an excellent example of a science fiction with the power to grip that has little to so with its technology or way out setting.
We thought we had a likely candidate in The Turing Option by Harry Harrison and Marvin Minsky but it turns out not to be so. This one has an intriguing premise, especially in light of the emerging idea of the singularity (http://mindstalk.net/vinge/vinge-sing...), the merging of humans and machine.
Though it starts out strong -- with a deadly raid by unknown forces to steal the secrets of a super-advanced artificial intelligence lab –- it lets that momentum fizzle fairly quickly and sinks into an oddly non-fascinating techo-medical dissertation on the methods for plugging a machine AI into the brain of the researcher who invented it. After that it seems to go out of its way to avoid any menace in that situation. Eventually the story gets around to refocusing on the original thieves.
The stilted dialogue contributes to the steadily draining drama. How many times can people say "it's early times" and not be referring to whiskey? If it's a habit of one character that's on thing. But nearly every major character in this book utters that phrase at least once. We've read few books with more squandered potential. Suspenseful sci-fi? They're out there. The Turing Option isn’t one of them.
We thought we had a likely candidate in The Turing Option by Harry Harrison and Marvin Minsky but it turns out not to be so. This one has an intriguing premise, especially in light of the emerging idea of the singularity (http://mindstalk.net/vinge/vinge-sing...), the merging of humans and machine.
Though it starts out strong -- with a deadly raid by unknown forces to steal the secrets of a super-advanced artificial intelligence lab –- it lets that momentum fizzle fairly quickly and sinks into an oddly non-fascinating techo-medical dissertation on the methods for plugging a machine AI into the brain of the researcher who invented it. After that it seems to go out of its way to avoid any menace in that situation. Eventually the story gets around to refocusing on the original thieves.
The stilted dialogue contributes to the steadily draining drama. How many times can people say "it's early times" and not be referring to whiskey? If it's a habit of one character that's on thing. But nearly every major character in this book utters that phrase at least once. We've read few books with more squandered potential. Suspenseful sci-fi? They're out there. The Turing Option isn’t one of them.
April 7, 2010
This is one of the books that got me interested in studying AI. Now that I reread it, knowing more about the technology, it comes off as a little silly. A pleasant enough read and contains a good layman's intro to some aspects of Minsky and AI. Pretty good speculation for its time, but dated in some strange and amusing ways. I've always liked Harrison, and even though this isn't his strongest book, it does have its moments. Will sadly have to be relegated to the list entitled "books that were way better when I was 15".
January 13, 2023
https://fromtheheartofeurope.eu/the-turing-option-by-harry-harrison-with-marvin-minsky/
The first chapter is dated 8 February 2023; the first 18 are set then and later in the year, the next 25 are set in 2024 and the last two in 2026.) I’m going to focus only on the parts set in 2023 here, but I’ll make one general observation: I found the prose to be rather clunky in a number of places, much more so than Harrison at his best, and wondered if Minsky, who was a well known artificial intelligence theoretician rather than a fiction writer, had possibly had more to do with the text than the cover credits suggest.
The narrative thrust of the book is about the development of artificial intelligence in computers, but in fact for most of the first half of it, that theme takes second place to the surgical problems of restoring human brain damage with advanced biological and technological techniques. This is described in immense and frankly excessive detail, though it is interesting that we are now starting to get close to this sort of cybernetic enhancement in real life.
The wounded computer scientist is Irish, which unfortunately allows Harrison to indulge in some stereotyping – Mary Robinson had been elected in 1990 and 1992 saw the X case, so it was clear to anyone who cared to look that the life experience of an Irish person born in 1999 (as his protagonist is) would be pretty different from the de Valera years. And there’s this passage on free movement:
“I have studied the relevant data bases. The European Economic Community forms a customs union. A passport is needed to enter any member country from outside the community. After that there is no need to show it again. However, Switzerland is not a member of this group. I thought that this problem might be postponed until we reached that country’s border.”
I’m cheating a bit because that’s from one of the 2024 chapters. But in fact we’ve had passport-free travel with Switzerland since 2009; and, sadly, we no longer have it with the UK. But this is a book about technological speculation, not future geopolitics. (The word “China” does not appear even once)
I can’t honestly recommend it except as a snapshot of Minsky’s thought at a particular moment, and frankly he said and did more interesting things later in his career.
The first chapter is dated 8 February 2023; the first 18 are set then and later in the year, the next 25 are set in 2024 and the last two in 2026.) I’m going to focus only on the parts set in 2023 here, but I’ll make one general observation: I found the prose to be rather clunky in a number of places, much more so than Harrison at his best, and wondered if Minsky, who was a well known artificial intelligence theoretician rather than a fiction writer, had possibly had more to do with the text than the cover credits suggest.
The narrative thrust of the book is about the development of artificial intelligence in computers, but in fact for most of the first half of it, that theme takes second place to the surgical problems of restoring human brain damage with advanced biological and technological techniques. This is described in immense and frankly excessive detail, though it is interesting that we are now starting to get close to this sort of cybernetic enhancement in real life.
The wounded computer scientist is Irish, which unfortunately allows Harrison to indulge in some stereotyping – Mary Robinson had been elected in 1990 and 1992 saw the X case, so it was clear to anyone who cared to look that the life experience of an Irish person born in 1999 (as his protagonist is) would be pretty different from the de Valera years. And there’s this passage on free movement:
“I have studied the relevant data bases. The European Economic Community forms a customs union. A passport is needed to enter any member country from outside the community. After that there is no need to show it again. However, Switzerland is not a member of this group. I thought that this problem might be postponed until we reached that country’s border.”
I’m cheating a bit because that’s from one of the 2024 chapters. But in fact we’ve had passport-free travel with Switzerland since 2009; and, sadly, we no longer have it with the UK. But this is a book about technological speculation, not future geopolitics. (The word “China” does not appear even once)
I can’t honestly recommend it except as a snapshot of Minsky’s thought at a particular moment, and frankly he said and did more interesting things later in his career.
March 19, 2009
This is quite a brilliant story - of regrowing, relearning, rediscovering. The basic plot is that a brilliant scientist survives an attempted murder, but with portions of his brain severely damaged. He's been working on artificial intelligence, though; so all is not truly lost.
The storytelling is gripping and the technology fascinating. the ending is quite different than what I expected - throughout the novel modern technology is portrayed as holy beneficial, and it's not until the end that we see something that might just draw a cloud over the idea of going too far with technology.
A superbly spun story, if leaning a trifle toward the unbelievable.
The storytelling is gripping and the technology fascinating. the ending is quite different than what I expected - throughout the novel modern technology is portrayed as holy beneficial, and it's not until the end that we see something that might just draw a cloud over the idea of going too far with technology.
A superbly spun story, if leaning a trifle toward the unbelievable.
July 6, 2019
Не впечатлило, хотя задумка хороша. Искусственный интеллект оказался круче всех кожаных мешков, чего и следовало ожидать. На всю книгу - один положительный персонаж-женщина, все остальные делали гению плохо разными способами.
February 18, 2009
In 1993, this was my favorite book. It would be interesting to re-read it now.
April 9, 2022
There is a decent science fiction/suspense/thriller story in here, unfortunately though it kept being buried beneath snowdrifts of technical and scientific lectures on artificial intelligence and computers. I have to admit to a level of prejudice here. My association with my computer is not a technical one. In fact I always breathe a sigh of relief when the thing shows signs of coming to life after I switch it on. So for me Professor Minsky's paragraphs are not riveting. They usually begin with a Harry Harrison trigger question from one of the characters:
“So how does LAMA help them [the 'little bunches of interconnected nerve cells' in the brain] share,” Brian asked.
[Brian's scientist father answers,] “It does this by combining an Expert System shell with a huge data base called CYC – for encyclopedia. All previous Expert Systems were based on highly specialized knowledge, but CYC provides LAMA with millions of fragments of common sense knowledge...”
“How does LAMA know which ones [that's the knowledge fragments] to use?”
“By using special connection agents called nemes...” [And the scientist is off again.]
The fault of not liking the style is, I admit, mine. A more adept intellect would probably lap it up and leave the thriller storyline to one side. As for the story – it's OK. It's not a page-turner and it does sometimes seem to be only a narrative pathway to lead to the next scientific discussion. However, on the whole it works. Some of the characters are realistically drawn but most are clichéd or stereotyped.
After Brian's recovery from having had half his brain blown away he is supposed to have the memories of a 14 year old. Yet, God love the little rascal, he apparently has an Irishman's innate fondness for large quantities of alcohol – presumably because he's Irish. When he is on the run with Shelly (one of the believable characters) he takes her to an Irish pub where he seems incredibly familiar with the pleasant attributes of a well known Dublin stout. Now I know Brendan Behan started imbibing as little more than a toddler but his was an unusual case and should not impose a desire for inebriation on the entire youth of Ireland.
Dr. Snaresbrook, the genius surgeon and workaholic - Harrison forgets to include the woman's lot of multi-tasking in her life's burden - who saves Brian's life and gives him his computer brain is as close to a living saint as one is likely to encounter. Added to surgical and medical brilliance she has the sort of smooth and kindly bedside manner that rarely exists within a consultant surgeon.
General Schorcht, who should have been in Dr. Strangelove or perhaps played Colonel Kurtz, naturally has a Germanic name as he's an authoritarian martinet. He never speaks when he can shout and never listens when he has made his own uninformed decision. He is often described as a military dinosaur, perhaps more a bludgeoning Triceratops than a vicious Velociraptor, but once he gets moving only the President can stop him.
Business executives in general don't come out very well in the book – Alfred Benicoff excepted – and are generally corrupt and money hungry, while scientists are dedicated peace loving souls without a fault in their make-up. And going back to science and scientists there is one short section in chapter 16 in which Brian discusses religion with his step-mother, a devout Catholic. It is too long to quote here but Professor Minsky's atheism shouts out like a laboratory guard dog safeguarding the scientific truth.
It was an enjoyable story though too heavy on technicalities for me.
“So how does LAMA help them [the 'little bunches of interconnected nerve cells' in the brain] share,” Brian asked.
[Brian's scientist father answers,] “It does this by combining an Expert System shell with a huge data base called CYC – for encyclopedia. All previous Expert Systems were based on highly specialized knowledge, but CYC provides LAMA with millions of fragments of common sense knowledge...”
“How does LAMA know which ones [that's the knowledge fragments] to use?”
“By using special connection agents called nemes...” [And the scientist is off again.]
The fault of not liking the style is, I admit, mine. A more adept intellect would probably lap it up and leave the thriller storyline to one side. As for the story – it's OK. It's not a page-turner and it does sometimes seem to be only a narrative pathway to lead to the next scientific discussion. However, on the whole it works. Some of the characters are realistically drawn but most are clichéd or stereotyped.
After Brian's recovery from having had half his brain blown away he is supposed to have the memories of a 14 year old. Yet, God love the little rascal, he apparently has an Irishman's innate fondness for large quantities of alcohol – presumably because he's Irish. When he is on the run with Shelly (one of the believable characters) he takes her to an Irish pub where he seems incredibly familiar with the pleasant attributes of a well known Dublin stout. Now I know Brendan Behan started imbibing as little more than a toddler but his was an unusual case and should not impose a desire for inebriation on the entire youth of Ireland.
Dr. Snaresbrook, the genius surgeon and workaholic - Harrison forgets to include the woman's lot of multi-tasking in her life's burden - who saves Brian's life and gives him his computer brain is as close to a living saint as one is likely to encounter. Added to surgical and medical brilliance she has the sort of smooth and kindly bedside manner that rarely exists within a consultant surgeon.
General Schorcht, who should have been in Dr. Strangelove or perhaps played Colonel Kurtz, naturally has a Germanic name as he's an authoritarian martinet. He never speaks when he can shout and never listens when he has made his own uninformed decision. He is often described as a military dinosaur, perhaps more a bludgeoning Triceratops than a vicious Velociraptor, but once he gets moving only the President can stop him.
Business executives in general don't come out very well in the book – Alfred Benicoff excepted – and are generally corrupt and money hungry, while scientists are dedicated peace loving souls without a fault in their make-up. And going back to science and scientists there is one short section in chapter 16 in which Brian discusses religion with his step-mother, a devout Catholic. It is too long to quote here but Professor Minsky's atheism shouts out like a laboratory guard dog safeguarding the scientific truth.
It was an enjoyable story though too heavy on technicalities for me.
March 1, 2018
Nunca he sido fan de la ciencia ficción; es un género que siempre evadí. El título y portada no me atraían mucho; incluso pensé en no leerlo. Sin embargo, es la historia más emocionante que he leído en años. Disfruté cada palabra; incluso perdí la noción del tiempo. No es una joya en lo referente a lo lingüístico; el lenguaje es sencillo y pobre; pero eso no le quita lo emocionante. La historia es sencilla, hasta un niño podría entenderla y disfrutarla. La trama está muy bien estructurada, construida para aumentar el misterio. Los tecnicismos y las referencias tecnológicas y científicas no son incomprensibles ni entorpecen la lectura, ya que la cantidad de detalles desconocidos por el lector no es innecesariamente grande. Por el contrario, las referencias científicas y técnicas usadas son sólo las suficientes para el desarrollo de la historia, sin caer en el absurdo y sin sobrecargar la narración hasta hacerla incomprensible, como ocurre en muchos libros de ciencia ficción. Los personajes tienen un desarrollo muy complejo; y ninguno de ellos es ni tan sabio ni tan estúpido. Me encantó que no hayan hecho a Brian como un ser perfecto exento de defectos y deseos humanos. Si bien el mensaje final es bastante cliché (el problema de un mundo de máquinas con características humanas y humanos que parecen máquinas), se lo perdono, porque supongo que es un tema inevitable en la ciencia ficción. La muerte de Sven me pareció bastante cruel, pero me la esperaba. Obviamente los autores iban a utilizar el recurso emotivo de un robot que se sacrifica por su amo. La única pequeña falla que encontré es que el final es demasiado increíble. Nadie sería tan estúpido como para visitar a quien intentó asesinarle varias veces sin llevar ningún tipo de protección. Por lo demás, el robot estaba hecho de materiales carísimos e increíbles, pero al parecer a nadie se le ocurrió hacer su cobertura a prueba de balas. Aun así, me encantó que el libro mezclara diversos temas y géneros; y creo que los autores deberían haber hecho una secuela. Sería muy interesante saber qué pasa con Brian; si colapsa o decide volver a llevar una vida más humana. Se me hace muy injusto que, después de tantas calamidades, no pueda tener una vida normal. Por otra parte, me sorprende que haya tan poca información de este libro en internet, siendo que es indudablemente valioso material de análisis. Además, es una pena que no haya artículos que hablen sobre el grado de verdad que hay en este libro en materia de IA. Si bien este libro me dejó con gusto a poco, es completamente recomendable.
June 27, 2020
Brian Delany est un jeune génie qui vient de créer la première intelligence artificielle, le Saint Graal des informaticiens. Mais une équipe, d'hommes de main, envahit son laboratoire pour voler ses note, son matériel, dont son prototype, et éliminer tous les témoins dont lui-même. Il réussit à échapper de justesse à la mort, mais il est très grièvement blessé dont une balle à la tête. Comme il est irremplaçable pour ses recherches en IA (Intelligence artificielle), on n'hésite pas à utiliser des mécanismes expérimentaux pour essayer de réparer son cerveau et surtout lui redonner accès à sa mémoire.
Brian pourra t'il reconstruire ses recherches et son prototype et ainsi damner le pion à ses agresseurs ?
Le roman s'attarde en premier sur la reconstruction du cerveau et de la mémoire de Brian en s'aidant de techniques de pointe de chirurgie et d'informatique, Ensuite, on a une belle présentation de l'intelligence artificielle, la vraie.
Depuis plusieurs années, le terme IA est galvaudé, car il est vendeur (publicité) et ne représente le plus souvent que le traitement (analyse par programmation) d'un très grand ensemble de données, et basé sur des corrélations.
Marvin Minsky, le co-auteur, est un des gourous de l'intelligence artificielle.
Comme je suis informaticien et que l'intelligence me fascine, j'ai beaucoup aimé ce roman de science-fiction, des sous-genres hard science et cyperpunk.
Brian pourra t'il reconstruire ses recherches et son prototype et ainsi damner le pion à ses agresseurs ?
Le roman s'attarde en premier sur la reconstruction du cerveau et de la mémoire de Brian en s'aidant de techniques de pointe de chirurgie et d'informatique, Ensuite, on a une belle présentation de l'intelligence artificielle, la vraie.
Depuis plusieurs années, le terme IA est galvaudé, car il est vendeur (publicité) et ne représente le plus souvent que le traitement (analyse par programmation) d'un très grand ensemble de données, et basé sur des corrélations.
Marvin Minsky, le co-auteur, est un des gourous de l'intelligence artificielle.
Comme je suis informaticien et que l'intelligence me fascine, j'ai beaucoup aimé ce roman de science-fiction, des sous-genres hard science et cyperpunk.
June 10, 2018
I read this when it was first published in 1992 and thought I would read it again in the light of the current AI hype. This was a silly decision.
I hated it when I first read it; and I hated it again this time. It's truly terrible.
The plot is weak. It is insufficiently thrilling for a thriller. Some thrillers are realistic; others are fabulous (in the sense of having no basis in reality); but this is just mediocre.
The dialogue is stilted. The prose is hackneyed.
The science fiction is supposedly grounded in Minsky's theory, the Society of Mind. But his ideas are crow-barred into the narrative and come across somehow both as tediously didactic and, since a thriller is not the place for the development of these ideas, as pseudo-scientific mumbo-jumbo. (I do, however, recommend "The Society of Mind", which, while not a work of science as such, is a thought-provoking presentation of his hypothesis.)
I hated it when I first read it; and I hated it again this time. It's truly terrible.
The plot is weak. It is insufficiently thrilling for a thriller. Some thrillers are realistic; others are fabulous (in the sense of having no basis in reality); but this is just mediocre.
The dialogue is stilted. The prose is hackneyed.
The science fiction is supposedly grounded in Minsky's theory, the Society of Mind. But his ideas are crow-barred into the narrative and come across somehow both as tediously didactic and, since a thriller is not the place for the development of these ideas, as pseudo-scientific mumbo-jumbo. (I do, however, recommend "The Society of Mind", which, while not a work of science as such, is a thought-provoking presentation of his hypothesis.)
March 31, 2025
I find it difficult to believe this book isn’t trolling us. The main character Brian receives a brain injury. Those two word interchange frequently throughout the book. Could’ve went with any other name. Even Bryan. But nope; Brian’s brain. And then half way through the author introduces us to Major Wood. Major. Wood. That sounds like the punchline to a sophomoric joke.
Also, the editor needs fired. My pet peeve, typos, are abundant in this book. Even down to the plot line. Brian’s brain is injured in Feb 2023. In Sept 2024 they are interrogating a suspect and the FBI agent says the incident occurred “in February of this year.” No, no it didn’t.
Also, the editor needs fired. My pet peeve, typos, are abundant in this book. Even down to the plot line. Brian’s brain is injured in Feb 2023. In Sept 2024 they are interrogating a suspect and the FBI agent says the incident occurred “in February of this year.” No, no it didn’t.
November 13, 2025
While at certain moments The Turing Option demonstrates amazing prescience about the future of AI -- some 30 years before it became mainstream, mind you!, in its essence the novel is a usual technological thriller. The plot never really takes off, the futuristic avenues are never really explored, and the only attempts of antagonistic / "bad" characters are comically underdeveloped. Still, worth reading if only to drop in random conversations to illustrate how the idea of domestic(ated) AI existed in a quite clear shape long before it became reality.
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
September 9, 2021
Published 1992 and set in 2026, Harrison and Minsky do a good job anticipating the future, piecing together pieces of visionary technology, connectivity and machine learning. More than passes the Turning Test as far as I'm concerned and really interesting how much they got right and how much still may come to pass. Their future is not all sunshine and roses though, more guns and ethical confusion.
October 21, 2022
The Turing Option starts with a really neat projection of where commercial AI might be 30 years later, which is in fact now (2023, close enough). They got many things right, we have those techs now, although we're not using self learning expert systems to implement them as the authors predicted.
However, the rest of the book of very disappointing and I have up after 50 pages. Their ideas of where leading edge tech would go got ridiculous and made it to hard to enjoy reading the book.
However, the rest of the book of very disappointing and I have up after 50 pages. Their ideas of where leading edge tech would go got ridiculous and made it to hard to enjoy reading the book.
June 1, 2017
On one level, this was a disappointment: a pretty standard action yarn with some seriously stereotyped characters. At the same time, the bits about the brain were interesting (even if the science is probably a bit out of date) and once the AI really got going it was fascinating (and sometimes amusing) to watch. Enough so to earn this book a 3-star rating.
December 16, 2024
Supostamente um romance "hard science" (ultrapassado) e especulativo (pouco certeiro) não passa de uma intriga policial pobre e muito esquemática. O estilo é desolador, cheio de "clichés" e repetições. Nem sombra do Harry Harrison dos primeiros tempos.
September 3, 2019
Did Minsky have him edit out any Esperanto references? (I kid, I kid)
February 27, 2022
An interesting story, a mix of AI research, an espionage thriller, and a morality play. In the end, Brian's machines become more human than he is....
July 28, 2023
Good book.
October 7, 2025
enjoyed this read immensely. the ending was anti-climactic and a bit disappointing. the ideas and discussions re the use of AI were fascinating.
September 2, 2017
Эту книгу стоило прочитать в 90х
September 1, 2012
A strange blend on optimism, paranoia and thriller. I always find it fascinating how in some novels, there is not a single “normal” person in the whole book. Here everyone is very driven, emotionally damaged, highly inflexible or all three. Some of the passages get really technical, to the detriment of the story flow in my opinion, especially all the gee-whiz brain surgery/computer implant stuff.
The basic idea: a leading edge AI researcher gets all his research stolen and is almost killed in the robbery. The motivation for the crime –gain and maintain a monopoly on AI and so become fabulously wealthy. The best thing about that is that the badguys and their motivation is kept hidden till the very end.
Brian is saved however by a highly accomplished neurosurgeon with no life outside of work. His memories are mostly lost, but he has a computer in his head and can interface with it and its memory banks. He redevelops AI , better than before, but ends a recluse with only computers for company. The book never really touches on how to integrate AI into daily life for humanity – shows only the great promise of how everything will be better because the computer intelligence can do everything better. Somehow AI is supposed to end war and militaries and secret government programs. Good luck with that.
The book is from 1992 so it is amusing the technology they present as normal and comparing to what we have – missed the boat on smart phones, but figure we would have ultra high definition TV that can double as windows. The authors sense of how businessmen operate is also quite amusing – very big business oriented with hierarchies and security details and squads of lawyers and nothing but theft and extortion at the top. Watch too many Hollywood movies I think.
The basic idea: a leading edge AI researcher gets all his research stolen and is almost killed in the robbery. The motivation for the crime –gain and maintain a monopoly on AI and so become fabulously wealthy. The best thing about that is that the badguys and their motivation is kept hidden till the very end.
Brian is saved however by a highly accomplished neurosurgeon with no life outside of work. His memories are mostly lost, but he has a computer in his head and can interface with it and its memory banks. He redevelops AI , better than before, but ends a recluse with only computers for company. The book never really touches on how to integrate AI into daily life for humanity – shows only the great promise of how everything will be better because the computer intelligence can do everything better. Somehow AI is supposed to end war and militaries and secret government programs. Good luck with that.
The book is from 1992 so it is amusing the technology they present as normal and comparing to what we have – missed the boat on smart phones, but figure we would have ultra high definition TV that can double as windows. The authors sense of how businessmen operate is also quite amusing – very big business oriented with hierarchies and security details and squads of lawyers and nothing but theft and extortion at the top. Watch too many Hollywood movies I think.
August 8, 2017
Marvin Minsky aveva avuto un'ottima idea per divulgare le proprie idee sull'intelligenza artificiale: mettersi insieme a uno scrittore di fantascienza per scrivere un libro di SF Hard. Il risultato? Non ha retto alla prova del tempo. Il libro parte con un assalto al maggior centro statunitense (privato: questo in effetti l'hanno azzeccato...) sull'intelligenza artificiale, con la razzia di tutto il materiale e l'uccisione dei ricercatori: solo il giovane leader rimane agonizzante e con il cervello severamente danneggiato, e i militari USA che hanno preso in carico la faccenda di sicurezza nazionale acconsentono a un'operazione mai tentata di ricostruzione della "società della mente" del protagonista (il termine è minskyano). Il guaio è che a venticinque anni dalla sua pubblicazione (e poco più di un lustro prima della data in cui la storia ha inizio) il testo è terribilmente invecchiato. Lasciamo perdere l'intelligenza artificiale, o la Machine Intelligence come viene chiamata nel libro, e guardiamo la pratica Alcune predizioni si sono avverate, come l'uso delle staminali e soprattutto l'ubiquità dei telefonini (ma senza connessione dati...), ma per esempio la quantità di memoria nei dispositivi è enormemente sottostimata: 1000 MB ("giga" e "tera" non pervenuti) è considerato tantissimo. Non parliamo poi dei pipponi di Minsky; ma anche la parte più romanzata di Harrison ha enormi buchi nella trama e non funziona affatto. In pratica, se non l'avete mai letto continuate così.
March 24, 2020
As far as I know, this novel is the only collaboration between Harry Harrison and Marvin Minsky. And given the quality of the book, I find that truly sad. Harrison is, of course, one of the most prolific writers in the field of Science fiction and Minsky is a scientist with MIT, working in the area of A.I., who is probably more used to writing scientific articles than fiction. The two together bring a great story to life in an extremely believable way. For those of you that have already enjoyed the book, please check out Minsky's web page and read some of the missing chapters.
The "Turing Option" is set in the near future and concentrates on the experiences of a brilliant scientist who has just suffered major brain trauma. His own cybernetic researches help doctors to bring him back to life and allow him to pursue his murderers. This pursuit leads him back to his research into artificial intelligence which, it seems, was the motivation behind the first attack.
The plot and storytelling, while top-notch, are not what made this book stand out. No, it was the Machine-Intelligence that I became fascinated with. As far as I am concerned, the concept of a robotic entity has never been explored so well as in this novel. (Yes, I have read all of Asimov's robot stories). If you are at all interested in this area of science, then this book must be read.
The "Turing Option" is set in the near future and concentrates on the experiences of a brilliant scientist who has just suffered major brain trauma. His own cybernetic researches help doctors to bring him back to life and allow him to pursue his murderers. This pursuit leads him back to his research into artificial intelligence which, it seems, was the motivation behind the first attack.
The plot and storytelling, while top-notch, are not what made this book stand out. No, it was the Machine-Intelligence that I became fascinated with. As far as I am concerned, the concept of a robotic entity has never been explored so well as in this novel. (Yes, I have read all of Asimov's robot stories). If you are at all interested in this area of science, then this book must be read.
January 6, 2011
The Turing Option by Harry Harrison and Marvin Minsky
True artifical intelligence is within reach when Brian Delaney, prodigy, is left for dead and his life’s work is stolen. The ensuing search for the dastardly villains (truly dastardly) and recreation of his work is the thrust of the book.
Brian Delaney is not very likeable but his life was not started a foundation of love and trust. This may be a prime example of love and nurture’s difficulty in overcoming early abusive situations.
The copyright of 1992 helps to explain some of the dated technology. The irony is that a lot of that technology was pure speculation in 1992 and is now passé.
There is thought provoking speculation in this book along with calculated ruthlessness that sadly seems to characterize some current governments and corporations. Harry Harrison is always thought provoking. I am not familiar with anything else from Marvin Minsky so I can comment on his part of the book.
The ironic ending between man and machine is superbly done.
The book moves at a realistic pace and is well worth reading.
I recommend the book.
True artifical intelligence is within reach when Brian Delaney, prodigy, is left for dead and his life’s work is stolen. The ensuing search for the dastardly villains (truly dastardly) and recreation of his work is the thrust of the book.
Brian Delaney is not very likeable but his life was not started a foundation of love and trust. This may be a prime example of love and nurture’s difficulty in overcoming early abusive situations.
The copyright of 1992 helps to explain some of the dated technology. The irony is that a lot of that technology was pure speculation in 1992 and is now passé.
There is thought provoking speculation in this book along with calculated ruthlessness that sadly seems to characterize some current governments and corporations. Harry Harrison is always thought provoking. I am not familiar with anything else from Marvin Minsky so I can comment on his part of the book.
The ironic ending between man and machine is superbly done.
The book moves at a realistic pace and is well worth reading.
I recommend the book.
July 21, 2013
Robert A. Heinlein wrote many great science fiction stories that are still enjoyable now, decades after they were written and in some cases, decades after the stories take place. In some cases, the technology in these stories is quite dated, but the stories are still interesting despite that because of their plot, characters, and ideas.
On the other hand, the technology in this book is very dated, but the plot, characters, ideas, and writing don't make up for it. It doesn't help that the story describes the technology in great detail and the artificial intelligence (AI) research in so much detail that it probably is only compelling for AI experts. This is probably because one of the authors of this book is Marvin Minsky, a co-founder of the MIT AI lab.
On the other hand, the technology in this book is very dated, but the plot, characters, ideas, and writing don't make up for it. It doesn't help that the story describes the technology in great detail and the artificial intelligence (AI) research in so much detail that it probably is only compelling for AI experts. This is probably because one of the authors of this book is Marvin Minsky, a co-founder of the MIT AI lab.
March 14, 2015
Un roman écrit en 1992 qui prédisait avec une étonnante précision les évolutions technologique qui ont eu lieu depuis. Les détails techniques sont justes, ou au moins crédibles pour les domaines où je ne suis pas moi-même compétent. À part cette surprise, et quelques réflexions intéressantes mais pas révolutionnaire sur la nature de l'intelligence et de l'esprit (humain ou non), on a là un bon roman d'action à l'américaine, plein de clichés et sans véritable originalité.
Intéressant d'un point de vue historique, ou pour passer le temps, mais pas un classique qui restera dans les annales.
Intéressant d'un point de vue historique, ou pour passer le temps, mais pas un classique qui restera dans les annales.
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