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The Oracle Paradox
Oracle knows each of us so well, better than we know ourselves, that it is able to determine who might become the next Hitler or Stalin long before that person even has an inkling of such a future. Henry Porembski becomes one of Oracle's assassins. When he is sent to kill a young girl, the same age as his deceased daughter, he turns against Oracle and vows to protect the girl. He wonders, if Oracle knows us so well, why would it send him to kill a girl it had to know he would not kill? And could it really predict how a little girl would turn out as an adult?
The Oracle Paradox is a technothriller novel of the near future, when a powerful Artificial Intelligence called Oracle identifies individuals who pose a significant risk to the stability of our society, or who have a high probability of posing such a risk in the future, and sends assassins to kill them. Thank you for your interest in our book. We hope you enjoy reading it as much as we have enjoyed presenting it. - Digital Fiction
The Oracle Paradox is a technothriller novel of the near future, when a powerful Artificial Intelligence called Oracle identifies individuals who pose a significant risk to the stability of our society, or who have a high probability of posing such a risk in the future, and sends assassins to kill them. Thank you for your interest in our book. We hope you enjoy reading it as much as we have enjoyed presenting it. - Digital Fiction
396 pages, Kindle Edition
First published November 17, 2013
29 people are currently reading
23 people want to read
About the author
Stephen L. Antczak
26 books26 followersI have a YouTube channel called "I, Nerdius" where I post videos about all things science fiction and other genres, including nonfiction. I also post videos about writing.
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Displaying 1 - 3 of 3 reviews
May 7, 2019
Interesting premise
The descriptions (both character and place) were pretty good. The plot was twisty and I got a little confused by some of the logic chains. I saw a few plot holes that I wasn't able to explain away. The worst was the ending which consists of business as usual and no obvious change in policy. Given all the angst on display, there should have been some explosion of resolution/change, instead of every character walking away as if they were spectators, rather than agents of murder, mayhem, etc.
There were some actions and responses that didn't fit their characters. The motivations were really off-the-wall and/or came out of nowhere. At that point the story was completely compromised. None of the characters accepted responsibility for their horrible lives, with the exception of a sociopathic Russian assassin. There were subplots that involved characters that appear and then disappear without reason.
The multiple AI's possibly the best part of the book. The struggle between AI's and their agents was gruesome but very cool. One AI character was never conclusively identified not because of needs of the story, it was just forgotten. There were some pointless discussions about the nature of the AI's (because the conversations didn't become action or understanding), the talk just sort of hung there.
It's a shame the book was so uneven.
The descriptions (both character and place) were pretty good. The plot was twisty and I got a little confused by some of the logic chains. I saw a few plot holes that I wasn't able to explain away. The worst was the ending which consists of business as usual and no obvious change in policy. Given all the angst on display, there should have been some explosion of resolution/change, instead of every character walking away as if they were spectators, rather than agents of murder, mayhem, etc.
There were some actions and responses that didn't fit their characters. The motivations were really off-the-wall and/or came out of nowhere. At that point the story was completely compromised. None of the characters accepted responsibility for their horrible lives, with the exception of a sociopathic Russian assassin. There were subplots that involved characters that appear and then disappear without reason.
The multiple AI's possibly the best part of the book. The struggle between AI's and their agents was gruesome but very cool. One AI character was never conclusively identified not because of needs of the story, it was just forgotten. There were some pointless discussions about the nature of the AI's (because the conversations didn't become action or understanding), the talk just sort of hung there.
It's a shame the book was so uneven.
April 18, 2020
An Interesting Paradox
This book portrays potential issues arrising from developements in Artificial Intelligence, "AI." It presents possible problems arrising from the creation of massive AI networks developed to rule over the world in order to "benefit" civil order and economic equity across the entire planet.
A somewhat similar scenario was the subject of a Tom Cruise movie called "The Minority Report." My personal concerns relate to the massive database concerning information about each of us that has been developed by Google. This book portrays ramifications of the application of the data Google has acquired to supposedly benefit mankind. As a Futurist I am very concerned how the application of Google's database may affect each of us in the years ahead.
I maintain that limits must be established to control misuse of databases like this. Read this book and develope your own thoughts and opinions about the misuse of information versus benefits that will arrise from the applications that are made possible by the "Intelligent" use of information.
This book portrays potential issues arrising from developements in Artificial Intelligence, "AI." It presents possible problems arrising from the creation of massive AI networks developed to rule over the world in order to "benefit" civil order and economic equity across the entire planet.
A somewhat similar scenario was the subject of a Tom Cruise movie called "The Minority Report." My personal concerns relate to the massive database concerning information about each of us that has been developed by Google. This book portrays ramifications of the application of the data Google has acquired to supposedly benefit mankind. As a Futurist I am very concerned how the application of Google's database may affect each of us in the years ahead.
I maintain that limits must be established to control misuse of databases like this. Read this book and develope your own thoughts and opinions about the misuse of information versus benefits that will arrise from the applications that are made possible by the "Intelligent" use of information.
January 1, 2014
I downloaded this because it was a free book on Amazon and it was brand new. I was pleasantly surprised when it quickly grabbed my attention. The story moves along well, bringing up questions that make you want to read further. I found the paradox itself to be confusing, but then I think that is the point of a paradox. I would recommend this book to those who like modern day thrillers.
Displaying 1 - 3 of 3 reviews