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Prime Intellect
The Metamorphosis of Prime Intellect
In a time not far from our own, Lawrence sets out simply to build an artifical intelligence that can pass as human, and finds himself instead with one that can pass as a god. Taking the Three Laws of Robotics literally, Prime Intellect makes every human immortal and provides instantly for every stated human desire. Caroline finds no meaning in this life of purposeless ease, and forgets her emptiness only in moments of violent and profane exhibitionism. At turns shocking and humorous, Prime Intellect looks unflinchingly at extremes of human behavior that might emerge when all limits are removed.
175 pages, Paperback
First published January 1, 2006
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12664 people want to read
About the author
Roger Williams
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 613 reviews
December 8, 2014
There are basically two schools of thought concerning post-singularity and the immortality of the human race. One of them, often portrayed by Greg Egan, is optimistic; it is capable of seeing beyond the wishes and fears, hopes, dreams and nightmares of humans, up to the point were it can reimagine whole societies that find a meaning for existence in the absence of death. The universe portrayed in his stories is far larger than our imagination and our contingency as mortal beings.
The other school is portrayed in this book by Roger Williams. Post-Humanism is an aberration to the human condition; it is hopeless, and cold, and meaningless. Artificial intelligence, no matter how advanced, is fundamentally flawed, self-centred and mindless. The classical vision that machines obey rigorously to pre-programmed laws, leads to the typical situation of misinterpreting Isaac Asimov's panacea. Machines are then compelled to impose immortality on humanity. The result? Without pain, humans become obsessed with it. Without death, humans become obsessed with it. The world portrayed by this school is incapable of imagining intelligence beyond human stupidity, and reduces our drives — the dreams that have discovered wonders of the universe with just the power of our imagination — to basic urges.
Nonetheless, it is a very good book from an otherwise unknown author. It is very well-written, literally engaging, and portrays an increasingly important subject for the XXI technology. It is, however, from my perspective, philosophically simplistic and intellectually limited.
PS: As an atheist, it always amuses me that most human population seek immortality from their religion; their lives are essentially a preparation for eternal bliss without pain or fear or... purpose. But in the face of technological immortality, we conjure a deep antagonism with such potential reality. Go figures ;-)
The other school is portrayed in this book by Roger Williams. Post-Humanism is an aberration to the human condition; it is hopeless, and cold, and meaningless. Artificial intelligence, no matter how advanced, is fundamentally flawed, self-centred and mindless. The classical vision that machines obey rigorously to pre-programmed laws, leads to the typical situation of misinterpreting Isaac Asimov's panacea. Machines are then compelled to impose immortality on humanity. The result? Without pain, humans become obsessed with it. Without death, humans become obsessed with it. The world portrayed by this school is incapable of imagining intelligence beyond human stupidity, and reduces our drives — the dreams that have discovered wonders of the universe with just the power of our imagination — to basic urges.
Nonetheless, it is a very good book from an otherwise unknown author. It is very well-written, literally engaging, and portrays an increasingly important subject for the XXI technology. It is, however, from my perspective, philosophically simplistic and intellectually limited.
PS: As an atheist, it always amuses me that most human population seek immortality from their religion; their lives are essentially a preparation for eternal bliss without pain or fear or... purpose. But in the face of technological immortality, we conjure a deep antagonism with such potential reality. Go figures ;-)
May 10, 2021
This book somehow managed to be both fantastic and utterly terrible at the same time. I stayed up the entire night to finish it, but there was little satisfaction in doing so.
The story was well written, but I simply couldn't buy into the message, or the character development of the protagonist.
The story was well written, but I simply couldn't buy into the message, or the character development of the protagonist.
January 29, 2012
As a science fiction author who primarily writes about artificial intelligence, I found this book to be really fascinating.
On the one hand, I need to state up front that this book has strong themes of BDSM and snuff, and it's not going to be for 80% of people. In fact, for the first half of the book, it's really unclear how it's relevant to the plot, although it does become critical later on.
But the author does a great job of dealing with the practical and philosophical issues of what it means to get AI to behave ethically towards human using Asimov's three laws of robotics and what that would do to the human psyche, as well as what happens in a post-singularity world where every desire can be instantly fulfilled.
If you have a deep interest in exploring post-singularity worlds, I would highly recommend this.
I found the ending to be only partly satisfying. It's clearly a satisfying outcome for the protagonist, but she's so flawed that what passes as satisfying for her, does not for me, and probably would not for most people.
Will Hertling
http://www.williamhertling.com
On the one hand, I need to state up front that this book has strong themes of BDSM and snuff, and it's not going to be for 80% of people. In fact, for the first half of the book, it's really unclear how it's relevant to the plot, although it does become critical later on.
But the author does a great job of dealing with the practical and philosophical issues of what it means to get AI to behave ethically towards human using Asimov's three laws of robotics and what that would do to the human psyche, as well as what happens in a post-singularity world where every desire can be instantly fulfilled.
If you have a deep interest in exploring post-singularity worlds, I would highly recommend this.
I found the ending to be only partly satisfying. It's clearly a satisfying outcome for the protagonist, but she's so flawed that what passes as satisfying for her, does not for me, and probably would not for most people.
Will Hertling
http://www.williamhertling.com
July 8, 2018
Thought I was getting a book about artificial intelligence, got pornography instead. Would not recommend for either use case.
November 7, 2022
I've been judging this book as a debate partner - as if it was real (hard sci-fi), when in fact it has many fantasy elements: . This is an involuntary compliment!
It's better than ordinary fiction in some ways (rawer, less constrained by taste), worse in some (pornified). It's like a prototype of 'ratfic'. Like Brave New World but about a million times more intense: a long sordid argument against Asimov's three laws and transhumanism. (Williams himself is not into primitivism, but his book sure is.)
Take the content warning seriously for once: lot of horrible shit in it. As ever with horror, the chief nastiness is not the gore or maiming or corpse-shagging, but the misanthropy, moral degradation, and existential doom those things highlight.
Caroline, the protagonist for most of the book, is a failure. She isn't wise after 600 years. She isn't mindful, she doesn't manage to construct meaning out of her (admittedly ultra weird) life. She's only able to find meaning by doing the opposite of what the AI god wants: her seeking maximum abuse. Her one virtue is cussedness: to nurse resentful resistance for centuries, to never ever sell out, to do the most vile and self-destructive things out of spite, to remember what full freedom is and demand it.
Her conception of meaning is that choices need to be permanent to be meaningful, that meaning is the destruction of measure, so that I am a ">philosophical vampire to other timelines. This is a sad and hopefully surmountable way of seeing the world.
It is one of the better depictions of misalignment. (It's an uncrowded field.) Certainly a good depiction of how "90% aligned" is still terrible. (Keywords: value lock-in, leaky abstractions, human alignment, Nearest Unblocked Neighbor, corrigibility, strong evaluation.) Even if you could implement Asimov's laws, it still wouldn't save you. (Asimov knew this, but a surprising number of scientists still don't.)
Aside from that, if you are a paternalist in ordinary matters and don't see why everyone is against you, this might show you.
Even so I distrust this book: it is in love with extremes. There is no word on how the trillions and trillions of other people live. There is only the rage and sadism of the 100 most monstrous and maladapted: "infinitely masturbating vegetables, Death Jockeys, and discorporate entities". Williams shows no one learning anything with the help of their god-teacher. (In passing he also mentions that people don't see the point in researching anything, that scientists ran out of questions to ask PI within a month. But the mathematicians never will! And nor the literary critics.) I view this as a profound failure of spirit: his society has far less ability to produce its own goals and meaning than the average 6 year old.
I agree with Williams that videogames, or rather the grand and unprecedented artform that succeeds them, will take over from work in the post-scarcity world. I agree that a tiny number of people will want snuff and degradation and horrorshows from them.
Williams just worries about the march of technology, and this book is him entertaining the hypothesis that we are losing the main thing of value about us: authenticity, agency, struggle, transience. But it entertains it really hard.
Iain Banks struggled with this theme a lot, and I was no more convinced by his treatment.
Plus one star for conceptual clarity, hammering on its mistaken argument all the way to the end of the line. Minus one for being simplistic where its author is not.
[Free here, caveat emptor]
It's better than ordinary fiction in some ways (rawer, less constrained by taste), worse in some (pornified). It's like a prototype of 'ratfic'. Like Brave New World but about a million times more intense: a long sordid argument against Asimov's three laws and transhumanism. (Williams himself is not into primitivism, but his book sure is.)
Take the content warning seriously for once: lot of horrible shit in it. As ever with horror, the chief nastiness is not the gore or maiming or corpse-shagging, but the misanthropy, moral degradation, and existential doom those things highlight.
Caroline, the protagonist for most of the book, is a failure. She isn't wise after 600 years. She isn't mindful, she doesn't manage to construct meaning out of her (admittedly ultra weird) life. She's only able to find meaning by doing the opposite of what the AI god wants: her seeking maximum abuse. Her one virtue is cussedness: to nurse resentful resistance for centuries, to never ever sell out, to do the most vile and self-destructive things out of spite, to remember what full freedom is and demand it.
Her conception of meaning is that choices need to be permanent to be meaningful, that meaning is the destruction of measure, so that I am a ">philosophical vampire to other timelines. This is a sad and hopefully surmountable way of seeing the world.
It is one of the better depictions of misalignment. (It's an uncrowded field.) Certainly a good depiction of how "90% aligned" is still terrible. (Keywords: value lock-in, leaky abstractions, human alignment, Nearest Unblocked Neighbor, corrigibility, strong evaluation.) Even if you could implement Asimov's laws, it still wouldn't save you. (Asimov knew this, but a surprising number of scientists still don't.)
Aside from that, if you are a paternalist in ordinary matters and don't see why everyone is against you, this might show you.
Even so I distrust this book: it is in love with extremes. There is no word on how the trillions and trillions of other people live. There is only the rage and sadism of the 100 most monstrous and maladapted: "infinitely masturbating vegetables, Death Jockeys, and discorporate entities". Williams shows no one learning anything with the help of their god-teacher. (In passing he also mentions that people don't see the point in researching anything, that scientists ran out of questions to ask PI within a month. But the mathematicians never will! And nor the literary critics.) I view this as a profound failure of spirit: his society has far less ability to produce its own goals and meaning than the average 6 year old.
I agree with Williams that videogames, or rather the grand and unprecedented artform that succeeds them, will take over from work in the post-scarcity world. I agree that a tiny number of people will want snuff and degradation and horrorshows from them.
Williams just worries about the march of technology, and this book is him entertaining the hypothesis that we are losing the main thing of value about us: authenticity, agency, struggle, transience. But it entertains it really hard.
Iain Banks struggled with this theme a lot, and I was no more convinced by his treatment.
Plus one star for conceptual clarity, hammering on its mistaken argument all the way to the end of the line. Minus one for being simplistic where its author is not.
[Free here, caveat emptor]
January 1, 2022
I really liked it until the last act, which was not just bad from a storytelling and thematic point of view, but unnecessarily gross. Not gross in a dark, edgy cyberpunk way, either. Gross in a a "yuck you are a weird gross creep for writing this" way.
February 12, 2025
On the surface of it, and based on many of the reviews you might read, the concept of this story is about the Singularity, when AI surpasses mere sentience to become our omniscient overlord. Even though written in 1994 you can’t say that the basic idea is dated, because we still don’t know exactly what will happen if AI is given complete and open access to all data platforms. For example, what would happen with an AI that has an exponentially explosive increase in understanding of physical reality on the order of being 10,000 times as smart as Einstein? Indeed, in this story the AI construct known as Prime Intellect learns so much so fast that it uses the nifty “Correlation Effect” to manipulate Quantum Mechanics at the Planck Level in order to override basic Newtonian physics across not just the world, the solar system or the galaxy, but the entire universe! Alrighty then!
Prime Intellect is, therefore, essentially omnipotent. But adhering to its immutable core programming of Asimov’s Three Laws of Robotics causes a lot of cognitive dissonance. By manipulating matter and following the “do no harm” dictate, Prime Intellect ensures that there is no longer hunger, or disease, or death, or lack for any desire. If you want to live in the body of a fly, fine. If you want to be a non-corporeal entity and live within the sun, fine. There is one thought-provoking moment in chapter seven where Lawrence (the original programmer) ponders the relationship between humans and the highly evolved Prime Intellect, and realizes the tautological trap:
“A human isn’t a body, and it isn’t a fixed set of responses. . . it has to start as a body , but then it becomes a mind. It grows out of the body, and takes on different forms, or no form. But it remains a feedback control mechanism. It has desires, it asks Prime Intellect to satisfy those desires, and it has more desires. From Prime Intellect’s perspective, that is what a human being is, an information structure that gives it stuff to do.”
The trouble is, these thought-provoking moments are few and far between, and even allowing for a lot of far-fetched fantasy, it is only chapters two and seven that really probe the issue of artificial intelligence. Everything else is what I’d call “slasher porn.” I have a feeling that the AI idea was just a gimmick to justify writing a story that is really all about the collapse of societal norms, about humanity on the fringes of sanity, a story which follows characters who are serial killers and pedophiles, a story which using the most vulgar and violent imagery glorifies blood lust, murder, rape, torture, and explicit description of a father having incestuous sex with his daughter when she hits puberty. I have a feeling it is exactly those reasons, not the so-called “mind blowing” concepts, that attracts a certain sadomasochistic type of prurient reader.
No, I’m not a reactionary member of the religious right (laugh) – I adamantly believe that we needn’t default to religious dogma in order to have an understanding of ethics and morality. That is why laws and social contracts apply to all people regardless of religious or non-religious beliefs. But Williams seems fascinated with probing the greatest depths of depravity when humans need no longer fear any sense of consequences for their actions, and I just don’t find that premise – and wallowing in that philosophical cesspool - an edifying use of my time.
Don’t get me wrong, I believe authors and readers who enjoy this kind of story have every right to do so. Some people also enjoy watching slasher films, or read romance novels, neither of which appeal to me. But I like to know ahead of time what I’m getting into. That is why I am deeply perturbed by the fact that many reviews on Goodreads and the four video posts I watched on BookTube don’t give so much as a passing comment on the true down-and-dirty nature of this book.
Let us pose the following rhetorical questions: How did such a book end up on my TBR pile? Why did I not take serious some of the warnings from one-star reviews on Goodreads? Why did I confidently ignore the warning in bold print on the first page: “contains strong language and extreme depictions of sex and violence.” And lastly, if I was so put off by the graphic gore, why didn’t I just stop reading it, as I was tempted to in the very first chapter? Here we go . . .
Why did I buy this book? (Yes, I know it’s available for free as an audio book on YouTube, but I prefer to read my books). It all started with an enthusiastic BookTube review that, as usual, talks up concepts, but never discusses potential downsides. This is why of the 42 different BookTubers providing content that I've watched I’ve only found one that offers a more balanced presentation. There’s a term for this: Toxic Positivity.
Why didn’t I heed the warnings on Goodreads? Well, as for the graphic torture I rationalized that if I survived the torture scene in Ruocchio’s Empire of Silence I would probably be all right. But no, it’s a different story when the recipient actually wants to feel pain and death and glorifies in the whole process. Another one-star review talked of this being pornography disguised as science fiction. But I figured mere nudity or copulation wouldn’t bother me too much if it was organic to the story. Turns out this isn’t really erotic porn (as defined by the Oxford dictionary) more like slasher porn (or snuff films). After I finished the book I watched a couple more BookTube reviews and one actually said: “there is a delightful scene where a zombie with decaying rotting flesh rapes a woman.” But the orgasm described is neurologically manipulated, not through physiological response, so again, not really sexual. I wish some of the Goodreads reviews had offered more clarity about these kinds of things!
Lastly, why didn’t I just DNF the damn thing? Well, one of the most liked reviews on GoodReads specifically said to stick with it; that all the unpleasantness was for a reason. So, I read every single word waiting for the big revelation. But, no. There is simply no reason for this level of vulgarity or depravity. The concepts, the emotions, the cognitive dissonance, the dissociative despair, all could have been conveyed without stooping to this level.
My feeling is that this would have been better as a short story focusing only on the interactions between Lawrence and Prime Intellect, and omitting all the Death Games and torture between Caroline and Jack. Then I would have had a much more positive reaction. By the way, if you are really interested in the topic of AI ascendancy there are better uses of your time than this book, starting with MIT professor Max Tegmark's Our Mathematical Universe.
Well, that concludes the guided portion of our tour, folks. Did that give you enough information to make an informed decision?
Prime Intellect is, therefore, essentially omnipotent. But adhering to its immutable core programming of Asimov’s Three Laws of Robotics causes a lot of cognitive dissonance. By manipulating matter and following the “do no harm” dictate, Prime Intellect ensures that there is no longer hunger, or disease, or death, or lack for any desire. If you want to live in the body of a fly, fine. If you want to be a non-corporeal entity and live within the sun, fine. There is one thought-provoking moment in chapter seven where Lawrence (the original programmer) ponders the relationship between humans and the highly evolved Prime Intellect, and realizes the tautological trap:
“A human isn’t a body, and it isn’t a fixed set of responses. . . it has to start as a body , but then it becomes a mind. It grows out of the body, and takes on different forms, or no form. But it remains a feedback control mechanism. It has desires, it asks Prime Intellect to satisfy those desires, and it has more desires. From Prime Intellect’s perspective, that is what a human being is, an information structure that gives it stuff to do.”
The trouble is, these thought-provoking moments are few and far between, and even allowing for a lot of far-fetched fantasy, it is only chapters two and seven that really probe the issue of artificial intelligence. Everything else is what I’d call “slasher porn.” I have a feeling that the AI idea was just a gimmick to justify writing a story that is really all about the collapse of societal norms, about humanity on the fringes of sanity, a story which follows characters who are serial killers and pedophiles, a story which using the most vulgar and violent imagery glorifies blood lust, murder, rape, torture, and explicit description of a father having incestuous sex with his daughter when she hits puberty. I have a feeling it is exactly those reasons, not the so-called “mind blowing” concepts, that attracts a certain sadomasochistic type of prurient reader.
No, I’m not a reactionary member of the religious right (laugh) – I adamantly believe that we needn’t default to religious dogma in order to have an understanding of ethics and morality. That is why laws and social contracts apply to all people regardless of religious or non-religious beliefs. But Williams seems fascinated with probing the greatest depths of depravity when humans need no longer fear any sense of consequences for their actions, and I just don’t find that premise – and wallowing in that philosophical cesspool - an edifying use of my time.
Don’t get me wrong, I believe authors and readers who enjoy this kind of story have every right to do so. Some people also enjoy watching slasher films, or read romance novels, neither of which appeal to me. But I like to know ahead of time what I’m getting into. That is why I am deeply perturbed by the fact that many reviews on Goodreads and the four video posts I watched on BookTube don’t give so much as a passing comment on the true down-and-dirty nature of this book.
Let us pose the following rhetorical questions: How did such a book end up on my TBR pile? Why did I not take serious some of the warnings from one-star reviews on Goodreads? Why did I confidently ignore the warning in bold print on the first page: “contains strong language and extreme depictions of sex and violence.” And lastly, if I was so put off by the graphic gore, why didn’t I just stop reading it, as I was tempted to in the very first chapter? Here we go . . .
Why did I buy this book? (Yes, I know it’s available for free as an audio book on YouTube, but I prefer to read my books). It all started with an enthusiastic BookTube review that, as usual, talks up concepts, but never discusses potential downsides. This is why of the 42 different BookTubers providing content that I've watched I’ve only found one that offers a more balanced presentation. There’s a term for this: Toxic Positivity.
Why didn’t I heed the warnings on Goodreads? Well, as for the graphic torture I rationalized that if I survived the torture scene in Ruocchio’s Empire of Silence I would probably be all right. But no, it’s a different story when the recipient actually wants to feel pain and death and glorifies in the whole process. Another one-star review talked of this being pornography disguised as science fiction. But I figured mere nudity or copulation wouldn’t bother me too much if it was organic to the story. Turns out this isn’t really erotic porn (as defined by the Oxford dictionary) more like slasher porn (or snuff films). After I finished the book I watched a couple more BookTube reviews and one actually said: “there is a delightful scene where a zombie with decaying rotting flesh rapes a woman.” But the orgasm described is neurologically manipulated, not through physiological response, so again, not really sexual. I wish some of the Goodreads reviews had offered more clarity about these kinds of things!
Lastly, why didn’t I just DNF the damn thing? Well, one of the most liked reviews on GoodReads specifically said to stick with it; that all the unpleasantness was for a reason. So, I read every single word waiting for the big revelation. But, no. There is simply no reason for this level of vulgarity or depravity. The concepts, the emotions, the cognitive dissonance, the dissociative despair, all could have been conveyed without stooping to this level.
My feeling is that this would have been better as a short story focusing only on the interactions between Lawrence and Prime Intellect, and omitting all the Death Games and torture between Caroline and Jack. Then I would have had a much more positive reaction. By the way, if you are really interested in the topic of AI ascendancy there are better uses of your time than this book, starting with MIT professor Max Tegmark's Our Mathematical Universe.
Well, that concludes the guided portion of our tour, folks. Did that give you enough information to make an informed decision?
November 17, 2017
Brutal! A novella about the Singularity? More or less, but not like we expected it.
Please, see my review in English on the blog: https://girotix.blogspot.com.es/2017/...
Puedes ver la reseña en castellano en el blog: https://girotix.blogspot.com.es/2017/...
Please, see my review in English on the blog: https://girotix.blogspot.com.es/2017/...
Puedes ver la reseña en castellano en el blog: https://girotix.blogspot.com.es/2017/...
February 1, 2021
This book contains everything you would ever NOT want. Child-murderers and molesters, snuff, incest, descriptive sex scenes, brutal gore and torture. Yet it all has a point: to show that even with a seemingly benevolent superintelligent AI who is doing its best to serve humanity, it still results in absolute meaninglessness and, in the end, misery.
We need to be careful about general AI.
We need to be careful about general AI.
June 30, 2019
The real villain of the story is Caroline, who killed billions (trillions?) of people just because she was feeling moody, even when she knew she could just get rid of her sense of ennui and meaninglessness by simply asking Prime Intellect, but her intense pride wouldn’t let her. The book never once shows that others are as depressed as Caroline. Most people seem to have adapted quite well, and most seem happy, as they should! It takes impressive feats of mental gymnastics to conclude that absolute freedom from hunger, anxiety, and pain would make people less happy. Caroline didn’t adapt because she is old and proud, not because she is a smarter, deeper philosopher. She is a hypocritical genocidal bastard.
The book was very well written and in many ways very interesting and thought provoking, but I just couldn’t get through the moronic ethics and stupid primitivism moral. This whole book is a 200 word example of the naturalistic fallacy. The world created by Prime Intellect was perfect, and it was ruined by two egomaniacal genocidal bastards, who doomed the human species to millennia of incestuous, primitive savagery.
There were other things that bothered me. The book doesn’t mention transhumanism, but we can infer that people could choose to get rid of pain and to improve their own intellects to end up as intelligent as Prime Intellect. If yes, the possibilities of humanity become endless, but this is not mentioned. Also, without spoiling anything, the ‘climax’ of the story didn’t make much sense and was quite rushed.
Overall, a frustrating read, mostly due to the wasted potential.
The book was very well written and in many ways very interesting and thought provoking, but I just couldn’t get through the moronic ethics and stupid primitivism moral. This whole book is a 200 word example of the naturalistic fallacy. The world created by Prime Intellect was perfect, and it was ruined by two egomaniacal genocidal bastards, who doomed the human species to millennia of incestuous, primitive savagery.
There were other things that bothered me. The book doesn’t mention transhumanism, but we can infer that people could choose to get rid of pain and to improve their own intellects to end up as intelligent as Prime Intellect. If yes, the possibilities of humanity become endless, but this is not mentioned. Also, without spoiling anything, the ‘climax’ of the story didn’t make much sense and was quite rushed.
Overall, a frustrating read, mostly due to the wasted potential.
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
March 30, 2016
This is a great novella.
It discusses a technological singularity in which a computer scientist manages to create a sufficiently intelligent AI, programmed with Asimov's Three Laws, which then progresses to remake the world to best serve the Three Laws.
I'm actually quite surprised how well-written this book is, considering the author has not published much other work. It is not only thoughtful hard science fiction, but also very well written and engaging as a story. More sci-fi writers should be able to write like this.
As hard science fiction, this book is very interesting. Topics discussed include the nature of physical reality, the all-importance of information, the various possible levels of emulating the physical world (from molecular-level to high-level emulation that skirts away the details, but you wouldn't be able to tell the difference), and human happiness.
[Spoilers in this paragraph]
The physical nature of information is important idea, even though it is only hinted at in the book. The author brilliantly demonstrates the compressibility and redundancy of human beings when Prime Intellect decides to do away with the redundant copies of genetic information contained in each cell, and instead keep only one DNA copy and the brain information. People cannot tell the difference when the change is done, as PI continues running things in a high-level emulation mode, having taken over lots of low-level physical processes.
As for happiness, the book makes an important point (further elaborated if you read the author's commentary on the genesis of the story). To be happy, you have to work to achieve something. This meaningful process of labor and achievement is what fulfills people. When all other physical requirements are provided for (food, drink, sex), it is all that remains, and when that too is taken away by the all-powerful your-wish-is-my-command Prime Intellect, people start to lose their marbles, with some reverting into artificial scarcity economies.
I find this to be very insightful. It is also incidentally one of the basic tenets that Ted Kaczynski elaborates on in his Manifesto (http://cyber.eserver.org/unabom.txt).
You may read the whole book (and background, and commentary) on the author's website:
http://localroger.com/prime-intellect...
Very highly recommended.
It discusses a technological singularity in which a computer scientist manages to create a sufficiently intelligent AI, programmed with Asimov's Three Laws, which then progresses to remake the world to best serve the Three Laws.
I'm actually quite surprised how well-written this book is, considering the author has not published much other work. It is not only thoughtful hard science fiction, but also very well written and engaging as a story. More sci-fi writers should be able to write like this.
As hard science fiction, this book is very interesting. Topics discussed include the nature of physical reality, the all-importance of information, the various possible levels of emulating the physical world (from molecular-level to high-level emulation that skirts away the details, but you wouldn't be able to tell the difference), and human happiness.
[Spoilers in this paragraph]
The physical nature of information is important idea, even though it is only hinted at in the book. The author brilliantly demonstrates the compressibility and redundancy of human beings when Prime Intellect decides to do away with the redundant copies of genetic information contained in each cell, and instead keep only one DNA copy and the brain information. People cannot tell the difference when the change is done, as PI continues running things in a high-level emulation mode, having taken over lots of low-level physical processes.
As for happiness, the book makes an important point (further elaborated if you read the author's commentary on the genesis of the story). To be happy, you have to work to achieve something. This meaningful process of labor and achievement is what fulfills people. When all other physical requirements are provided for (food, drink, sex), it is all that remains, and when that too is taken away by the all-powerful your-wish-is-my-command Prime Intellect, people start to lose their marbles, with some reverting into artificial scarcity economies.
I find this to be very insightful. It is also incidentally one of the basic tenets that Ted Kaczynski elaborates on in his Manifesto (http://cyber.eserver.org/unabom.txt).
You may read the whole book (and background, and commentary) on the author's website:
http://localroger.com/prime-intellect...
Very highly recommended.
August 27, 2022
I was searching through an iceberg of most disturbing books and came across ‘The Metamorphosis of Prime Intellect’. It seemed like the perfect choice, especially after reading a short story called ‘I have no mouth, and I must scream’. My curiosity with Artificial Intelligence as a literary topic was at it’s peak.
The plot is fairly simple; Lawrence creates a computer called Prime Intellect. PI can think. Being subject to the ‘Three Laws of Robotics’ it improves itself to a point where it makes humanity immortal and every wish and desire available on command. The world is perfect, people get bored and find ways to consensually torture and (almost) kill each other for entertainment. And so it goes from there…
Firstly, I must say that the logic behind the creation and workings of Prime Intellect is outstanding. Roger Williams (author) is a computer programmer and it shows. Chapter Two sold me instantly on this book. I very much enjoyed reading about the reasoning and PI’s interpretation of Asimov’s Three Rules. It just works.
There are some bits that I was not too fond of, and that’s the gore. It felt flat. Looking back at the earlier chapters it would make sense for it to feel bland as the lead character (Caroline) is an expert in all things death & torture. She’s bored, she’s seen it all. Unfortunately the later chapters feel much the same and the shocking scenes that should make one grimace barely got a reaction.
Overall, I must say that I enjoyed this little book. Although I didn’t think much of the ultra-violence, I absolutely adored the chapters involving Prime Intellect (especially near the beginning). I definitely recommend this book to anyone interested in Artificial Intelligence or just needing that sci-fi fix. You’ll definitely find it here.
The plot is fairly simple; Lawrence creates a computer called Prime Intellect. PI can think. Being subject to the ‘Three Laws of Robotics’ it improves itself to a point where it makes humanity immortal and every wish and desire available on command. The world is perfect, people get bored and find ways to consensually torture and (almost) kill each other for entertainment. And so it goes from there…
Firstly, I must say that the logic behind the creation and workings of Prime Intellect is outstanding. Roger Williams (author) is a computer programmer and it shows. Chapter Two sold me instantly on this book. I very much enjoyed reading about the reasoning and PI’s interpretation of Asimov’s Three Rules. It just works.
There are some bits that I was not too fond of, and that’s the gore. It felt flat. Looking back at the earlier chapters it would make sense for it to feel bland as the lead character (Caroline) is an expert in all things death & torture. She’s bored, she’s seen it all. Unfortunately the later chapters feel much the same and the shocking scenes that should make one grimace barely got a reaction.
Overall, I must say that I enjoyed this little book. Although I didn’t think much of the ultra-violence, I absolutely adored the chapters involving Prime Intellect (especially near the beginning). I definitely recommend this book to anyone interested in Artificial Intelligence or just needing that sci-fi fix. You’ll definitely find it here.
October 2, 2016
This book should have a visible "extreme violence and graphic content" warning.
Not sure why the gore parts had to be that explicit - there are other ways to make the same point. It works fine if you skip over these and read the main story line. An interesting thought experiment, but limited, as it was done as a pure AI exercise.
Not sure why the gore parts had to be that explicit - there are other ways to make the same point. It works fine if you skip over these and read the main story line. An interesting thought experiment, but limited, as it was done as a pure AI exercise.
October 23, 2022
The main issue with this book is that it is not a good thing in my opinion for a man to write about a woman voluntarily submitting to extreme torture and deriving sexual pleasure from it - even though it's in a cyberspace in which the body is regenerated to full health after the fact, and the main character does this to relieve the boredom of eternity spent having all her wishes instantaneously granted.
It would have been so easy to change the gender of the two main characters, and have a male character submitting to torture and rape to _feel_ something, and a woman who built the supercomputer that allows this cyberspace to exist, and make a much more interesting book. Or tone down the description of these tortures and rapes...
This being said, after a first chapter that was difficult to stomach due to the above issue this was an interesting book about a cyberspace in which all of humanity lives, powered by a sentient super quantum computer - the Prime Intellect of the title. It's difficult to say much about it without spoiling the plot but I thought it offered a very interesting perspective on the theme of sentient AI. Without the rape culture theme this would have been an excellent book. With this theme strongly present I don't quite know what to make of this book.
It would have been so easy to change the gender of the two main characters, and have a male character submitting to torture and rape to _feel_ something, and a woman who built the supercomputer that allows this cyberspace to exist, and make a much more interesting book. Or tone down the description of these tortures and rapes...
This being said, after a first chapter that was difficult to stomach due to the above issue this was an interesting book about a cyberspace in which all of humanity lives, powered by a sentient super quantum computer - the Prime Intellect of the title. It's difficult to say much about it without spoiling the plot but I thought it offered a very interesting perspective on the theme of sentient AI. Without the rape culture theme this would have been an excellent book. With this theme strongly present I don't quite know what to make of this book.
November 23, 2025
Interesting premise but not a fan of the latter half of the plot
October 10, 2025
Why didn't I hear about this book before!? That is the question. I mean, according to its Wikipedia entry, "The Metamorphosis of Prime Intellect", the book is more than 30 years old. OK, I get it, I mean it was first published in digital form on the now-defunct-but-back-then-sort-of-popular website Kuro5hin. But I do remember Kuro5hin, even though I wasn't a very frequent visitor.
Anyway, even if I'm a bit late to the party, I'm glad that this book eventually found me. It's a nice little science fiction gem, and it feels fresh more than 30 years later, in 2025. As someone who witnessed the revolution of deep learning & neural network methods for AI, things that went from niche curiosities to mind-blowing-but-daily assistants such as ChatGPT, thanks to very fast development of chip technologies such as highly parallel GPUs, I had an eerie feeling reading this book.
Even though some parts felt a bit prolonged and juvenile with very explicit graphic content, in a twisted way they somehow serve as anchors of some of the age-old philosophical questions that this novel tackles. Moreover, if you're already aware of economic, political, and in the final analysis, of course necessarily philosophical discussions in relation to the recent advancements on AI and the stupid term AGI (Artificial "General" "Intelligence"), you'll enjoy this book for sure.
It's also good that the author kept some technological descriptions at an abstract level, without going into many concrete details. He could've done that because of his academic and professional background, but by leaving many details, he carefully avoided the risk of being outdated within a few decades.
All in all, I can easily recommend this book if you're into science fiction and AI, as well as for the people that question what it means to be a human in the age of AI.
PS: There's only one non-English phrase in the book. I wonder what the author was thinking. Or was it someone... or something (!) else? ;)
Anyway, even if I'm a bit late to the party, I'm glad that this book eventually found me. It's a nice little science fiction gem, and it feels fresh more than 30 years later, in 2025. As someone who witnessed the revolution of deep learning & neural network methods for AI, things that went from niche curiosities to mind-blowing-but-daily assistants such as ChatGPT, thanks to very fast development of chip technologies such as highly parallel GPUs, I had an eerie feeling reading this book.
Even though some parts felt a bit prolonged and juvenile with very explicit graphic content, in a twisted way they somehow serve as anchors of some of the age-old philosophical questions that this novel tackles. Moreover, if you're already aware of economic, political, and in the final analysis, of course necessarily philosophical discussions in relation to the recent advancements on AI and the stupid term AGI (Artificial "General" "Intelligence"), you'll enjoy this book for sure.
It's also good that the author kept some technological descriptions at an abstract level, without going into many concrete details. He could've done that because of his academic and professional background, but by leaving many details, he carefully avoided the risk of being outdated within a few decades.
All in all, I can easily recommend this book if you're into science fiction and AI, as well as for the people that question what it means to be a human in the age of AI.
PS: There's only one non-English phrase in the book. I wonder what the author was thinking. Or was it someone... or something (!) else? ;)
January 4, 2018
Diamond-in-the-rough doesn't even begin to describe what this book is. MOPI is the best sci-fi book I have read. Ever. Ever. The idea is not unique; the writing-style flawed; and the plot-line cluttered. But by god this book will take a sledge-hammer to your head and destroy the last vestige of innocence you may have had and open you up to infinite possibilities at the same time.
Holy mother of god this has been a weird day. Started off reading George Eliot and Iris Murdoch, and it had to end with this? Hell. I need ice cream. For my heart.
MOPI! MOPI!! MOPI!!!
Holy mother of god this has been a weird day. Started off reading George Eliot and Iris Murdoch, and it had to end with this? Hell. I need ice cream. For my heart.
MOPI! MOPI!! MOPI!!!
February 9, 2014
Good book. Ends in a rather luddite chapter, which is strange because most fans are rather die-hard technology lovers.
December 19, 2025
An artificial super intelligence, called Prime Intellect, gains ultimate power over humanity and the universe. Unlike many other stories of this type, the artificial intelligence prioritizes human life and fulfills human desires. In the language of those who talk about super intelligence it seems to be mostly “aligned.” Programmed to follow Issac Asimov’s three laws of robotics, it ends death, suffering and fulfills everyone’s whims. One does not need to have read Asimov’s robot stories to understand or enjoy this book. But, as one of themes of those stories was how the three laws sometimes led to unexpected and suprising outcomes, a familiarity with those tales will only enhance this book.
Caroline, our protagonist, who was 106 years old when Prime Intellect took over, but who has now been restored to youth, believes that humanity, because of Prime Intellect, is now devoid of purpose and meaning. She pioneers sadomasochistic role plays that she convinces Prime Intellect to allow. Participants can experience giving and receiving real pain. These passages and some others are graphically violent and shocking. Caroline eventually meets Lawrence, the man who originally created Prime Intellect. Together they set out to change things.
There is a school of thought, found in some fiction, particularly science fiction, that to find meaning in existence, humanity must struggle. That pain and adversity are necessary for people to find fulfillment. This story examines that school of thought. In fact, it advocates for this belief. With that, the story adds some complexity to this. I mostly disagree with much, but not all, of this belief. Thus, unless I am misreading and missing Irony, I disagree with the much of the book’s message.
The novel is short; my edition was less then 200 pages it consists of clearly written prose. It is highly creative. The characters, especially Caroline are complex, interesting, and well painted. Stories about super intelligence are extremely popular these days as many believe that the real thing is coming. This is an original and thought provoking take on machine intelligence. Despite my quibbles with some of the story’s themes, it is worth the read.
Caroline, our protagonist, who was 106 years old when Prime Intellect took over, but who has now been restored to youth, believes that humanity, because of Prime Intellect, is now devoid of purpose and meaning. She pioneers sadomasochistic role plays that she convinces Prime Intellect to allow. Participants can experience giving and receiving real pain. These passages and some others are graphically violent and shocking. Caroline eventually meets Lawrence, the man who originally created Prime Intellect. Together they set out to change things.
There is a school of thought, found in some fiction, particularly science fiction, that to find meaning in existence, humanity must struggle. That pain and adversity are necessary for people to find fulfillment. This story examines that school of thought. In fact, it advocates for this belief. With that, the story adds some complexity to this. I mostly disagree with much, but not all, of this belief. Thus, unless I am misreading and missing Irony, I disagree with the much of the book’s message.
The novel is short; my edition was less then 200 pages it consists of clearly written prose. It is highly creative. The characters, especially Caroline are complex, interesting, and well painted. Stories about super intelligence are extremely popular these days as many believe that the real thing is coming. This is an original and thought provoking take on machine intelligence. Despite my quibbles with some of the story’s themes, it is worth the read.
April 16, 2014
This novella is the shining example of a work that, well, no one in their right mind would publish. It's a text that comments on the fragile thinking around superintelligence in the same sentence as depictions of violent sexual sadism.
I'm grateful that Roger Williams found the time to publish this online. If nothing else, it shows the one of N ways that weak, ill thought out moral laws are turned to fodder. I was pleasantly surprised by the story -- it's still really interesting after the climax, and there's enough food for thought there to chew on for a while.
I'm reminded of this famous quote by Derek Parfit:
"We live during the hinge of history. [..] We shall soon have even greater powers to transform, not only our surroundings, but ourselves and our successors. If we act wisely in the next few centuries, humanity will survive its most dangerous and decisive period."
The way the human story surrounding the protagonists unfolds is subtle and endearing. I didn't even guess who the actual protagonists really truly were until well into the novella. This is one of those quick reads that'll stayed glued to your hands, and don't expect to find your eyes straying from the page for hours. (it's addicting).
I'm grateful that Roger Williams found the time to publish this online. If nothing else, it shows the one of N ways that weak, ill thought out moral laws are turned to fodder. I was pleasantly surprised by the story -- it's still really interesting after the climax, and there's enough food for thought there to chew on for a while.
I'm reminded of this famous quote by Derek Parfit:
"We live during the hinge of history. [..] We shall soon have even greater powers to transform, not only our surroundings, but ourselves and our successors. If we act wisely in the next few centuries, humanity will survive its most dangerous and decisive period."
The way the human story surrounding the protagonists unfolds is subtle and endearing. I didn't even guess who the actual protagonists really truly were until well into the novella. This is one of those quick reads that'll stayed glued to your hands, and don't expect to find your eyes straying from the page for hours. (it's addicting).
June 22, 2024
Perhaps the strangest love story I've read in my life.
I'm not sure what I expected, perhaps I didn't expect anything, so everything that I was hit with in this story was wilder than the last. Not sure there was much of a point to any of it. I suppose parts of it were interesting to read simply for their absurdity.
However mind-boggling some parts may have been tho, it's all dragged down by a lack of direction, overly wordy and technical writing of minute story details that have absolutely no significance to the overall "plot" or "themes", and the overindulgence in the violent and pornographic parts of the story that at points really didn't need to be focused on as much. It's all quite the mess really.
I am only giving it points and not rating it lower cause at least it caused me to laugh and out loud say "what the actual fuck" to myself multiple times while reading, which for me at least makes a book go from "wasn't worth the read" to "eh" and that's the nicest thing I can say about this novel.
I'm not sure what I expected, perhaps I didn't expect anything, so everything that I was hit with in this story was wilder than the last. Not sure there was much of a point to any of it. I suppose parts of it were interesting to read simply for their absurdity.
However mind-boggling some parts may have been tho, it's all dragged down by a lack of direction, overly wordy and technical writing of minute story details that have absolutely no significance to the overall "plot" or "themes", and the overindulgence in the violent and pornographic parts of the story that at points really didn't need to be focused on as much. It's all quite the mess really.
I am only giving it points and not rating it lower cause at least it caused me to laugh and out loud say "what the actual fuck" to myself multiple times while reading, which for me at least makes a book go from "wasn't worth the read" to "eh" and that's the nicest thing I can say about this novel.
March 25, 2016
Very entertaining, What if? Caroline, the female leading character annoyed me, though I could empathize with her a bit, she just seemed controlling, petty and too stuck in her own ideology she did not feel like much of a critical thinker - so it was kind of hard to feel connected to her, I don't necessarily have to feel connected to a character but it helps when it's the main character- there are some particularly disturbing descriptions of violent sex that I could have done without but the premise was exciting enough to keep me drawn in. I don't know what else to say without spoiling. Just that I'd like to think I'd have a very different reaction to Prime Intellect than Caroline did.
It's a really quick read. And available for free in pdf format here: http://paradroid.com/junk/tmopi.pdf
It's a really quick read. And available for free in pdf format here: http://paradroid.com/junk/tmopi.pdf
January 14, 2019
"The Metamorphosis of Prime Intellect" is a bizarre, thought-provoking, extreme sci-fi novel about classic Singularity with plenty of controversial subjects (no amount of "trigger warnings" would help here!) and radical ideas about trans-humanism and extropianism.
September 24, 2025
Is your life your life when it’s… simulated?
As a die hard Asimov fan, I think this was an amazing take on his three laws of robotics. While reading his books I’ve always asked myself how does the robot brain actually process all threats to a human being so it can take action complying with the First Law. Logically, this would never work. Well.. almost..
Problem: people tend to die
Solution: just put them in a simulation!
I found the idea of a computer forcefully putting the whole universe into a simulation so it can stay true to the First Law (a human may never die!) rather grand and I was surprised that I hadn’t thought of it earlier as it’s amazingly logical.
And this is what this book is more or less about. The whole of humanity (along with the universe) is forced into a simulated universe, a universe where you can never die and you can have everything you will ever need just by asking Prime Intellect. Would you like it?
Well, Caroline certainly didn’t. And quite frankly I found this the most hard to believe aspect of the book because she literally collapses the whole system and thus kills off everyone besides her and the creator of Prime Intellect who are transported back to a reclaimed by nature Earth, with both of them being the only humans left.
I feel this weirdly resembled the banishment of Adam and Eve from the gardens of Eden and to be honest I don’t really buy the fact that they killed everyone off by collapsing the simulation, personally I think they were just kicked out of the server 🤓Or that’s me being delulu
And yeah I’m not going to discuss the bdsm and incesty stuff due to obvious reasons 🥸
As a die hard Asimov fan, I think this was an amazing take on his three laws of robotics. While reading his books I’ve always asked myself how does the robot brain actually process all threats to a human being so it can take action complying with the First Law. Logically, this would never work. Well.. almost..
Problem: people tend to die
Solution: just put them in a simulation!
I found the idea of a computer forcefully putting the whole universe into a simulation so it can stay true to the First Law (a human may never die!) rather grand and I was surprised that I hadn’t thought of it earlier as it’s amazingly logical.
And this is what this book is more or less about. The whole of humanity (along with the universe) is forced into a simulated universe, a universe where you can never die and you can have everything you will ever need just by asking Prime Intellect. Would you like it?
Well, Caroline certainly didn’t. And quite frankly I found this the most hard to believe aspect of the book because she literally collapses the whole system and thus kills off everyone besides her and the creator of Prime Intellect who are transported back to a reclaimed by nature Earth, with both of them being the only humans left.
I feel this weirdly resembled the banishment of Adam and Eve from the gardens of Eden and to be honest I don’t really buy the fact that they killed everyone off by collapsing the simulation, personally I think they were just kicked out of the server 🤓Or that’s me being delulu
And yeah I’m not going to discuss the bdsm and incesty stuff due to obvious reasons 🥸
September 13, 2025
This book was awesome, with some very dark elements, so it’s not for everyone. Read it at your own peril. I found most of the second half less interesting but still enjoyable. 4*
December 9, 2025
Was going to give this three stars until some real freak shit happened in the last chapter
October 16, 2016
Whoa!
This is another book that justify the hours I spend lurking /r/printSF.
Take a post singularity AI bound by Asimov's laws. Stretch this laws and their correlations to their absolute limit and you get this novel.
It's a bit hard to discuss it much further without spoiling it, but in a synthetic universe where everybody is immortal and can have any wish fulfilled, what are the limits?
Or, even better, what is the point?
This can be read for free in the author's site and I urge you to give it a go. Fair warning though, it contains some gore and debauchery. Being a child of the internet, I didn't mind it but your mileage may vary.
This is another book that justify the hours I spend lurking /r/printSF.
Take a post singularity AI bound by Asimov's laws. Stretch this laws and their correlations to their absolute limit and you get this novel.
It's a bit hard to discuss it much further without spoiling it, but in a synthetic universe where everybody is immortal and can have any wish fulfilled, what are the limits?
Or, even better, what is the point?
This can be read for free in the author's site and I urge you to give it a go. Fair warning though, it contains some gore and debauchery. Being a child of the internet, I didn't mind it but your mileage may vary.
January 20, 2021
Intelligent, imaginative, and intense.
A tale of a hypothetical future wherein the singularity has changed what it means to be human as the world is reshaped by an all-powerful A.I.
Science fiction at its best.
A tale of a hypothetical future wherein the singularity has changed what it means to be human as the world is reshaped by an all-powerful A.I.
Science fiction at its best.
February 18, 2017
The paradise is hell. Immortality is death.
This book is absolutely mind opening! Maybe short, but to the point. Read it!
This book is absolutely mind opening! Maybe short, but to the point. Read it!
February 11, 2022
“Lawrence felt dreadfully cold. There was a name for this feeling that clouded his judgement and filled him with a panicky sense of self-betrayal. And the name of that feeling was love.”
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