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Unofficial What are you Reading Thread?

Started by Thurnez Isa, December 03, 2006, 04:11:35 PM

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Bu🤠ns

Just finished Daemon by Daniel Suarez where a computer daemon takes over when it scans and finds the original coder's obituary...then it takes over the world.  It was really good, imo.  Some parts are a bit of a stretch...like someone coding this thing was bug free.  there's no such thing as bug free....but I was able to suspend my disbelief because the rest of it was pretty good

Something from the Nightside was also decent...just finished that as well.  It had a bit of a pulp feel but was WAAAAAY better than the first book of The Dresden Files....that bland piece of shit ...I can't believe I finished it.

Now I'm reading Damed by Chuck Palahniuk.  Still not sure about this....it reads a bit like lousy teenage fanfic.  plowing ahead though.

ñͤͣ̄ͦ̌̑͗͊͛͂͗ ̸̨̨̣̺̼̣̜͙͈͕̮̊̈́̈͂͛̽͊ͭ̓͆ͅé ̰̓̓́ͯ́́͞

Quote from: Bu☆ns on April 18, 2014, 04:24:29 PM
Just finished Daemon by Daniel Suarez where a computer daemon takes over when it scans and finds the original coder's obituary...then it takes over the world.  It was really good, imo.  Some parts are a bit of a stretch...like someone coding this thing was bug free.  there's no such thing as bug free....but I was able to suspend my disbelief because the rest of it was pretty good

Something from the Nightside was also decent...just finished that as well.  It had a bit of a pulp feel but was WAAAAAY better than the first book of The Dresden Files....that bland piece of shit ...I can't believe I finished it.

Now I'm reading Damed by Chuck Palahniuk.  Still not sure about this....it reads a bit like lousy teenage fanfic.  plowing ahead though.

Think I'm gonna have to check out this Daemon book. Sounds great.
P E R   A S P E R A   A D   A S T R A

Cain

Daemon is interesting, but essentially posits the way to solve humanity's woes is to SPOILER ALERT:






















turn reality into one giant MMO, with the AI as our benign, neutral overlord.  That's in the sequel, Freedom.  It's a problem with Suarez. He comes up with interesting ideas about hi-tech advancements, warfare and society, but fails on delivering an even slightly believable answer to the problems posed.

ñͤͣ̄ͦ̌̑͗͊͛͂͗ ̸̨̨̣̺̼̣̜͙͈͕̮̊̈́̈͂͛̽͊ͭ̓͆ͅé ̰̓̓́ͯ́́͞

Quote from: Cain on April 18, 2014, 09:46:28 PM
Daemon is interesting, but essentially posits the way to solve humanity's woes is to SPOILER ALERT:






















turn reality into one giant MMO, with the AI as our benign, neutral overlord.  That's in the sequel, Freedom.  It's a problem with Suarez. He comes up with interesting ideas about hi-tech advancements, warfare and society, but fails on delivering an even slightly believable answer to the problems posed.

Well, that's disappointing.
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Bu🤠ns

Quote from: Cain on April 18, 2014, 09:46:28 PM
Daemon is interesting, but essentially posits the way to solve humanity's woes is to SPOILER ALERT:






















turn reality into one giant MMO, with the AI as our benign, neutral overlord.  That's in the sequel, Freedom.  It's a problem with Suarez. He comes up with interesting ideas about hi-tech advancements, warfare and society, but fails on delivering an even slightly believable answer to the problems posed.
Quote from: Cain on April 18, 2014, 09:46:28 PM
Daemon is interesting, but essentially posits the way to solve humanity's woes is to SPOILER ALERT:






















turn reality into one giant MMO, with the AI as our benign, neutral overlord.  That's in the sequel, Freedom.  It's a problem with Suarez. He comes up with interesting ideas about hi-tech advancements, warfare and society, but fails on delivering an even slightly believable answer to the problems posed.

That's a little different interpretation than what I got from his authors at google lecture.  From what I understood, it was more about speculating about the different ways new technology automation work into our society.  or something. I was working at the time.

ñͤͣ̄ͦ̌̑͗͊͛͂͗ ̸̨̨̣̺̼̣̜͙͈͕̮̊̈́̈͂͛̽͊ͭ̓͆ͅé ̰̓̓́ͯ́́͞

Quote from: Bu☆ns on April 21, 2014, 03:42:30 AM
Quote from: Cain on April 18, 2014, 09:46:28 PM
Daemon is interesting, but essentially posits the way to solve humanity's woes is to SPOILER ALERT:






















turn reality into one giant MMO, with the AI as our benign, neutral overlord.  That's in the sequel, Freedom.  It's a problem with Suarez. He comes up with interesting ideas about hi-tech advancements, warfare and society, but fails on delivering an even slightly believable answer to the problems posed.

That's a little different interpretation than what I got from his authors at google lecture.  From what I understood, it was more about speculating about the different ways new technology automation work into our society.  or something. I was working at the time.

I'm still going to check it out (my library surprisingly even has his newest book already). I can see that he's clearly got some interesting takes on technology from that google lecture.
P E R   A S P E R A   A D   A S T R A

Cain

He does, and he is worth reading on that basis alone.  His book on autonomous drones is also worth checking out.

I'm just saying, don't expect a convincing resolution to the issues posed.

meed0k

What was the problem with the AI system in Daemon/Freedom?

~~semi spoiler~~







I feel the biggest point was that the AI system took direct feedback from the USERS of the system. Which is technically how 'representatives' are supposed to work anyway, this system would just make that idea actually more viable as human decision makers (usually with degrees in economics, political science, or law) do not really have the skills required for making instant/intelligent decisions regarding feedback from the environment.

Maybe not as over-the-top as in Suarez's books (it was a fiction and a thriller after-all) but AI systems seem like one of the few things that can actually make society work on a large scale.
"an eerie sense of Panic in the air, a silent Fear and Uncertainty that comes with once-reliable faiths and truths and solid Institutions that are no longer safe to believe in..." -HST

Bu🤠ns

Quote from: Cain on April 21, 2014, 07:49:04 AM
He does, and he is worth reading on that basis alone.  His book on autonomous drones is also worth checking out.

I'm just saying, don't expect a convincing resolution to the issues posed.

Ah okay--understood

Junkenstein

Quote from: meed0k on April 21, 2014, 12:48:20 PM
What was the problem with the AI system in Daemon/Freedom?

~~semi spoiler~~







I feel the biggest point was that the AI system took direct feedback from the USERS of the system. Which is technically how 'representatives' are supposed to work anyway, this system would just make that idea actually more viable as human decision makers (usually with degrees in economics, political science, or law) do not really have the skills required for making instant/intelligent decisions regarding feedback from the environment.

Maybe not as over-the-top as in Suarez's books (it was a fiction and a thriller after-all) but AI systems seem like one of the few things that can actually make society work on a large scale.

Why have I got this horrible feeling that someone has basically ripped and expanded on the "Helios" ending from Deus Ex?
Nine naked Men just walking down the road will cause a heap of trouble for all concerned.

Faust

Quote from: Junkenstein on April 22, 2014, 08:05:22 AM
Quote from: meed0k on April 21, 2014, 12:48:20 PM
What was the problem with the AI system in Daemon/Freedom?

~~semi spoiler~~







I feel the biggest point was that the AI system took direct feedback from the USERS of the system. Which is technically how 'representatives' are supposed to work anyway, this system would just make that idea actually more viable as human decision makers (usually with degrees in economics, political science, or law) do not really have the skills required for making instant/intelligent decisions regarding feedback from the environment.

Maybe not as over-the-top as in Suarez's books (it was a fiction and a thriller after-all) but AI systems seem like one of the few things that can actually make society work on a large scale.

Why have I got this horrible feeling that someone has basically ripped and expanded on the "Helios" ending from Deus Ex?
And the matrix etc.

For an otherwise broken game, invisible war had a great Helios ending: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EF4Y-sxyBiE&t=0m5s
Sleepless nights at the chateau

Junkenstein

There's a disturbingly large part of me that would actually be OK with such a situation.

I would also pay alarming sums to be able to use the Helios voice for various things. Yes. It's probably been written about to death, but the 3(4 really) main AI's in the original DX were excellently written characters. If you're not familiar with them have a look at the "Morpheus" interactions. You won't get that kind of dialogue in many games today.


Nine naked Men just walking down the road will cause a heap of trouble for all concerned.

Bu🤠ns

Gave up on Damned.  It just kept feeling like 'forced edgy'.  I felt like Palahniuk used to have something to say but now he doesn't (or at least in this book).  I couldn't finish it.

And i'm glad I couldn't.  I picked up Dirk Gently's Holistic Detective Agency and have been loving the hell out of it from page 1.  I started it Sunday  and am almost done...it's one of those kinds of books.  Like I don't even care how it ends, I still feel like it was time worth spent.

Mesozoic Mister Nigel

'bout halfway through "Ghosts From The Nursery". It's depressing. But it was written in the 90's, and I keep wanting to find the authors and ask how they think their ideas hold up in light of the last 20 years.
"I'm guessing it was January 2007, a meeting in Bethesda, we got a bag of bees and just started smashing them on the desk," Charles Wick said. "It was very complicated."


Rococo Modem Basilisk

I'm about halfway through Memoirs Found in the Bathtub. I was a little surprised that it's absolutely hilarious -- having read Solaris and about half of The Cyberiad (the latter being Lem's supposedly funny book). It's a little like Brazil meets The Prisoner. It has a few sequences where people shout numbers at each other with no explanation -- which I've seen in a couple soviet-era Russian movies but never before in Lem's books (if I recall, it was in the film version of Stalker -- I.E., Strugatsky's Roadside Picnic). Is this a reference to some very popular work, or to something in Soviet law enforcement?


I am not "full of hate" as if I were some passive container. I am a generator of hate, and my rage is a renewable resource, like sunshine.