dat@hpcnoa.UUCP (dat) (04/02/85)
This might be treading on old ground, but I'm curious what people think is the best SF book (or story) they've read that has a computer as the main 'character' or an integral part of the story... I'll wait to post my favorites... Dave Taylor
bayes@hpfclg.UUCP (bayes) (04/08/85)
WRT to favorite computer protagonists: I still think Mike (MYCROFTXXX) in The Moon is a Harsh Mistress is one of the better, more sympathetic "characters" you'll find. As for the Valentina crap, you can have it. hpfcla!bayes "Classic". A book which people praise and don't read. Question - Who is the originator of the above quote (non-SF personality) ?
brust@hyper.UUCP (Steven Brust) (04/10/85)
> > hpfcla!bayes > "Classic". A book which people praise and don't read. > Question - Who is the originator of the above quote (non-SF personality) ? Twain. -- SKZB
dpm@edison.UUCP (Dave P. McClurg) (04/22/85)
> > > This might be treading on old ground, but I'm curious > what people think is the best SF book (or story) they've read > that has a computer as the main 'character' or an integral > part of the story... > > I'll wait to post my favorites... > > Dave Taylor *Alejandra Variations* by Paul Cook is radically different from other COMPUTER SF books. That is, no blatant presence of blinking lights or personfication is used to tell an otherwise boring story. I think it may be the only SF book that Cook has written. The book is composed of 3 or 4 variations which are not short stories, but scenarios that the computer creates. They are somewhat like dreams, only their content is controlled by the computer. The computer, whose name is Mnemonos 9 and sex is female (the computer seems to think so), does this by altering brain chemicals and such to stimulate visions, senses, etc... One of the operants, which is a person who gets hooked up to the computer, has a sexual hangup with the last girl he loved and the computer reacts to this by eventually going sentient. Some really interesting sex in hypothetical futures is adroitly described by cook (positions, etc). The flavor of *Alejandra Variations* is not just that of a sex crazed computer but has philisophical attempts to explain artificial intelligence. It reminded me of the SHIP in Frank Herbert's book *The Jesus Incident*. David McClurg at Virginia Tech