ofut@gatech.UUCP (10/06/83)
To extend the recent plug for Hogans "Voyage From
Yesteryear", I'd recommend any and all of his books
to any and all scientists. Though not Clarke, he
has enough general knowledge of science to convince the
most discerning of audiences. His book on a truly
intelligent machine ("The Adolescence of P1", if I'm
not confusing my authors) was especially enjoyable and
is even almost reasonable.
--
Jeff Offutt
CSNet: Ofut @ GaTech ARPA: Ofut.GaTech @ UDel-Relay
uucp: ...!{sb1,allegra,ut-ngp}!gatech!Ofut
...!duke!mcnc!msdc!gatech!Ofutisrael@umcp-cs.UUCP (10/08/83)
The technology in tTFoT was excellent. I especially enjoyed a scene
where one of the AI researchers was showing a visitor the reasoning
system his research group was developing. It was in the sub-world
of a kitchen. The researcher explained that the computer program
was trying to fry an egg; a task it had never done before. It was
learning through a combination of experience and instruction when it
needed it. It had recently learned that it must open the cabinet
door to take the frying pan out of the cabinet (or maybe it was
unwrapping the butter before cutting off a slice; I forget). Anyway,
as the visitor watches the program makes it past this major hurdle,
gets an egg out of refrigerator, and then places the egg carefully
into the center of the frying pan. The AI researcher groans with
frustration.
This is quite a difference from your standard AI in SF, which is
about the same level as your '50's SF which has one lone scientist
in his basement develop and build the technology necessary for the
first manned flight to the moon (or Mars, or Sirius ...).
The above is my major complaint about "The Adolescence of P1". While
I felt that it was a very well written book (it has some great scenes
with characters learning about computers in college, and then turning
into hackers and skipping classes to hack), I ended up not finishing
it because I couldn't get over some of the abysmal technology.
The major plot of tAoP is that this guy writes a simple learning
program, and then sets it off to learn to be a syscracker by finding
computers (thru telephones and direct connections) and breaking into
them. The programs main goal was to accumulate the super-user
privileges on as many systems as possible. Now, I can deal with that,
but what I had a hard time with, was that about a year after the guy
set his program off, it contacted him! It seems that P1 not only
accumulated many thousands of computers in that time, but also learned
english, developed intelligence, learned a lot of the common-sense
information that we take for granted, and figured out who its creator
is and how to contact him!
Anyway, if you don't get upset by egregiously fallacious AI, you will
probably enjoy it.
--
~~~ Bruce ~~~
Computer Science Dept., University of Maryland
{rlgvax,seismo}!umcp-cs!israel (Usenet) israel.umcp-cs@Udel-Relay (Arpanet)hakanson@orstcs.UUCP (10/12/83)
#R:gatech:-138200:orstcs:11600018:000:828
orstcs!hakanson Oct 9 21:49:00 1983
I think the book by Hogan which is about an intelligent machine
is called "Two Faces of Tomorrow" -- I've read all of his but the
most recent book (it's not out in pback yet!), & never heard of
The Adolescence of P1. Two Faces of Tomorrow was indeed v. good.
If you're into bizarre physics, try The Genesis Machine, and
also Thrice Upon a Time. Very convincing to me.
Now that I've raved, I'd like to know what stores have David Brin's
new books, Sundiver & Startide Rising. I haven't found them around
where I live, & would like to know what stores to check out before
I head to "the big city." Are they out in paperback? Can you tell
that I am (effectively) unemployed?? 8-)
Marion Hakanson {hp-pcd,teklabs}!orstcs!hakanson (Usenet)
hakanson.oregon-state@rand-relay or
hakanson@{oregon-state,orstcs} (CSnet)