[net.sf-lovers] Computers in SF - When Harlie was One + Adolescence of P1

jjm (03/16/83)

        Anyone interested in computers in SF should read
        "When Harlie was One" by David Gerrold (author
        of the Trouble with Tribbles episode of Star Trek).

        Harlie is a program (Human Analog Robot - Life
        Input Equivalents) that is intelligent.  It
        designs the Graphic Omniscient Device (GOD) which
        will be able to answer the questions that HARLIE
        can not answer.

        For you Hitchhiker's Guide fans, Doug Adams seems to
        have stolen a lot from this book.  (In his book,
        a computer named Deep Thought designs a computer
        to question the ultimate answer....)

        Another computer book is "The Adolescence of P1",
        about a spontaneously intelligent program which
        escapes from it's programmer.  The program
        supposedly finds that there is a special hardware
        facility in all IBM equipment which allows the military
        to take over the hardware in case of emergency.
        The program breaks the security code on this and
        spreads copies of itself to all IBM machines...

        Rather absurd.  The only reason I bought the stupid
        book was that it "looked" accurate.  (There was a
        picture of an ADM-3A on the cover; it was the closest
        thing to a picture of real computer hardware I have ever
        seen on a book cover.  What's that old saying about
        book covers?)  The Adolescence of P1 is a "must miss".

        Jim McParland
        American Bell - Holmdel
        hou5e!jjm

jj (03/17/83)

	I've got to disagree with the review of 
""When Harley was One" and the dismissal of 
"The Adolescense (sp) of P-1".  I'm a hardware type,
partly, and the ideas that were set forth in "Harley" were
not quite digestable, I suspect because I'm active in the area.
The ideas of "P-1", while totally ridiculous, were at least,
to me, a bit more interesting, if no more practical.
	I guess that neither article should be considered
realistic, and that both should be read for enjoyment only.
I must admit that the political slant of P-1 was a bit annoying.

Given the choice again, I'd skip both.