Beautiful Intelligence (SF) - Stephen Palmer ****

Some science fiction novels feel like more of the same. They can provide an enjoyable new twist on a story, but we've seen their like before. However, Beatiful Intelligence gives us a whole new take on the development of artificial intelligence. Two teams have broken off from a Japanese AI lab to go there own way and are on the run - they are as likely to be killed as sued. All this takes place in the context of the nexus, a next-generation internet that is far more immersive and intrusive, tracking and noting every activity of everyone.

Although this is fiction, Stephen Palmer does treat the reader to a fair amount of discussion of the nature of AI, how it might be achieved, and whether it's possible to distinguish true artificial intelligence and consciousness from a simulation of it. That is interesting enough in its own right, but the attempts of the two teams to keep concealed despite the nexus, and their very different approaches to creating AI are both engaging and fascinating. There's plenty of tension as the Japanese company's obsessive head attempts to track them down - and some surprising twists and turns.

There are inevitably some aspects in a relatively near future SF book, driven by technology, that could be questioned. Japan has never been strong on software development, and it seems an unlikely source (as opposed to China) for the development of the nexus - and for that matter, the acceptance of the total lack of privacy afforded by the nexus is hard to take on board, even given the collapse of Western economies that seems to have taken place. Also I'd have preferred more of an ending to the book to what feels more like a short story ending. But overall, this is a very effective SF thriller with plenty of action but also good deal of thought-provoking exploration of the implications of artificial intelligence.

You can buy the book (and many other titles) on the publisher's website or from the links below.

Paperback:

Kindle:

Using these links earns us commission at no cost to you

Review by Brian Clegg

Comments

Target Earth – Govert Schilling *****

I was biased in favour of this great little book even before I started to read it, simply because it’s so short. I’m sure that a lot of people who buy popular science books just want an overview and taster of a subject that’s brand new to them – and that’s likely to work best if the author keeps it short and to the point. Of course, you may want to dig deeper in areas that really interest you, but that’s what Google is for. That basic principle aside, I’m still in awe at how much substance Govert Schilling has managed to cram into this tiny book. It’s essentially about all the things (natural things, I mean, not UFOs or space junk) that can end up on Earth after coming down from outer space. That ranges from the microscopically small particles of cosmic dust that accumulate in our gutters, all the way up to the ten kilometre wide asteroid that wiped out the dinosaurs. Between these extremes are two topics that we’ve reviewed entire books about recently: meteorites ( The Meteorite Hunt...

The Language of Mathematics - Raúl Rojas ***

One of the biggest developments in the history of maths was moving from describing relationships and functions with words to using symbols. This interesting little book traces the origins of a whole range of symbols from those familiar to all, to the more obscure squiggles used in logic and elsewhere. On the whole Raúl Rojas does a good job of filling in some historical detail, if in what is generally a fairly dry fashion. We get to trace what was often a bumpy path as different symbols were employed (particularly, for example, for division and multiplication, where several still remain in use), but usually, gradually, standards were adopted. This feels better as a reference, to dip into if you want to find out about a specific symbol, rather than an interesting end to end read. Rojas tells us the sections are designed to be read in any order, which means that there is some overlap of text - it feels more like a collection of short essays or blog posts that he couldn't be bothered ...

The Decline and Fall of the Human Empire - Henry Gee ****

In his last book, Henry Gee impressed with his A (Very) Short History of Life on Earth - this time he zooms in on one very specific aspect of life on Earth - humans - and gives us not just a history, but a prediction of the future - our extinction. The book starts with an entertaining prologue, to an extent bemoaning our obsession with dinosaurs, a story that leads, inexorably towards extinction. This is a fate, Gee points out, that will occur for every species, including our own. We then cover three potential stages of the rise and fall of humanity (the book's title is purposely modelled on Gibbon) - Rise, Fall and Escape. Gee's speciality is palaeontology and in the first section he takes us back to explore as much as we can know from the extremely patchy fossil record of the origins of the human family, the genus Homo and the eventual dominance of Homo sapiens , pushing out any remaining members of other closely related species. As we move onto the Fall section, Gee gives ...

Search This Blog