Astro Teller

Not a bad little book, comprised of email exchanges, that takes up the question of intelligence/ awareness/ humanity, using an accidentally sentient computer program, EDGAR, as a stand-in for Dr. Frankenstein's monster. Alice Lu, a computer science post-grad student at Stanford, creates EDGAR with a dash of primordial code that she cannot replicate. EDGAR wants only to learn and to gather information, and to be left alone to do this. He does not mistake himself for human; he does not have human sympathies or moral codes. In his search for information, he breaks into the NSA's computer network, and the FBI "corner" him and interrogate him, certain he's been created as a weapon. Alice, who has come to love her creation and who can't create another EDGAR, is terrified he'll shut himself down before she can free him.… (más)

It's surprisingly difficult to pin down what I think of this book. I read it in about two hours, which sort of gave me the impression of loving it, but it's really just because emails are so easy to read. There were some interesting philosophical discussions, and I particularly liked Edgar's ultimate choice, but also there were some really meandering thoughts that felt slippery, like they never quite touched ground on their logical base.

Alice was . . . strange. I appreciate both that she was written by the real-life version of herself (a grad student studying artificial intelligence) and that he chose to make her a woman of color—a choice that, annoyingly, would still be notable now, and this book was published in 1997. Yet somehow, she felt more like she'd been written by someone who didn't know the field, and was just doing their best guess based on research. She was inexplicably rude to Edgar in the beginning—rude doesn't seem like the right word but I can't quite find a better one, dismissive maybe? impolite?—oddly petulant throughout, and unnervingly dramatic toward the end. I know her despair is supposed to be explained by the involvement of the FBI and NSA, which obviously would be incredibly stressful; maybe it's the lack of context outside the emails, which provide such a limited perspective, but I just never felt the gravity of the situation sufficiently for her responses to make total sense. Also: she used the "l" word. Really?

It was interesting, though, and such a fast read can hardly be a waste of time. If nothing else, it's an intriguing thought exercise about the double standard required when "safety" is your highest goal. It was written almost twenty years ago, but its questions are even more applicable now.… (más)

This book, about an AI program that swiftly develops cognizance and runs away from its creator, was interesting at first, but began to drag as the plot became more intense. EDGAR is a computer program created by grad student Alice Lu and her professor. After Alice makes a few small changes, EDGAR becomes aware of his world and begins conversing with Alice. When he thinks she is becoming too controlling, he makes a run for it, dispersing himself over the internet. An interesting concept, but I'm either not versed enough in computer science or already too versed in philosophical rhetoric for this to have been enjoyable.… (más)