Tuesday, July 1, 2014

ROBOT Uprisings - A Book Review


AI - Artificial Intelligence. Can they be trusted? What if they don't follow the Three Laws of Robotics* or any other Human imposed code of conduct?





ROBOT UPRISINGS


Including authors Cory Doctorow, Hugh Howey, Jeff Abbott, Ernest Cline, John McCarthy, and more, Robot Uprisings contains new stories based on a common theme. Open your awareness to the possibilities and the dangers that we imagine if we share our world with an entity that is manufactured, not born. Seventeen stories of which I've highlighted six authors. This is another library find; I can't refuse a book with 'robots' in the title.


A Sampling:

Cory Doctorow - Epoch

A system wide rollover is due, like Y2K, and everyone is making preparations to ride out the time, including the robots.

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Hugh Howey - Executable

Beware the reprogrammable computerized items in your home, like that little Roomba. And the fridge, the microwave. . .

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Ernest Cline - The Omnibot Incident

What if you got your own robot for Christmas? And it was better than anything you had imagined? Be cautious. When something seems better than it is, there might be a reason. . .

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John McCarthy - The Robot and the Baby

Delightful jab at future tech and privacy/freedom issues. This was fun to read, as it incorporated the media element in the future, and how little actual privacy we may have. Babies - robots don't do baby care, until now.

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Seanan McGuire - We are all Misfit Toys in the Aftermath of the Velveteen War

A story parents should read, about a Pied Piper of the future. Educational robots - can learn as well as teach. Beware.

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Jeff Abbott - Human Intelligence

After the takeover, they wanted to understand humans. Why? To become more like us or to better break us? Someone had resisted them. They, the conquering robots, want to know why and how?

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The Theme: What you can do, we can do better OR come the robot revolution. . .


Robot Uprisings, Vintage Books, Vintage Original Series, Edited by Daniel H. Wilson, and John Joseph Adams, Published by Knopf Doubleday Publishing Group, 2014. Daniel writes robotic-themed novels, one of which has been slated for film by Steven Spielberg. John Joseph Adams is the editor of digital magazines Lightspeed and Nightmare, and other interesting projects.

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Would you like your own robot? Are you worried about Artificial Intelligence taking over? Have you read any of these authors I've mentioned? Or heard of them?

Please leave a comment to let me know you were here, and thanks for visiting. I'll respond!

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References

* I. Asimov's Three Laws of Robotics
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Three_Laws_of_Robotics

Robots with Brains
http://www.nasa.gov/vision/universe/roboticexplorers/f_robotics.html

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