tjdickey
Columbus Metropolitan Library
tjdickey's Completed Shelf
Filter your results by...
Format
tjdickey's rating:
Added Dec 27, 2023
Tags (3)
Quotations
- "Not long afterward, the Lone Ranger and his harlequin companion descended into the Arroyo Secco, hunting the invaders from another world." (p/ 26)
- "You turned Burning Man into a survivalist cult!" (p. 43)
tjdickey's rating:
Added May 30, 2023
Comment:
The second in AK's bioforms series takes on just a bit too much of naked political commentary.
Tags (3)
Similar Titles (1)
tjdickey's rating:
Added May 25, 2023
Comment:
Ok, who starts a dystopian sci-fi thriller with "My name is Rex. I am a Good Dog." ?? Adrian Tchaikovsky, of course.
And as always, he hits us with a highly thoughtful and fresh concept, while at the same time asking important questions: in this case, how do we define intelligence and personhood beyond a human mind? What engineered forms, artificial forms, distributed forms of intelligence - all of them non-human - count, and what rights do they have? There are strong hints of Vandermeer in the thought process here, but the stories / parables are more direct and less philosophical.Ok, who starts a dystopian sci-fi thriller with "My name is Rex. I am a Good Dog." ?? Adrian Tchaikovsky, of course.
And as always, he hits us with a highly thoughtful and fresh concept, while at the same time asking important questions: in this…
Tags (3)
Quotations
- "My name is Rex. I am a good dog." [Who gets to start a dystopian sci-fi with that line?] :)
Similar Titles (2)
tjdickey's rating:
Added Sep 25, 2021
Comment:
Great return appearance of Murderbot, the charmingly depressed and personality-disordered combat/security AI - more action, more backstory and more uncomfortable interactions with humans and other machine intelligences.
Tags (2)
Similar Titles (1)
tjdickey's rating:
Added Sep 20, 2021
Comment:
An AI stuffed with armor and tactical weaponry but living with antisocial personality disorders, in a world where corporate contracts for planetary exploration go to the lowest bidder - what could go wrong?
A very fun little read.
Tags (2)
Similar Titles (2)
tjdickey's rating:
Added Sep 14, 2021
Comment:
A taut and shockingly-tense ride through the high plains and badlands of Ohio after the robot apocalypse. The characters ask the heavy moral and ethical questions, but as with the greatest Western action films, the answers can only be glimpsed equivocally through the gritty moments of life and death.A taut and shockingly-tense ride through the high plains and badlands of Ohio after the robot apocalypse. The characters ask the heavy moral and ethical questions, but as with the greatest Western action films, the answers can only be glimpsed…
Tags (4)
Similar Titles (2)
tjdickey's rating:
Added Apr 10, 2021
Comment:
A fascinating exploration of a "what if" scenario, when a CERN scientist moves from automated machine learning for data analysis at CERN to creating similar programs for a hedge fund, and the success leads to unintended outcomes. A novel right in line with the times of the great financial meltdown...A fascinating exploration of a "what if" scenario, when a CERN scientist moves from automated machine learning for data analysis at CERN to creating similar programs for a hedge fund, and the success leads to unintended outcomes. A novel right in…
Tags (4)
Similar Titles (2)
Margin CallMargin Call, DVD
DVD - 2011DVD, 2011
tjdickey's rating:
Added Apr 08, 2021
Comment:
Singer puts the technology back in the techno-thriller genre, and does so explosively! The plot feels like riding a wave, with advances in AI and IOT and autonomous vehicles and big data, all taken from what is actually happening on the edges of real-world innovation; we surge forward, pausing briefly for reflection on technology in our world, and our evolving relationship with intelligent and learning machines and coded processes.Singer puts the technology back in the techno-thriller genre, and does so explosively! The plot feels like riding a wave, with advances in AI and IOT and autonomous vehicles and big data, all taken from what is actually happening on the edges of…
Similar Titles (2)
Cyber RepublicCyber Republic, BookReinventing Democracy in the Age of Intelligent Machines
by Zarkadakēs, GiōrgosBook - 2020Book, 2020
tjdickey's rating:
Added Apr 06, 2021
Comment:
Zarkadakis offers first, a trenchant critique of both western "surveillance capitalism" by social media and other online platforms whose corporations claim ownership of all user data, and of the competing model of state surveillance in places such as Russia and China. Data is seen as the "new oil," the material that can allow developments in artificial intelligence to drive a fourth Industrial Revolution, but current structures reinforce inequality. In place of these threats, he also offers a positive vision for a possible future for liberal democracy, one in which democratic institutions are re-shaped to allow more input and ownership by citizens, how the very design of AI can be returned to its roots in human-machine partnership (and thus to avoid the us vs. them dystopian vision of the Singularity), and finally how online platforms such as Facebook and Uber could be re-envisioned with all of us retaining more control and ownership over our data.Zarkadakis offers first, a trenchant critique of both western "surveillance capitalism" by social media and other online platforms whose corporations claim ownership of all user data, and of the competing model of state surveillance in places such…
Tags (4)
Similar Titles (3)
Reclaiming ConversationReclaiming Conversation, BookThe Power of Talk in A Digital Age
by Turkle, SherryBook - 2015Book, 2015Dawn of the New EverythingDawn of the New Everything, BookEncounters With Reality and Virtual Reality
by Lanier, JaronBook - 2017Book, 2017
tjdickey's rating:
Added Aug 29, 2020
Comment:
Spectacular and riveting, full of questions of life and humanity and AI and what motivates an entire species to act as it does...
Tags (4)
Similar Titles (1)
tjdickey's rating:
Added Jul 13, 2020
Comment:
A bitingly hilarious satire of a modern, data-driven, commercialized, algorithm-rated, profile-matching, platform-obsessed, filter-bubbled, re-branded, socially-acceptable society that could never ever ever ever happen or even resemble anything in real life, right...?A bitingly hilarious satire of a modern, data-driven, commercialized, algorithm-rated, profile-matching, platform-obsessed, filter-bubbled, re-branded, socially-acceptable society that could never ever ever ever happen or even resemble anything in…
Tags (5)
Similar Titles (1)
tjdickey's rating:
Added Jul 10, 2020
Comment:
A suitable sequel to "The Peripheral," with plenty of extra backstory and even more depth of mental triangulation of the "stub" branches of history. In addition, we get a fascinating exposition on the branches of sub-routines (and sub-personalities?) to an advanced AI. However, the character development in the sequel is less compelling, and the relentless and breakneck pacing of the plot seems cramped, as if the characters and by extension, the reader, has no agency in the plot at all.A suitable sequel to "The Peripheral," with plenty of extra backstory and even more depth of mental triangulation of the "stub" branches of history. In addition, we get a fascinating exposition on the branches of sub-routines (and…
Tags (3)
Similar Titles (1)
tjdickey's rating:
Added Jul 06, 2020
Comment:
Certainly an excellent conclusion to the trilogy - all of the action, human nostalgia, and deep philosophical intrigue brings the several threads together.
Tags (2)
Similar Titles (2)
tjdickey's rating:
Added Jun 30, 2020
Comment:
The continuation of "Neuromancer" delivers all of the lyricism of writing, the charge of violence, desire, and steamy underside of society (as well as of high society), and delves a bit deeper into the questions of machine learning, the nature of human existence, and our position in time between nostalgia for the past and excitement over the mysteries of the future. What more could we ask?The continuation of "Neuromancer" delivers all of the lyricism of writing, the charge of violence, desire, and steamy underside of society (as well as of high society), and delves a bit deeper into the questions of machine learning, the nature of…
Tags (2)
tjdickey's rating:
Added Jun 27, 2020
Comment:
A gripping and gritty narrative, the richly-textured writing style of which doesn't age poorly at all - the technologies of modem and television have morphed alongside arcologies and virtual reality simstims, and the inner worlds of data visualization, hacking, and AI are all very present and real sub-levels of the future we are starting to live.A gripping and gritty narrative, the richly-textured writing style of which doesn't age poorly at all - the technologies of modem and television have morphed alongside arcologies and virtual reality simstims, and the inner worlds of data…
Tags (2)
Similar Titles (1)
Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep?Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep?, Book
by Dick, Philip K.Book - 1996Book, 1996
tjdickey's rating:
Added Aug 15, 2019
Comment:
An interesting debut novel, full of background intrigue and novel uses of AI in characterization. Actually, the AI characters can be more engaging than some of the human ones. :)
Tags (2)
Similar Titles (1)
tjdickey's rating:
Added Feb 09, 2019
Comment:
What an exhilarating ride!
We fly through a symphony of technologies including quantum mechanics, virtual reality, 3D printing, ID theft (of entire minds!), privacy screens that work on us in real life, and toggle between hints of classic noir mystery and arching space opera, punctuated by scenes of blistering action, all the while contemplating the very nature of memory and history...What an exhilarating ride!
We fly through a symphony of technologies including quantum mechanics, virtual reality, 3D printing, ID theft (of entire minds!), privacy screens that work on us in real life, and toggle between hints of classic noir…
Comment: