The Seer (Singularity #1) by William Hertling
Publisher: Liquididea Press
Publication Date: November 19, 2011
Edition: Paperback, 302 pages
Genre: Science Fiction
Rating: 4/5
Avogadro Corp is a diabolically clever insight into accidental A.I.
Backcover:
David Ryan is the designer of ELOPe, an email language optimization program, that if successful, will make his career. But when the project is suddenly in danger of being canceled, David embeds a hidden directive in the software accidentally creating a runaway artificial intelligence.
David and his team are initially thrilled when the project is allocated extra servers and programmers. But excitement turns to fear as the team realizes that they are being manipulated by an A.I. who is redirecting corporate funds, reassigning personnel and arming itself in pursuit of its own agenda.
*Avogadro Corp is a diabolically clever insight into accidental A.I.*
Effective Communication is everything. And despite spellcheckers, grammar checkers and auto-correct, there is not yet a way to automatically improve the appeal of your message to a recipient. There is not yet an algorithm to reword your message; to step past questions, step past doubt, to achieve an ends, to coerce with uncannily perceptive persuasion.
So what happens when an email algorithm to help human collaboration, takes on a mind of its own; goes beyond its purview and skips past every check and balance in its way?
Avogadro Corp is a diabolically clever insight into accidental A.I.; and a very real warning in an increasingly digital world where we rely on electronic communication for everything from finance to job prospects, from corporate commands to governmental orders.
Hertling deftly maneuvers through a complex scenario where human greed and desperation manifest an unchecked algorithm that grows at an exponential rate, stopping at nothing to build itself larger, to amass more data, growing in power and ability as the unthinkable starts to unfold.
With a fascinating idea, this story pulled me through, despite sometimes slow pacing, and awkward dialogue. The idea made up for it, and I am intent to read more.
A.I. by email. Who knew?
Watch your inbox.
4/5 Rating
-Clifton Hill
About the Author:
Clifton Hill discovered robots in the Fourth Grade when his grandmother handed him a book by Isaac Asimov. Science fiction absorbed him for the next couple years until a little piece called the Belgariad came along, bringing magic and an incredible new world.
Bouncing throughout speculative fiction, Clifton became absorbed by video games, comics and has a degree in Computer Animation. He has dabbled in various art forms, sought to design video games, co-created a web comic, chased after tornadoes, and fights moss whenever he can. After years of neglect, he picked up a story idea buried in a layer of dust, blew it off and has never looked back.
Clifton lives in the Pacific Northwest with his wife and two children, working in mortgage, his head thoroughly lodged in the clouds.
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