The Turing Option: A Novel by Harry Harrison (PDF)

Description

The world’s foremost authority on artificial intelligence is shot by terrorists, and it is up to a brilliant surgeon to reconstruct the scientist’s brain using the research he pioneered. 35,000 first printing. $35,000 ad/promo.

User’s Reviews

Editorial Reviews: From Publishers Weekly Minsky ( The Society of the Mind ), one of the foremost authorities on artificial intelligence research, has many interesting ideas about the potential and pitfalls of the quest for a truly free-thinking machine, and some of them come through in this murky, creaky thriller, written with veteran science fiction author Harrison ( Return to Eden ). Brian Delany, a brilliant computer scientist at top-secret Megalobe labs, is on the brink of developing a true machine intelligence when industrial pirates penetrate security and steal his research, gravely wounding him in the process. Though a bullet has destroyed parts of his brain, the technology he created offers hope: neurosurgeon Erin Snaresbrook uses microsurgical robots and a superpowerful computer to restore Brian to consciousness. Now he races against time to re-create his research before the thieves can develop it for the marketplace, and to find out who was behind the theft before they can finish him off. The stale, contrived plot and unlikely characters serve only as a framework for the authors’ exposition of various issues surrounding AI. Readers interested in a lecture enlivened by a plot line should find this entertaining; those seeking the pleasures of fiction (science or otherwise) should look elsewhere. Copyright 1992 Reed Business Information, Inc. From Kirkus Reviews Clich‚d, melodramatic, and thuddingly plotted–but, still, this novel by a Grand Old Man of sf and the world’s leading expert on artificial intelligence contains some of the best extrapolation on the nature and creation of AI ever offered in fiction. In 2023, Brian Delaney, under contract to Megalobe, has just achieved a breakthrough in AI when someone engineers the theft of his research and murders all involved. Brian alone survives, but a bullet has destroyed much of his brain. Using Brian’s own research, neurosurgeon Erin Snaresbrook grafts an advanced computer into his brain, reintegrating neural pathways, allowing access to memories to the age of 14. Brian learns to interface with the CPU, and downloaded databases become part of his memory. While the army keeps him a virtual prisoner for security and searches for the perps, the new, improved Brian creates a new, improved AI, named Sven. Meanwhile, a criminological AI named Dick Tracy begins to uncover clues to the raid and, once integrated with Sven, sports a new product–a robot gardener–that’s programmed with Brian’s AI code. Brian finds a clue to his would-be murderer’s whereabouts in the programming and engineers his and Sven’s escape. Travelling to his native Ireland, Brian then discovers that he can interface directly with Sven. Having found the criminal mastermind, he reveals Sven’s existence to the world–and goes back to work a free man. While the authors offer a difficult and realistic resolution- -Brian’s machine/mind interface makes him progressively less human- -they also remind us that it’s the future with lines like: “Nostalgia music played quietly in the background, ancient classics by the antique old-timers U2.” — Copyright ©1992, Kirkus Associates, LP. All rights reserved.

Reviews from Amazon users which were colected at the time this book was published on the website:

⭐I’ve almost finished this book and find it interesting but flawed to some degree. I first encountered it way back in 1998, on the Net. The famous MIT computer scientist, Marvin Minsky and some other guy named Harry Harrison had written a draft of a story about a robot intelligence. It was a website with courier text script, and I found it engrossing. Now 13 years later I have the book and I’m a little disappointed. It’s in the main cornball detective prose. I was hoping to see an improvement in the writing. But, the tale is really an excuse to lecture us on the state of AI research in 1992. As you might expect the image it gives of 2023 is way off what really developed. It’s per-Internet, so some many things that would be in their wonderful future never occurred. At points it’s kinda funny. For instance to see them explain a portable device called GRAM that could store up to 1 gig of data, HA! Why any flash drive these days tops that by what 10 or 20 gig. Or how ’bout PCs that faxes data, another giggle. Remember it was written in 1992. But, it’s portraying 2023. To be fair, they get it right on a few things. The anticipate cell phones and flat-screen monitors, but because they could not have known about WWW, most of their future world is not ours now just 12 years from 2023.But, what I most wanted to read about was this robot Robin (which the final version calls Sven)that is learning to be human. That was rich food for investigation and I’m a 100 pages to the end and very little of the bot in it. What a let down. I give it 75 as a score.One final comment, Minsky wrote the science, the Harrison guy wrote the romance and plot. Minsky you could have done this without him. And the proofreading errors in the copy I have are numerous. At one point the hero of the novel Brian is misspelled as Brain, twice! And it’s a published hardcover book no less! you believe that! No best seller here.

⭐Harrison is an interesting author. He tackles many genres and writes as though he’s channeling a different person each time he puts pen to paper. Like most science fiction, the technologies that often prop up the story have a shelf life or simply never come to pass….and there’s a bit of both in this work. Yet, like Philip K. Dick’s stories, if you look past the superficial mechanisms of the plot you’ll see a very intriguing set of ideas put to work here that provoke the reader to ask “what if…”Yes, it’s a thriller but it’s also a social commentary on the our ideas of self and self-awareness. It’s definately worthy of a look.

⭐I read this book about 25 years ago, so reading it on Kindle was a way to spend time with an old friend. It is a gripping story revolving around AI interacting with the human brain. Co-author Minsky was the grand-daddy of AI, and his view of where it could all end up is exciting and mind boggling.

⭐The people that panned this obviously are not my kind of people. Yes, it is no literary masterpiece. But it is chock full of very interesting and plausible ideas about minds and building AGI. Or is that MI or MGI? 🙂 I very very much enjoyed it. Hard science fiction in an area I am very interested in. What is not to like?

⭐The technical data is a bit dated as the book was written in the 1990’s. Good plot and very few places it lags.

⭐Excellent Novel

⭐This book seems to make a varying reaction. I’m not sure what to make of it. Curiously perhaps, Marvin Minksky likes to downgrade mathematics; this attitude seems to have rubbed off on Eric Drexler and Co. To me, H.G. Wells, Isaac Asimov, Arthur C. Clarke are still the only really good Sci-Fi. There’s been stuff like “The Daimond Age”. Yet, for instance, Arthur C. Clarke did do some quirky non-scientific ideas like the devil in “Childhoods End”, the talking Raptor in 3001 If I recall correctly(maybe 2061?). It seems that mankinds effort to attain intellection is pretty hard. The extropists have gone from the three ethics of Polya and Jacob Bronowski – skeptism, open mind, and courage to try new ideas, to Max Moore’s mixing up transhumanism with christianity. Thank god for the founding fathers of america is all I have to say at that point.This is one of the best sci-fi books of recent times next to “The Daimond Age” in my opinion. It’s stuffed with scientific wonders which is what a sci-fi book should be about. It’s a techno-thriller; i’m not sure what more to say about that; i thought it was effective in that regard. It’s actually pre-nanoassembler breakthrough. The Turing option observes how women use their bodies sometimes; i wish more people would see and be able to read between the lines on socio-psychology like this; this book bravely puts this in; to bad modern day intellectuals and futurists can’t see for instance that people take to supernatural religion for very selfish reasons(to secure their place in heaven); and, because they learn at a very young age, that if they do believe in god and go to church, they get their money, sex, and social power. The Turing option further shows how by sticking to truth, even the most powerfull people cannot touch you; you just have to know how to play the game of truth. Modern day futurists seem to think that taking the irrational apologists stance, that this is the way forward for humanity; this is the rational way.The Turing option of course shows the value that artificial intelligence can have for humanity; doing all the manual labor and doing it far better than any human being could; but, I especially like the irreversible thermodynamic material; this seems to be a technology that can only be built with quantum computation and a mature nanomanufacturing ability. Superconductivity will probably only be made practical by nanomanufacturing; likewise for this thermodynamic material(it’s been years since I’ve read the book; so, I’m forgetting what they called it). Just these two materials alone shows you how different the future can be!

⭐I have the hard cover, bought used 10 years or more ago. Mine looks to be a first edition. Still available as a Kindle book published by TOR or used from Amazon sellers.This is a murder mystery science fiction story that delves deeply into the workings and structure of the brain and artificial intelligence circa 1992. Much is still science fiction as far as combining the brain and microelectronics is concerned. Excellent hard science fiction though some may find a lot of it too technical. I would blame Marvin Minsky, the co-author and artificial intelligence guru for this most likely. If you are a science geek like I am it is an outstanding book even today IMO.

⭐Wonderful, smart, mystery, sympathetic, …OK It’s a fantastic book, very well written, with very interesting plot and characters of real life. Yes, we are there

⭐As ever Harry Harrison draws you into a vision of a new world and draws believable characters into fast paced situations.

⭐A very good book

⭐I like the way of the literaturistic modification such as star wars visualised the stage of the human drama. Minsky is originally successer of the study of parceptron,I think.So his view on Turing is and would be suggestive l anticipated.

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