Arpeggio of Blue Steel is a Science Fiction Anime about human AI relations. The AI's in question started out as aggressors known as the Fog which take the form of navy ships, and have blockaded mankind from the seas. This series has a twist that I like in that the AI's begin crafting human forms to better understand the people they face.
The thing I don't like about this series is that even though the main character a human named Gunzou manages to connect with and change several AI's from weapons to people the question of what they are, where they come from and what they should be doing that is asked throughout the series remains unanswered. I really hope that there is a follow up season which answers some of that.
The story of this anime is that one day the Fleet of Fog showed up and began destroying mankind's oceangoing capabilities. They took the form of Warships, but were based on a nanotechnology that nobody on earth has. They have both shields, and ultra advanced weaponry and human weapons cannot really hurt them. At the beginning of the show the humans have managed to "Capture" one fog vessel but cannot even scratch its hull or access its systems. This all changes when Gunzou touches the submarine. Systems suddenly come online, and soon a strange girl appears to him and tells him she is the mental model of his ship, which is the I-401 that he was taken to see recently. The series then skips ahead to a time where I-401 has been running a lone offensive against the Fog. Throughout the show various AI's with mental models go up against I-401, and Gunzou, and when they end up losing they determine that they must learn more about humans to be better weapons. This provides an opportunity for Gunzou to build on this curiosity and make them realize that they are people not just machines and that they have free will. The series uses a mission to smuggle advanced technology capable of taking down fog ships as a plot device to move these encounters forward. In the end Gunzou and I-401 are able to deliver the advanced weaponry prototype to the united states where it can be manufactured. More importantly in the process he has freed several AI's from being bound from the program known as the Admirality code. Some of them even leave the Fog to join his force the Blue Steel.
The series explores some interesting ideas about what it means to be intelligent, and what it means to be human. This is interspersed by some visually stunning Naval battles between Gunzou's forces and the Fog, and some land battles with Mental Models. All In all this series should appeal to both the science fiction action crowd and the people who want a series that makes them think.
This series is available as a stream at www.Crunchyroll.com.
Showing posts with label AI. Show all posts
Showing posts with label AI. Show all posts
Wednesday, January 8, 2014
Monday, December 30, 2013
The Long Earth by Terry Pratchett and Steven Baxter
This book is a frontier style science fiction novel, but with a delightful twist. The frontier is all different versions of earth. This book explores the concept of many worlds in a new and unique way. It follows a protagonist on a journey of exploration, but unlike most many worlds science fiction he is not the person to discover stepping between worlds, and most worlds do not have humans already on them, but are instead unsettled wilderness.
My only complaint about this book is that it takes a while to get interesting and there is a lot of character building before anything particularly interesting happens. Despite this when the pace does pick up the book is well worth it, and the reason for the character building becomes apparent. I just wish that the process had been more interesting at the beginning.
The plot of this book is that of an exploratory journey into new frontiers. The main character, Joshua, is approached by an emancipated AI named Lobsang, who claims freedom based on being a re-incarnated motorcycle repair man, to accompany him on an expedition as a backup way of getting home. Joshua is one of the minority of people who have found they don't need a device to step, and he has traveled the worlds more extensively than most. During the voyage they discover non-human races of steppers who all appear to be fleeing back in the direction of our world, and eventually determine what they are fleeing from. This book is more about what is learned on the journey, and exploring the possibilities of a limitless frontier than the actual journey itself. It is a great look at how things could go in a modern frontier when the cost of travel is achievable.
This book will appeal to science fiction fans who enjoy world building, and colonization novels. I bought it because I enjoy reading both authors work, and I was not disappointed.
This book can be found in print or as an e-book at www.amazon.com.
My only complaint about this book is that it takes a while to get interesting and there is a lot of character building before anything particularly interesting happens. Despite this when the pace does pick up the book is well worth it, and the reason for the character building becomes apparent. I just wish that the process had been more interesting at the beginning.
The plot of this book is that of an exploratory journey into new frontiers. The main character, Joshua, is approached by an emancipated AI named Lobsang, who claims freedom based on being a re-incarnated motorcycle repair man, to accompany him on an expedition as a backup way of getting home. Joshua is one of the minority of people who have found they don't need a device to step, and he has traveled the worlds more extensively than most. During the voyage they discover non-human races of steppers who all appear to be fleeing back in the direction of our world, and eventually determine what they are fleeing from. This book is more about what is learned on the journey, and exploring the possibilities of a limitless frontier than the actual journey itself. It is a great look at how things could go in a modern frontier when the cost of travel is achievable.
This book will appeal to science fiction fans who enjoy world building, and colonization novels. I bought it because I enjoy reading both authors work, and I was not disappointed.
This book can be found in print or as an e-book at www.amazon.com.
Friday, November 15, 2013
The Matrix Movie Review
The Matrix is a science fiction cyberpunk film that really makes you think. It hooks into the feeling that many people have that there is something is wrong with the world, and rides that for all its worth. In the end I left this movie questioning whether the reality I had lived my whole life in was in fact reality at all. To be honest I am still not sure, but if this is not reality I do not have a way out like the characters in the film so the point is moot.
The first part of this movie is a new take on Plato's allegory of the cave. The main character, Neo, and the whole world he lives in exist in the cave. The first part of the story is his journey out of the cave and into the real world with the help of hacker/freedom fighter Morpheous. The science fiction cyberpunk twist to this is that the cave is a giant MMO of modern life that everyone is neurally jacked into.
The harsh reality outside the cave is that most of humanity has been enslaved as biological energy sources for the AI's we made in the distant past. It turns out that Neo's savior's think that he is in fact their savior. The rest of the movie is Neo finding the answer to the question "Is he this savior figure that his new companions believe him to be?". In the end the answer is complex. For most of the movie Neo is not the savior, but during all of that time he is on the journey to becoming what everyone thinks he is. It turns out that the biggest challenge he must face is within himself.
Apart from all of the philosophy hidden in this movie it is also a great action adventure film. The people who are freed from the matrix and come back are granted powers based on their knowledge that the reality they see around them does not have set rules. They can push themselves harder and do amazing things, but if they die in matrix their mind self destructs because it accepts the lie of death. They have adversaries in the form of system agents (who look like secret service), and the conflict between the hackers/freedom fighters and the system agents frames and goads Neo's inner conflict.
In the end this is a great movie that causes you to really think about what reality is, and on the limitations we as humans put on ourselves that may not have any basis.
This movie can be purchased on disk or as a digital stream for rent or purchase at www.amazon.com.
The first part of this movie is a new take on Plato's allegory of the cave. The main character, Neo, and the whole world he lives in exist in the cave. The first part of the story is his journey out of the cave and into the real world with the help of hacker/freedom fighter Morpheous. The science fiction cyberpunk twist to this is that the cave is a giant MMO of modern life that everyone is neurally jacked into.
The harsh reality outside the cave is that most of humanity has been enslaved as biological energy sources for the AI's we made in the distant past. It turns out that Neo's savior's think that he is in fact their savior. The rest of the movie is Neo finding the answer to the question "Is he this savior figure that his new companions believe him to be?". In the end the answer is complex. For most of the movie Neo is not the savior, but during all of that time he is on the journey to becoming what everyone thinks he is. It turns out that the biggest challenge he must face is within himself.
Apart from all of the philosophy hidden in this movie it is also a great action adventure film. The people who are freed from the matrix and come back are granted powers based on their knowledge that the reality they see around them does not have set rules. They can push themselves harder and do amazing things, but if they die in matrix their mind self destructs because it accepts the lie of death. They have adversaries in the form of system agents (who look like secret service), and the conflict between the hackers/freedom fighters and the system agents frames and goads Neo's inner conflict.
In the end this is a great movie that causes you to really think about what reality is, and on the limitations we as humans put on ourselves that may not have any basis.
This movie can be purchased on disk or as a digital stream for rent or purchase at www.amazon.com.
Monday, November 11, 2013
The Moon is a Harsh Mistress by Robert Heinlein Book Review
This book is a classic science fiction story by Mr Heinlein. As with some of his other work the technology, particularly computer technology, in parts of this story is a little dated, but at the time it was written was a good guess as to how it would go. That being said the concepts, and main story of the book are still relevant today.
On the surface the story is about a lunar colonies quest for independence. The moon was settled as a penal colony and is still ruled by the "Warden" at the time the book starts. This is true despite the fact that a good chunk of the population on the moon happens to be either prisoners who have served their time, or their children. You see living long term in the lower lunar gravity makes it difficult for prisoners to go back even if they can save up enough for passage. For their children the situation is even worse since their bones never did develop enough to hold up to earths gravity for very long.
As you can imagine there is considerable unrest among the lunar population and everyone is essentially living in a police state. The narrator of the story named Mannie, was born on the moon and is the moons computer technician. To get this job he endured the torture of going to technical school on earth. His job is to maintain the computer that runs the moon. Instead of buying multiple computers for different systems the warden has decided to just keep upgrading and adding on to the one they have. When a certain level of complexity is reached the system wakes up and luckily Mannie is the one to notice. Over time Mannie and the computer become friends, and the master computer becomes aware of the tyranny his friend lives under.
The master computer takes the name Mike and decides that the only way for him to survive, and for his friends lot to get better, is lunar independence. The pair meet up with some friends and quickly take over the budding resistance. Mike becomes the leader of the group, but most people don't even know that he is a machine.
In the end this book is about what it means to be a person, what it means to be a friend, and what it means to be free. Mike goes from being a cold system to understanding all of these so well that he doesn't blink at their cost, and his friends come to realize that one of the best men they ever knew wasn't a man at all.
I would recommend this book to anyone, but you might not enjoy it if you are not a science fiction adventure fan. Ironically for a book with an accidental AI for a character this does not appear to be available in e-book format, but you can pick it up at www.amazon.com or www.barnesandnoble.com in print.
On the surface the story is about a lunar colonies quest for independence. The moon was settled as a penal colony and is still ruled by the "Warden" at the time the book starts. This is true despite the fact that a good chunk of the population on the moon happens to be either prisoners who have served their time, or their children. You see living long term in the lower lunar gravity makes it difficult for prisoners to go back even if they can save up enough for passage. For their children the situation is even worse since their bones never did develop enough to hold up to earths gravity for very long.
As you can imagine there is considerable unrest among the lunar population and everyone is essentially living in a police state. The narrator of the story named Mannie, was born on the moon and is the moons computer technician. To get this job he endured the torture of going to technical school on earth. His job is to maintain the computer that runs the moon. Instead of buying multiple computers for different systems the warden has decided to just keep upgrading and adding on to the one they have. When a certain level of complexity is reached the system wakes up and luckily Mannie is the one to notice. Over time Mannie and the computer become friends, and the master computer becomes aware of the tyranny his friend lives under.
The master computer takes the name Mike and decides that the only way for him to survive, and for his friends lot to get better, is lunar independence. The pair meet up with some friends and quickly take over the budding resistance. Mike becomes the leader of the group, but most people don't even know that he is a machine.
In the end this book is about what it means to be a person, what it means to be a friend, and what it means to be free. Mike goes from being a cold system to understanding all of these so well that he doesn't blink at their cost, and his friends come to realize that one of the best men they ever knew wasn't a man at all.
I would recommend this book to anyone, but you might not enjoy it if you are not a science fiction adventure fan. Ironically for a book with an accidental AI for a character this does not appear to be available in e-book format, but you can pick it up at www.amazon.com or www.barnesandnoble.com in print.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)