Welcome to Litsy!

In his Introduction, Asimov makes the following inaccurate prediction about AI:

"If robots are so advanced that they can mimic the thought processes of human beings, then surely the nature of those thought processes will be designed by human engineers and built-in safeguard will be added."

I tend to read a lot of sci-fi, but 2024 seems to be a bumper year for it!

I read "I, Robot" earlier this year, so here I go with the follow up collection. ? v.2.0

A rather disturbing read for me, but one that really made me think. Annie is a ‘cuddle bunny‘ AI robot living with Doug, a 34 year old man who has issues with Annie becoming auto-didactic and therefore more human like.

The juxtaposition of the sex scenes and Doug‘s abuse of Annie was really uncomfortable and the book raised questions about what it is to be human and what constitutes abuse.

Read in 1 day! Quick, tense, techie, and manages to work in some very interesting and thought provoking relationship ponderings. Really enjoyed this and so nice to read a book so quickly again! 🙌🏼
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And with that, I‘m halfway done with #tenbeforetheend #10beforetheend 😅

Starting The Unraveling next….

#BookHaul for a good cause. My local library put out a call for new or gently used books for kids of all ages.

They partner with P.E.I. Literary Alliance to distribute them over the holidays across the province in Xmas Hampers. I haven‘t read any of these, but the descriptions sounded good and the price point was low enough that I could buy doubles for some. Gotta get books into as many middle school hands as possible.

I was finally able to fill one of the more difficult #52bookclub categories, “Author debut in second half of 2024.“ I've read a number of novels by Andrew Pyper, but this is his debut under the pseudonym Mason Coile.

This short novel is a spooky haunted house story featuring AI “monsters“. I didn't enjoy it as much as the other Pyper works I've read, but as it was set on Hallowe'en day, it was a good one to read this week.

What makes us human? is the question this novel tackles. Is the emotional abuse from a controlling 34-year old white man okay if it‘s directed at a robot? Annie‘s awakening was fascinating to read. I did wish there were more interactions with Monica. Would make a great pick for book club discussion. First book from #10BeforeTheEnd down.

#TenBeforeTheEnd

#weeklyfavorites

Adding Annie Bot after a short week in which I read little, completes October. These five are all so good but my favorite this month has been Prima Facie.

Annie makes some astute observations.