The Lifecycle of Software Objects

Chiang, Ted

ISBN 10: 1596063173 / ISBN 13: 9781596063174

Published by Subterranean Pr, 2010

About this Item

A copy that has been read, remains in good condition. All pages are intact, and the cover is intact. The spine and cover show signs of wear. Pages can include notes and highlighting and show signs of wear, and the copy can include "From the library of" labels or previous owner inscriptions. 100% GUARANTEE! Shipped with delivery confirmation, if youâ re not satisfied with purchase please return item for full refund. Ships via media mail.

Seller Inventory # OTV.1596063173.G

Bibliographic Details

• Title: The Lifecycle of Software Objects
• Publisher: Subterranean Pr
• Publication Date: 2010
• Language: English
• ISBN 10: 1596063173
• ISBN 13: 9781596063174
• Binding: Hardcover
• Condition: good

About this title

Synopsis

Follows the lives of Ana Alvarado and Derek Brooks as they create and relate to the artificial intelligences they helped design.

From the Inside Flap

What s the best way to create artificial intelligence? In 1950, Alan Turing wrote, Many people think that a very abstract activity, like the playing of chess, would be best. It can also be maintained that it is best to provide the machine with the best sense organs that money can buy, and then teach it to understand and speak English. This process could follow the normal teaching of a child. Things would be pointed out and named, etc. Again I do not know what the right answer is, but I think both approaches should be tried. The first approach has been tried many times in both science fiction and reality. In this new novella, at over 30,000 words, his longest work to date, Ted Chiang offers a detailed imagining of how the second approach might work within the contemporary landscape of startup companies, massively-multiplayer online gaming, and open-source software. It s a story of two people and the artificial intelligences they helped create, following them for more than a decade as they deal with the upgrades and obsolescence that are inevitable in the world of software. At the same time, it s an examination of the difference between processing power and intelligence, and of what it means to have a real relationship with an artificial entity.