Machine by Elizabeth Bear

This the second White Space Novel. The first is Ancestral Night which I read a few months ago. I think Machine is slightly better than Ancestral Night. 

This novel explores the effects a malevolent software meme has on Artificial Intelligence and on the Synarche, a galactic society comprised of hundreds of alien races and including Artificial Sentience. The quick spread of the virus takes by surprise the staff of a galactic hospital which is run by AI and by organic beings with artificial implants which can also be infected. The ramifications of a virus infestation of a galactic scale are very well explored and are food for thought. I also found it interesting how the Synarche considers organic and Artificial life equal (except that AI have to pay for the price of their creation by working) in rights and in wrongs. AI can also be reported for crimes. Also, as the story involves the rescue of an ancient human generation ship we are able compare old humans' mindset with the synarche's advanced way of thinking. At the same time we question the synarche's use of "rightminding" in their citizens to correct sociopathies and any way of thinking which threatens their society. We realise that rightminding can be used as a way for social control and brainwashing but the synarche's citizens see it too?

The Comfort of Strangers by Ian McEwan

I found about this novel (and The Cement Garden, which I already read) in a YouTube video about disturbing books. Go check Plagued by Visions "Most disturbing books Series" Playlist. This book is OK but I think the Cement Garden is better. Both are very well written with a nice compelling prose. But I prefer the subject matter and the overall story in the Cement Garden. 

The story follows a couple on holidays Mary and Colin. We don't know where but we follow them in their utterly boring holiday activities and conversations. That is until the couple meet Robert, a local. Robert starts an interesting conversation about his childhood. I thought OK now things are getting interesting. But then we go back to Mary and Colin dull selves. 🥱 However near the end things get more interesting again and *freaking disturbing* with Robert and his wife flipping around an otherwise meh story. I think this novel is worth reading just for its twisted, mad ending. And it is only 100 pages.

Science Fiction and Philosophy. Edited by Susan Schneider. Part III Mind: Natural, Artificial, Hybrid, and Superintelligent.

I read the first half of this Part which comprises: 

1.Robot Dreams. A well-known short story by Isaac Asimov with Susan Calvin as protagonist. It explores the dangers sentience in robots may bring to humanity. 

2. A Brain Speaks by Andy Clark - a short story (?). It reads like a monologue by a Brain explaining how its Person, John, is unable to understand how his brain works and how alien it would seem if John could actually see or understand it. 

3. Cyborgs Unplugged by Andy Clark. The chapter starts by suggesting that rather than building artificial earth-like environments for space exploration we should look into the alteration of humans to cope with the demands of space. Clark starts this way to make a point of how our future lays in space and how to better adapt to it. The essay then discusses cybernetics (the study of self-regulating systems by control and communication), homeostatic systems (mechanisms which correct deviations in a system by dragging them back to original settings), and the cyborg (cyber organism) which contains "exogenous components extending the self-regulating control function of the organism in order to adapt it to new environments". Some examples of cybernetic implants are given, in animals and humans. The author reflects on how these technologies could be deeply and fluidly integrated with the organisms and the profound transformation in our lives, projects and live-styles. The case of cognitive systems is discussed in which integration is not as important as the “fluidity of information” between organism and machine. To exemplify this Clark presents the case of airline pilots piloting airplanes with computers which are able to make decisions. This situation could be thought of as humans becoming part of a temporal cyborg system in which the information flows from the computer to the pilot. Clark makes a case for a kind of cyborg which does not need implants or any alien technological device inside the body. Using tools from cybernetics he describes cyborgs using (electronic) tools outside the body, so integrated in their everyday life that they are "invisible in-use" making it difficult tell where the "person stops" and where the "smart world begins". In fact our brains need not extra effort to work this way because they are already doing it, for example by receiving inputs from body subsystems which operate unconsciously while holding a pen to write. In fact a lot of our activities are "invisible in-use" to the brain. This could be thought of as symbiotic relationships which “expand and alter the shape of the psychological process that make us who we are". Because of this Clark thinks that humans are "natural-born cyborgs". 

4. Superintelligence and Singularity by Ray Kurzweil. Actually this is the first chapter of Kurzweil’s famous book The Singularity is Near: When Humans transcend biology. Here Kurzweil explains how according to him, the evolution of technology grows in an exponential fashion rather than linear. This means that the more our technology progresses the faster it evolves. See for example how in the 19th and first part of the 20th century science and technology generation lasted more than one human lifetime whereas now several generations of science and technology could happen within one human generation. A point of interest within the exponential curve is the knee of the curve, where imperceptive growth turns to explosive growth. The knee of the curve will certainly reached when we achieve a technological singularity. Kurzweil emphasises crucial role the exponential nature of technological development has for forecasting or speculating on the (short or far) future. The chapter follows by dividing earth’s (and human) progress in 6 epochs: 

1. Physics and Chemistry: atoms to form molecules and so on. 

2. Biology and DNA: DNA appears and with it life. 

3. Brains: creation of information processing mechanisms. 

4. Technology: from simple mechanisms to super computers. 

5. The Merger of Human Technology with Human Intelligence: kicked by the Singularity. It will “enable our human-machine civilisation to transcend the human brain’s limitations of a mere hundred trillion extremely slow connections.” 6. The Universe Wakes Up: human (biological and technological) intelligence will spread to the rest of the universe.

The Madness of Crowds by Douglas Murray

The first line in the synopsis says “In the Madness of Crowds" Douglas Murray investigates the great derangement of ‘woke’ culture and rise of identity politics. And yes that is what the book attempts to do. First by providing brief historical overviews, then by providing contemporary, current examples of “madness” and finally by drawing out conclusions. 

The book is divided in 4 chapters or Themes. Each Theme is at the same time a category (segment, kind…) of people, a political statement (an ideology, ) and according to Murray a source of division and fights. The chapters are: 

1. Gay 

2. Women 

3. Race 

4. Trans 

All these themes touch on historical discriminations and battles fought and won. Rights conceded, respected and awareness established. Murray says there is so much work to do and the situation is not yet perfect but it is better than before. However, according to him, instead of finding peace these groups turn to use the tactics of oppression previously used by their oppressors. I could summarise the main message this book tries to convey in: 

The “Woke” movement is a dogmatic movement. A religion supporting a metaphysical understanding of our societies. Concepts such as Social Justice, Identity Politics and Intersectionality are not based on facts and have brought division rather than solved problems. 

Sexuality is an unstable thing to base "identity" on. 

The LGBT Community is divided. It is not a cohesive group. There are historical rivalries inside. The LGTB label is not a good foundation for a Liberal society. 

1. In Gay, Murray highlights how western societies have changed their understanding of certain phenomena. For example, now, when a straight person turns out to be gay, people say they have found their truth. However, when a gay person turns straight the interpretation is that there is something wrong with that person. This way of thinking is new and completely opposite to the one existing only a few decades ago. Murray also highlights the way Gay activists have worked for years to prove (convince?) that gay is a “hardware” issue (they are born this way) and not a software issue (a result of cultural influence). The last bit in chapter 1 discusses Marxism and other (postmodernist?) theories (e.g. Foucault’s Power) which are used as foundations to develop interpretations of reality by some social scientists. Murray mentions Judith Buttler, Peggy McIntosh and particularly Ernesto Laclau and Chantal Mouffe whose work, widely cited, is one of the main foundations of today’s identity politics. They call for a reinterpretation of “class struggle” by identifying a new class(es) of “exploited” people such as: women, racial and sexual minorities, anti-nuclear and anti-institutional movements. Murray draws a consistent argument criticising the those theories as lacking solid foundations, which do not answer any questions nor make any predictions and which cannot be falsified. In an effort to prove how the social sciences (I didn’t like the generalisation) are lacking rigour he exposes a couple of cases of academics led by Peter Boghossian who submitted (bogus) articles to peer-reviewed social sciences journals, articles which where accepted, published and then removed when the editors realised they had been victims of a “joke”. One of the articles was titled “The Conceptual Penis as a Social Construct”… draw your own conclusions. 

2. In Women, Murray starts by showing how, perceptions of sexual behaviour towards women have changed in recent years. He presents some examples from Hollywood personalities doing things in public which were found funny less than 10 years ago, but which if done now, would be subject of criticism. Other cases are presented in which feminist women fighting against male privilege, and other social barriers actually owning a series of privileges which they themselves do not acknowledge. In his discussion of feminism Murray states that the latest feminist waves lack the focus and clarity of the first 2 waves. Women then fought for tangible rights and triumphed. Murray particularly criticises the sector within the feminist movement which take on intersectionality and presents some examples which showcase their contradictions. 

3. The Race chapter made me think a lot. Murray talks about Martin Luther King and his ideals focusing on colour blindness: “people should not be judged by the colour of their skin but by the content of the character”. The author contrasts King’s ideals with today’s race campaigns. There are a lot of examples of incidents given in this chapter some of them in universities, places where everyone should be free to speak their ideas. Hard stories but also sad showing bullies, racists, violent, intransigent people unwilling to debate. What all these stories had in common, from my POV, is how colossal the rage of black people is. I felt more rage in this chapter than in the others. And I am not sure if this is a consequence of social justice activism only but I think that the non-black side of society can do much more to help than what it is doing at the moment. 

4. Trans was the most difficult chapter to read for me. Not because it was too technical, because it wasn’t, but because of the examples shown truly justified Murray’s choice of “the Madness of Crowds” as a title for his book. The pronoun issue was the least problematic issue he discussed. However, the issue of trans surgery on children hit me hard. Among all letters in LGBT, T is the “least certain and destabilising of all”. There has been little if any study of transgenderism. Murray criticises trans activists who instead on focusing on paving the road by clarifying this issue: by focusing on intersex people, a matter know for decades if not centuries and which is a physical, tangible fact, a hardware issue, instead of focusing on intersex, trans activists practically ignore them and focus on the software issue, on people who “say” they are in the wrong body, something that is hard to prove, and difficult to study. Certainly there could be more than one answer to this phenomenon, but activists insist on only one solution, drugs and surgery which are irreversible. On top of that there is the metaphysical layer of constructs which is intended to support why identity can contradict physical reality. For example man who can become a woman by only saying “I’m a woman”.

While Murray does a good job portraying the Madness of social justice, identity politics and intersectional activism, I think this was, perhaps, no more than one side of the picture. If this is a war (a cultural war) and we are presented in detail the contradictions of one of the sides, where is the other side and what (good or bad) are they doing? 

This is a good book and a recommend everyone to read it. However I'd like to read more about other perspectives ... 

Hokusai by Rhiannon Paget

An excellent overview of Hokusai's art in a beautiful book. The writing is good, not too detailed. I think this could be a good introductory book to anyone who doesn't know anything about the artist. The book contains a nice selection of prints including the Great Wave. Though this isn't a biography we are given a few glimpses of the artist's life, like how he changed his artistic name many times and that he painted almost until the end of his life,when he was 90!

The Selfish Gene by Richard Dawkins

I did it! I read The Selfish Gene by Richard Dawkins and I liked it, sort of. 

This is not a text book or written in an academic style. However it requires concentration because the "topic" is a complex one. I cannot say that I am able to explain what genes, chromosomes and DNA are to anyone but I now have a basic idea of how they came to existence, evolved and work in our bodies. I guess this will be useful in further readings on the topic. 

I enjoyed reading the first half of the book. It got difficult when Dawkins inserted probabilities into his explanations on how genes interact. I got lost tbh. But then I read the chapter on Memes which I thoroughly enjoyed. A Meme is a "unit of cultural transmission " and Dawkins explains how it works using Genes as an analogy. It was Brilliant!

The Crow Girl by Erik Axl Sund

Dark, fast paced, psychological, crime thriller. I said dark, but I mean darker than dark. This is a trilogy in one book which deals with extreme cases of abuse and mental illness. The plot got me so hooked I couldn't put it down. I don't know how to explain its appeal other than its obscure atmosphere, dark characters and several twists which compelled me to read more and more. On the negative side, I found holes in the plot and the characters' backgrounds. I also felt some sections of the books were randomly inserted, kind of disconnected from the rest of the narrative. I appreciated the 2 main characters, a police detective and a psychologist, both strong females but appart from them the rest of good guys felt flat. 

The treatment of abuse, mental illness and crime seemed realistic enough to be credible but on reflection I think it might have portrayed a narrow view of reality suggesting a causal relationship between them: abuse ends up in mental illness and crime.... I'm not a psychologist though. 

Anyway, the trilogy isn't perfect but I liked it enough to recommend it (provided you like dark thrillers). This is the kind of read I could enjoy because I was able to ignore its issues.