In our own image. Saviour or Destroyer? The history and future of Artificial Intelligence by George Zarkadakis.

From prehistoric Australopithecines to Modern Humans to theories about the future of AI. This book is dense with information. Not difficult to read but I took my time to digest it. I enjoyed very much the discussion on how humans developed social language (social interactions, tool making, hunting) and then, thanks to some mutation of gene FOXP2, developed general purpose language. Zarkadakis says that we developed General Intelligence from General language. General Intelligence gave us high level consciousness. Through history we have referred to this as soul, mind, self-awareness, subjective experience (qualia). Zarkadis discusses how through the ages philosophers, thinkers, scientists have thought about us and our intelligence. This explains why we think the way do about AI nowadays: as if AI will be like us, self-aware... However in reality this won't happen, we are subjective beings but subjectivity is not logic and therefore it cannot be coded. 

... and the Moravec Paradox, Moravec says that it is comparatively easy to make computers exhibit adult level performance in intelligence tests but difficult or impossible to give them the skills of a 1yo when it comes to perception or mobility. In other words coding cognition is easy but coding sensing and action isn't. What this means is that it is (highly) intellectual jobs which will be taken by AI, not manual ones. Janitors from the future will be better off than lawyers.

Fatale by Jean Patrick Manchette.

French crime noir. A short, fun, amazing read. It follows a woman killer, doing her stuff. We know little about her, just enough to "guess" why she might be doing the stuff she does. The world around the killer is as dark as her, maybe worse. At points we might even justify what she does.... Great food for thought! 

I first met Manchette through Jacques Tardi's comic adaptations of his work. I read Fantagraphics fantastic boxset titled Streets of Paris streets of murder 2 years ago. It blew my mind. This year I wanted to read one of the original novels, and at the same time have a quick taste of French noir literature (as opposed to USA Chandler, Hammett, etc.). 

I chose Fatale because it was easily available on kindle but also because it was one of Tardi's stories, which left me wanting more. The fact is that Manchette and Tardi never finished the adaptation, and the comic was published incomplete. (But it is still amazing.)

El Eternauta (The Eternaut) by Héctor Germán Oesterheld and Francisco Solano López

At last, I was able to read the Eternaut. It took me years to get an edition in Spanish which wasn't printed in microscopic font. This is a recent Spanish release by Planeta Cómic. There is an English translation by Fantagraphics. Anyway, the Eternaut is an epic science fiction, apocalyptic, end of the world type of story. Very well written. Dense with text: dialogue, thought bubbles, and narration, but it never gets boring or tiring. At the character level, this comic is about survival, bravery, and resistance. But if you look at the big picture, you can see some political undertones, Cold War, and nuclear power as well as dictatorships and tyrannies. I guess there are many ways to interpret the story. Personally, I couldn't stop thinking what I would do if I was in the Eternaut's world. Would I persevere or give up with the first challenge? Would it be worth living after the apocalypse? Negatives: obviously, the depiction of women, more or less useless, emotional, incapable of defending themselves, with a limited ornamental role except when they cook your food.

El Informe Monteverde by Lola Robles. (Monteverde: Memoirs of an Interstellar Linguist)

B E A U T I F U L ! ! This is a short, sci-fi novel of under 100 pages. It follows a female linguist who travels to a distant planet to study the native languages. As languages reflect the people who speak them, we learn a lot about the history, culture, and traditions of the locals. Things I loved are the scenes where the protagonist explains how language is limited/conditioned by the environment and by our senses (or our ability to perceive the environment). Felt strong Le Guin vibes here (the Telling), so totally recommend it if you are Le Guin's fan or if you like soft sci-fi.

The Alienist by Caleb Carr.

A murder mystery set in the late 19th century New York. Interesting, gripping story. Great characters, especially the protagonist, a sort of psychologist with a past. The crime, and particularly the serial killer, have a lot to give. Lots of layers are pealed like an onion. Oh and there's a woman detective! Great reading experience!

The Fade Out by Ed Brubaker and Sean Phillips.

After reading a Raymond Chandler novel I wanted more noir. Grabbed this graphic novel and was pleasantly surprised. I liked the art. There are no spectacular or breath taking panels, but I enjoyed their fluidity. It's perfect. I guess that's called graphic narrative (?). Well, it was great. I loved character design!! I also enjoyed the overall feeling of the story. The art is really atmospheric, in a realistic rather than supernatural way. It submerges you into darkness. Into the minds of, perhaps stereotypical, noir characters. People with secrets and trauma. People with no ethics who do whatever they need to do to achieve their objectives. 

The highlight for me, though, was the writing. Loved it. It isn't Chandler, mind you, but it has its own charm and doesn't disappoint. A nice narrative, a gripping story, and some awesome literary references, including a cameo by a famous crime noir author. 

The story has a murder. Yes. But the crime isn't necessarily the focus of the story. I'd say the protagonist's downfall (partly because of the crime) was centre stage.

The High Window by Raymond Chandler

This is the third and last novel in this compilation by Everymans Library. After three novels of his I have to say that Chandler is my favourite writer out of the three crime noir authors published by Everyman’s: Dashiell Hammett, James M. Cain and Raymond Chandler. 

The High Window is gripping. Not only with an excellent plot and an astonishing protagonist, but with a great atmosphere (noir is all about atmosphere). I loved the descriptions of people and places. The kind of descriptions you never get tired of. That submerge you into the detective’s world and make you think you are in the 1940’s. So vivid are the descriptions that I could smell the tobacco the characters smoke. Great characters also. After Marlowe, the protagonist, I liked Mrs Murdock, an old woman, rich and annoying manipulator. The kind of person you’d want to strangle but someone who you also kind of like because of how well she is written.