One of the themes in science fiction is that of machine intelligence or the emergence of consciousness in a computer or a robot. My dad was the developer of the pioneering AMF Versatran robot, and a family member is working on getting a novel published in the science fiction/fantasy genre. What follows is particularly funny to me.
So a New Yorker cartoon shows white-coated scientists attending to anthropomorphic robots, each of which is seated in front of a typewriter showing emotional expressions of “writer’s block.”
The caption reads, “Yes, not only are the robots self-aware, they are now self loathing, and all they want to do is write novels.”
Self loathing, indeed.
If you clicked on that link you might have seen my comments about Vidal but I’ll repeat them here:
“Politically I loathed Vidal, and from everything I’ve read about him from those who knew him or encountered him, he was not someone I’d have wanted to hang around with. But I liked his novels his historical novels (LINCOLN, CREATION, BURR, 1876 and EMPIRE ) very much. The man knew how to tell a story, and had a beautiful prose style.”
And:
“Another thing I liked about Vidal’s novels: he was not afraid to be popular. He wrote popular fiction that was intelligent and even elegant. He once disparaged ‘academic fiction:’ fiction written by academics, for academics, and frequently about academics. He said that popular fiction was the contemporary only fiction dealing with ‘the big issues’–not about ‘some academic’s adulterous love affairs'”
Vidal was off the reservation in many respects and certainly is no one I took seriously when it came to his opinions, but I like his novels, some very much. My favorites are Julian and Creation, which I highly recommend.
One of the themes in science fiction is that of machine intelligence or the emergence of consciousness in a computer or a robot. My dad was the developer of the pioneering AMF Versatran robot, and a family member is working on getting a novel published in the science fiction/fantasy genre. What follows is particularly funny to me.
So a New Yorker cartoon shows white-coated scientists attending to anthropomorphic robots, each of which is seated in front of a typewriter showing emotional expressions of “writer’s block.”
The caption reads, “Yes, not only are the robots self-aware, they are now self loathing, and all they want to do is write novels.”
Self loathing, indeed.
If you clicked on that link you might have seen my comments about Vidal but I’ll repeat them here:
“Politically I loathed Vidal, and from everything I’ve read about him from those who knew him or encountered him, he was not someone I’d have wanted to hang around with. But I liked his novels his historical novels (LINCOLN, CREATION, BURR, 1876 and EMPIRE ) very much. The man knew how to tell a story, and had a beautiful prose style.”
And:
“Another thing I liked about Vidal’s novels: he was not afraid to be popular. He wrote popular fiction that was intelligent and even elegant. He once disparaged ‘academic fiction:’ fiction written by academics, for academics, and frequently about academics. He said that popular fiction was the contemporary only fiction dealing with ‘the big issues’–not about ‘some academic’s adulterous love affairs'”
Vidal was off the reservation in many respects and certainly is no one I took seriously when it came to his opinions, but I like his novels, some very much. My favorites are Julian and Creation, which I highly recommend.