Re: Frankenstein

On Mon, 8 Jul 2024, Don wrote:

D wrote:

Scott Dorsey wrote:

>
<snip>
>

I liked it when I read it at age 14.  It was mostly filled with long
digressions about the nature of life, which I found interesting although
I might find them less novel today.  And it was not a large book.
--scott
>

>
Hmm, maybe I will read it again. It was more than 20 years ago that I read
it so it would be interesting to see how it has aged. Given all the
AI-hysteria I think it fits nicely with the spirit of the times. ;)

>
   poets are the "unacknowledged legislators of the world."
     - Mary Shelley's husband Percy.
>
Hyperbolized hysteria's in the heart of the beholder.
>
Transhumanist Ray Kurzweil seems smitten with Singularity in a style
somewhat similar to _Rapture of the Nerds_ (Doctorow & Stross).
>
   Though Dr. Hinton is impressed with Mr. Kurzweil's prediction
   that machines will become smarter than humans by the end of
   the decade, he is less taken with the idea that the inventor
   and futurist will live forever.
>
<https://www.nytimes.com/2024/07/04/technology/ray-kurzweil-singularity.html>
>
The _Washington Post_ has been joined at the hip with her sister paper,
the NYT, ever since the publication of the Pentagon Papers. They have a
gentlemen's (or lady's if you like) agreement to coordinate front pages
with each other.
   Anyhow, the NYT's sister sneaks in a small snark about Kurzweil's
IQ:
>
   Perhaps the shape rotators [such as Kurzweil] are convinced
   that computers can outthink us because their own minds are
   so impoverished.
>
<https://www.washingtonpost.com/books/2024/06/26/singularity-nearer-ray-kurzweil-review/>
>
Then there's this guy, who's mad as hell and isn't going to take it
any more:
>
<https://ludic.mataroa.blog/blog/i-will-fucking-piledrive-you-if-you-mention-ai-again/>
>
Danke,
>
>

Rapture of the nerds. I like that! I will steal it! =)