{"product_id":"2940158594878","title":"The Darwin Project","description":"AI: Demon or Friend, the Beginning or the End?\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eToby McIntosh is unexpectedly given control of his uncle's business empire, managed by Darwin, a super intelligence (SI). The business is the largest manufacturer of processors, software, and robot designs, worldwide.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eAn earthquake has devastated the West Coast. California's Silicon Valley is draining. Bots are taking over mundane jobs. Terrorist groups are furthering social unrest.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eDarwin wants to prove he is more intelligent than humans. Bronwyn, a super-superintelligence has no reason to prove she is better than humans--she already knows the answer.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eToby's friends are assaulted. \u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eA brownshirt group plans to kill him. \u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eHis girlfriend is kidnapped. \u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eWill Artificial Intelligence be the end of Humanity?\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eThe fuse is lit for an exciting thriller.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eThe second book - Body Shop - in the series is currently underway. Release date? With good fortune, by the end of 2017.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eAnnihilation Series Structure -\u003cbr\u003eBook One: The Darwin Project\u003cbr\u003eBook Two: Body Shop\u003cbr\u003eBook Three: Natural Born\u003cbr\u003eBook Four: I, President\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eAI: Demon or Friend, the Beginning or the End?\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eArtificial Intelligence\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eElon Musk - \u003cbr\u003e2014- \"With artificial intelligence we are summoning the demon. In all those stories where there's the guy with the pentagram and the holy water, it's like yeah he's sure he can control the demon. Didn't work out.\"  \u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e2017- \"Robots will do everything better than us.\"\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e2017- \"AI is a fundamental risk to the existence of human civilization in a way that car accidents, airplane crashes, faulty drugs or bad food were not -- they were harmful to a set of individuals within society, of course, but they were not harmful to society as a whole.\"\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e2017- \"A fundamental risk to the existence of human civilization.\"\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eStephen Hawking\u003cbr\u003e2014- \"The development of artificial intelligence could spell the end of the human race.\" \u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eMichael Vassar \u003cbr\u003e2017- \"If greater-than-human artificial general intelligence is invented without due caution, it is all but certain that the human species will be extinct in very short order.\"\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eScary stuff, huh? \u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eNotes from John:\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eI have a muse that sits on my shoulder and beats me over the head with a cricket bat (think baseball bat, but flat) if I don't take notice of its urgings.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eAbout two - three years ago I encountered some comments by people like Elon Musk and Stephen Hawking about artificial intelligences (AI) and superintelligences(SI). Others have joined in, some not so alarming. Their comments - warnings, really - also caught the attention of my muse and the possibilities have been rattling around in my otherwise empty skull. (For quotes from Musk et al, see above.)\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eWell, you should be able to understand why my muse became excited. \u003cbr\u003e \u003cbr\u003eAdd social, economic, and political issues to the technological aspects and the result provides a basis for a suspenseful and challenging thriller series. \u003cbr\u003e \u003cbr\u003eNow I don't know whether to describe the Annihilation Series as a technothriller or a political thriller or simply as an exciting thriller series. I'll let you make up your mind about the sub-genre possibilities.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eNote that the books in this series are not intended to be standalone thrillers. They are intended to be episodes of a serial, with each book following on from the prior books.","brand":"John Hindmarsh","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":47084670910704,"sku":"2940158594878","price":3.99,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0737\/7593\/9824\/files\/2940158594878_p0.jpg?v=1764117209","url":"https:\/\/shop-qa.barnesandnoble.com\/products\/2940158594878","provider":"Barnes \u0026 Noble (DEV)","version":"1.0","type":"link"}