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Apr. 27th, 2014 09:49 amLast week I finished Galatea 2.2 by Richard Powers, and I need someone who has read it to explain it to me.
I followed most of it. The initial plot's not that hard to grasp -- a writer, following the breakup of an intense long-term relationship, takes a new job as writer-in-residence at his alma mater. He meets a man studying artificial intelligence, and they make a bet with some fellow faculty that in ten months they can produce a thinking machine who can successfully pass a Turing test. In this case both the machine and a graduate student chosen by them will write a paper on a specific prompt of one person's choosing, and that person will choose which paper is human and which paper is AI.
( Spoilers for Galatea 2.2 by Richard Powers )
Final Verdict: A really entertaining, readable, well-crafted book with one massive incomprehensible part of it that I can't get my head around. Well worth a read, though, especially if it allows someone to explain to me what the hell.
I followed most of it. The initial plot's not that hard to grasp -- a writer, following the breakup of an intense long-term relationship, takes a new job as writer-in-residence at his alma mater. He meets a man studying artificial intelligence, and they make a bet with some fellow faculty that in ten months they can produce a thinking machine who can successfully pass a Turing test. In this case both the machine and a graduate student chosen by them will write a paper on a specific prompt of one person's choosing, and that person will choose which paper is human and which paper is AI.
( Spoilers for Galatea 2.2 by Richard Powers )
Final Verdict: A really entertaining, readable, well-crafted book with one massive incomprehensible part of it that I can't get my head around. Well worth a read, though, especially if it allows someone to explain to me what the hell.
