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4.28 AVERAGE
4.28 AVERAGE
challenging
reflective
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Complicated
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Complicated
(3.5) - First one of 2024 down! Decent book if you are looking to raise your curiosity in the world of AI. Although, I did find the prologue as the most interesting part.
challenging
dark
informative
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Plot
Strong character development:
Complicated
Loveable characters:
No
Diverse cast of characters:
No
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Complicated
informative
inspiring
mysterious
reflective
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
dark
emotional
informative
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Strong character development:
No
Loveable characters:
No
Diverse cast of characters:
No
Flaws of characters a main focus:
No
dark
emotional
informative
inspiring
reflective
sad
tense
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Strong character development:
No
Loveable characters:
Complicated
Diverse cast of characters:
Complicated
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Complicated
challenging
dark
informative
inspiring
mysterious
reflective
sad
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Plot
Strong character development:
No
Loveable characters:
No
Diverse cast of characters:
Complicated
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
Dit boek is op feiten gebaseerde fictie.
Alles wat er in staat, kun je vinden op Wikipedia.
Als bloedeloze informatie.
Labatut wekt die op weergaloze manier tot leven.
Door elk hoofdstuk een andere bevoorrechte getuige aan het woord te laten, spatten namen als Paul Ehrenfest, John Von Neumann, Eugene Wigner en Kurt Gödel plots van de bladzijden.
Quantum-mechanica wordt ineens razend interessant, de Maniac - een computer - krijgt een menselijk gezicht.
Complotten smeden zich, cijfers planten zich voort (jawel!) en dat alles met als doel de ontwikkeling van eerst de atoom-, later de waterstofbom - en dus ultiem: de wereldvrede.
En omdat oorlog ook maar een spelletje is, krijg je in het derde en laatste deel van het boek inzicht in het eeuwenoude Chinese denkspel Go en hoe dat er méé voor zorgt dat Artificiële Intelligentie nu zo’n - euh - quantumsprongen vooruit maakt.
Demis Hassabis - still alive - slaagt er als eerste genie op aarde in een menselijke machine te ontwikkelen.
De wedstrijd tussen zijn AlphaGo (de computer) en Lee Sedol (de mens) nagelt je aan het puntje van je stoel.
De uitslag vind je dus op Wikipedia, maar ga vooral niet kijken.
Ren naar de boekhandel.
Lees dit boek.
Go!
adventurous
challenging
dark
informative
reflective
tense
fast-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
Complicated
Loveable characters:
N/A
Diverse cast of characters:
N/A
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
challenging
dark
emotional
sad
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
No
Diverse cast of characters:
No
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
I was a huge fan of Labatut's previous book "When We Cease to Understand the World", which treads the same ground as this book: mathematicians and scientists discover new ways to see the world which drive them insane. Where "When We Cease..." takes roughly a dozen scientists and tells all their stories "The Maniac" looks instead at just one mathematician (John von Neumann), telling his story through documentary-style talking head portions narrated by those who knew von Neumann.
It becomes kind of rote at some point, I could only hear so many loved ones describe von Neumann as some kind of robot before I could already feel myself finishing their sentences for them. There is little surprise in this book. The first third covers the life of Paul Ehrenfest, ending in a murder-suicide that sets the tone for von Neumann's descent into madness. The second third covers von Neumann's life.
The final third covers a game of Go played by Lee Sedol (the world champion) and AlphaGo (supposedly the strongest Go-playing AI ever created), which leads me to my biggest gripes with this book: I HATE how people write about Go, and I hate how people write about AI. Go seems like it's always written about in this weird, fetishistic or Orientalist mode. Go is a game. It's a game that has rules and logic like any other, and is no more a "deep meditation on the human spirit" than any other similar game. AI, particularly in this book, is written about in a similar way. It's mystified, sanctified, assigned terror and holiness. Of course an AI would be good at Go, the whole thing AI's are good at is checking states and projecting the outcome of future states. It's not necessarily miraculous that AI's would be good at Go, they can play out 10,000 turns in the time it would take a human to play out 1.
Long story short, this book was not able to maintain the dread across it's 300+ pages in the same way that "When We Cease..." maintained it over maybe half as many.
It becomes kind of rote at some point, I could only hear so many loved ones describe von Neumann as some kind of robot before I could already feel myself finishing their sentences for them. There is little surprise in this book. The first third covers the life of Paul Ehrenfest, ending in a murder-suicide that sets the tone for von Neumann's descent into madness. The second third covers von Neumann's life.
The final third covers a game of Go played by Lee Sedol (the world champion) and AlphaGo (supposedly the strongest Go-playing AI ever created), which leads me to my biggest gripes with this book: I HATE how people write about Go, and I hate how people write about AI. Go seems like it's always written about in this weird, fetishistic or Orientalist mode. Go is a game. It's a game that has rules and logic like any other, and is no more a "deep meditation on the human spirit" than any other similar game. AI, particularly in this book, is written about in a similar way. It's mystified, sanctified, assigned terror and holiness. Of course an AI would be good at Go, the whole thing AI's are good at is checking states and projecting the outcome of future states. It's not necessarily miraculous that AI's would be good at Go, they can play out 10,000 turns in the time it would take a human to play out 1.
Long story short, this book was not able to maintain the dread across it's 300+ pages in the same way that "When We Cease..." maintained it over maybe half as many.