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sarah_mcmullan_nz's review against another edition
challenging
1.0
I have no idea how I ended up reading this - maybe I bought it on one of my occasional "i should stop being a snob and read more sci fi - ok fine I'll buy a Hugo Award winner" kicks.
I really need to stop doing that.
DNF
I really need to stop doing that.
DNF
dannoh's review against another edition
3.0
Fun quick read, however I would have preferred less lead up and more follow through at the end.
maddandroid's review against another edition
4.0
This was great so many big ideas, intelligent alien life, A.I. and a dark family secret. If you enjoy SF I really recommend this book.
My one worry proves to me that Cheetah was indeed sentient, and committed suicide because he did care for humanity.
Spoiler
I disagree with CheetahThe computer continued: “My one worry was that my killing myself would disturb you—but surely that was a foolish concern. I know you have no feelings toward me; I am, after all, simply a piece of software.”
Would I, an intelligent machine, be concerned about the fate of humans? Would I truly care what happened to them? Would I have their happiness as a priority?
My one worry proves to me that Cheetah was indeed sentient, and committed suicide because he did care for humanity.
perkytxgirl's review against another edition
3.0
Factoring Humanity
by Robert J. Sawyer
This is the one with the human overmind in which each seemingly individual human is actually like a neuron. Aliens are discovered and humanity connects with its own overmind and there is some stuff about realizing there are aliens would filter into the human consciousness as an understanding of otherness. There is also a false accusation of child molesting that factors into the story that is proved false by the ‘perfect’ storage of memories in the overmind. Having this sort of irrefutable version of events is sort of favorite topic of Robert Sawyer’s.
Not bad science fiction but not the best either.
by Robert J. Sawyer
This is the one with the human overmind in which each seemingly individual human is actually like a neuron. Aliens are discovered and humanity connects with its own overmind and there is some stuff about realizing there are aliens would filter into the human consciousness as an understanding of otherness. There is also a false accusation of child molesting that factors into the story that is proved false by the ‘perfect’ storage of memories in the overmind. Having this sort of irrefutable version of events is sort of favorite topic of Robert Sawyer’s.
Not bad science fiction but not the best either.
authortedcross's review against another edition
3.0
A well-written and interesting story. 3 and a half stars. It's a very quick read and often feels more like a construct to touch on various philosophical points rather than to simply create a great story, and too often there are things that are much too convenient because the author needs them to be there in order to justify the main character being able to make the mental discoveries that she does, but it's still an enjoyable book with some thought-provoking ideas.
dinsdale's review against another edition
2.0
Initially I was hooked on the premise of this novel - a psychologist decodes an alien message from the Alpha Centauri system and, just like in Carl Sagan's Contact, the other-worldly message contains instructions on how to construct a machine based on the alien's advanced technology.
This book was written in 1998 and the story therein takes place in 2017 with an epilogue set in 2019 so it's interesting to read how Sawyer forecasted what our current world would be like. Some hits and some misses, but fun to read about.
Like another of Sawyer's books, Hominids, there is a secondary plot involving a rape, and in Factoring Humanity the rape is allegedly committed by said psychologist's husband against their two daughters. One of the daughters killed herself because of the alleged rape while the surviving daughter cut her dad out of her life and is threatening legal action. The husband denies the allegations, moves out, and the marriage falls apart as one would expect. The husband is a computer scientist and created an an evolving AI in his lab named Cheetah, and their relationship becomes a third plot line. Sawyer hit the nail on the head with his vision of modern-day AI. Cheetah was one of the more interesting characters in the book and I was just as, if not more, interested to see how he would end up than the human characters.
So, what did our protagonist psychologist do after she assembled her machine from Alpha Centauri, probably the most important scientific discovery in the history of mankind? Well, she kept it a secret, of course, and tried to use it to discover if her husband raped their daughters. Oh, and then she let her surviving daughter have a spin in it. I just couldn't get past this. Is this how a scientist would behave? Maybe, if the future of her family depended on it. But it didn't feel right to me. I didn't buy it.
I'll give this book and OK rating because of the excellent science fiction but it often times was over shadowed by the lurid rape bits / family drama storyline and that didn't work for me. The ending as a little to new-agey and nebulous for me, too. I've got a few more Sawyer books on the shelf so I'll give him another try.
This book was written in 1998 and the story therein takes place in 2017 with an epilogue set in 2019 so it's interesting to read how Sawyer forecasted what our current world would be like. Some hits and some misses, but fun to read about.
Like another of Sawyer's books, Hominids, there is a secondary plot involving a rape, and in Factoring Humanity the rape is allegedly committed by said psychologist's husband against their two daughters. One of the daughters killed herself because of the alleged rape while the surviving daughter cut her dad out of her life and is threatening legal action. The husband denies the allegations, moves out, and the marriage falls apart as one would expect. The husband is a computer scientist and created an an evolving AI in his lab named Cheetah, and their relationship becomes a third plot line. Sawyer hit the nail on the head with his vision of modern-day AI. Cheetah was one of the more interesting characters in the book and I was just as, if not more, interested to see how he would end up than the human characters.
So, what did our protagonist psychologist do after she assembled her machine from Alpha Centauri, probably the most important scientific discovery in the history of mankind? Well, she kept it a secret, of course, and tried to use it to discover if her husband raped their daughters. Oh, and then she let her surviving daughter have a spin in it. I just couldn't get past this. Is this how a scientist would behave? Maybe, if the future of her family depended on it. But it didn't feel right to me. I didn't buy it.
I'll give this book and OK rating because of the excellent science fiction but it often times was over shadowed by the lurid rape bits / family drama storyline and that didn't work for me. The ending as a little to new-agey and nebulous for me, too. I've got a few more Sawyer books on the shelf so I'll give him another try.
lostcadence's review against another edition
3.0
A gripping story about what it means to trust the people around us, through the lens of 90s visions of AI, psychology, and connection. It's a bit dated at times, no question, but Sawyer is an imaginative author who grounds his science-fiction in meaningful relationships. Content warning - the story is rooted in questions about repressed memories, abuse, and trauma (sometimes in problematic ways, sometimes very sensitively).
wetomb's review against another edition
dark
emotional
mysterious
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.5
being_b's review against another edition
4.0
Protagonist studying the inscrutable messages of aliens. Ends with some fun Jungian stuff, so that was cool.
Positives: A lot of "cool skiffy concepts" and "science porn." Negatives: Not much character development, a writing style best described as "functional," and an unfortunate tendency to end his stories.
Positives: A lot of "cool skiffy concepts" and "science porn." Negatives: Not much character development, a writing style best described as "functional," and an unfortunate tendency to end his stories