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3.43 AVERAGE
3.43 AVERAGE
dark
hopeful
inspiring
reflective
fast-paced
adventurous
challenging
dark
hopeful
inspiring
mysterious
reflective
fast-paced
Started out as a sort of thought experiment but devolved into unrealistic utopian fantasy schlock. Am I really supposed to believe that some dude got picked due to capitalistic stock exchanges by his parents (without knowing that somehow said stock had been passed to him, and him not noting at all that his parents were gone)? Or that Australia has the capacity to support a population of one billion without restraints, everything fully renewable, and that people will just go along with this draconian, yet utopian ideal society?
Started out interesting and could have been a decent view of potential futures of automation but the author decided a cudgel was more valuable than a scalpel. I read it so you don't have to; pass on this.
Started out interesting and could have been a decent view of potential futures of automation but the author decided a cudgel was more valuable than a scalpel. I read it so you don't have to; pass on this.
Manna was a thought-provoking read. It has strongly shaped my vision of the future of artificial intelligence, class struggle, and the human condition.
Lots of interesting ideas, but extreme oversimplification and lack of literary quality makes it weak and dry. I also wish the Utopian view of Australian Project, where everything is just perfect, makes the whole thing unconvincing. It has the seed of a good book, but it is just a seed and not a tree.
The lesson of the story is spot on. We can move forward and let the technological revolution lead us into a world of horror controlled by the few or we can consciously make a decision to have this revolution lead to a good life for all.
I found some weak points however. The utopia described sounds like a 21st century Western individualist trans-humanist fantasy. It ignores a long tradition of ideologies and philosophies on how to achieve a democratic egalitarian society.
The idea of complete transparency and no anonymity is something that seems more in line with authoritarianism than in an ideal society. The other thing is that no one seems alarmed at the prospect of physically being intertwined with a computer for the rest of your life. [What happens if people refuse to integrate in that way?] I think the ability to just check out of your senses and literally tune people out, and total virtual reality immersion would lead to some dark unintended consequences. Also there's no exploration of robots as complex as there possibly developing AI and changing the whole basis of their society.
The key is to create a society where people have their needs met, opportunities to fulfill their dreams. At the same time from my limited experience people seem to feel needed, and something major would be lost from the human experience and people's characters if humans were no longer needed to accomplish the basic functioning of society.
I found some weak points however. The utopia described sounds like a 21st century Western individualist trans-humanist fantasy. It ignores a long tradition of ideologies and philosophies on how to achieve a democratic egalitarian society.
The idea of complete transparency and no anonymity is something that seems more in line with authoritarianism than in an ideal society. The other thing is that no one seems alarmed at the prospect of physically being intertwined with a computer for the rest of your life. [What happens if people refuse to integrate in that way?] I think the ability to just check out of your senses and literally tune people out, and total virtual reality immersion would lead to some dark unintended consequences. Also there's no exploration of robots as complex as there possibly developing AI and changing the whole basis of their society.
The key is to create a society where people have their needs met, opportunities to fulfill their dreams. At the same time from my limited experience people seem to feel needed, and something major would be lost from the human experience and people's characters if humans were no longer needed to accomplish the basic functioning of society.
dark
hopeful
informative
inspiring
fast-paced
Not a story really. More of a concrete example of a philosophy. I agree with the philosophy so I think it's fairly interesting. But for anytime expecting an interesting plot or characters, or that disagrees with the philosophy, the book will be boring and sounds stupid.
5/5 on the ideas the author is trying to communicate, 2/5 on the writing, plot, characters, etc. Which averages to 4/5 because I'm biased toward ideas over writing and because the book is short enough that the writing doesn't matter.
The existence of this book saves me from writing a blog post to try to communicate the same thing. I'm passionate about automation and AI because it can free the world from drudgery. I'm scared of AI because it can reinforce existing power structures and make the rich richer while doing nothing to help the poor, which is a large part of the history of automation. Whether AI leads to dystopia or utopia is entirely a product of how we structure and shape our society in response to the emergence of this technology.
The existence of this book saves me from writing a blog post to try to communicate the same thing. I'm passionate about automation and AI because it can free the world from drudgery. I'm scared of AI because it can reinforce existing power structures and make the rich richer while doing nothing to help the poor, which is a large part of the history of automation. Whether AI leads to dystopia or utopia is entirely a product of how we structure and shape our society in response to the emergence of this technology.
I like Manna. It's a short story about AI displacing workers, making workers obsolete, and society's failure to address the need of people and instead actually welcoming the subjugation human beings under AI because society favors production and capital over consumption and labor. Though the concentration of wealth into fewer and fewer people is ever present, it's faceless and you never meet them; it's all from the workers' perspective. The ending also shows an alternative when people are prioritized. Great dystopian sci-fi. 4 & 1/2 stars.
However, the ending lowers it. Not the happy utopian alternative, but the digressing into a brain-computer interface. It was too long and it really should have been its own story.
You can read it here:
https://marshallbrain.com/manna
However, the ending lowers it. Not the happy utopian alternative, but the digressing into a brain-computer interface. It was too long and it really should have been its own story.
You can read it here:
https://marshallbrain.com/manna