Take a photo of a barcode or cover
A review by andrewlawston
The Cybernetic Samurai by Victor Milán
3.0
The Cybernetic Samurai came into my possession via a second-hand bookshop, a time-honoured example of me picking up the book with the most lurid pulpy title. It opens with Japanese corporate politics in rooftop gardens, and I quickly realised that lurid pulpy title was actually literal. In this 300 page novel, scientists create an artificial consciousness, and inculcate it with the values of a samurai. More corporate politics ensue, until the book kicks off into high-gear about halfway through and erupts into action.
Artificial consciousness TOKUGAWA remains a child-like and malleable personality throughout most of the book, and frankly his character arc reminded me of Edward Scissorhands to quite some extent (nb, the book was published in 1985, several years earlier, but the parallels are striking).
Although the narrative rarely strays far beyond the board rooms and laboratories of Yoshimitsu Telecommunications Company (YTC), the Cybernetic Samurai is set in a post-WW3 dystopia where Japan is an apparent beacon of civilisation amid a crumbling world order that is starved of resources and increasingly desperate.
The novel has much to recommend it. Despite being written in 1985, it has a lot to say about the history of artificial intelligence and the difficulties of its development which are very relevant today. Repeated references are made to "fifth-generation" AI which is considered completely distinct to the artificial consciousness that is TOKUGAWA, and "fifth-generation" seems roughly analogous with the AI tools that we hear so much about currently. There's also some nice stuff about the difficulty of generating true randomness. And the book's characters are an engaging and sophisticated bunch, even if many of them fail to make it to the final chapter.
The editing is slightly sloppy, however, full of slightly strange word choices that almost make it feel like a translated work (it isn't) and typos. No book is perfect, but there were enough errors to drag me back to reality on almost every page.
Victor Milán wrote an important but flawed work which is well worth a look, but falls down in its editing and several plot developments that would be predictable enough even if they weren't telegraphed so blatantly. Apparently there's a sequel (The Cybernetic Shogun), and there is a significant loose end which I assume sets that up, but unless Lloyds of Kew yields another of its occasional unexpected gems, I doubt I'll ever see it, let alone read it.
Artificial consciousness TOKUGAWA remains a child-like and malleable personality throughout most of the book, and frankly his character arc reminded me of Edward Scissorhands to quite some extent (nb, the book was published in 1985, several years earlier, but the parallels are striking).
Although the narrative rarely strays far beyond the board rooms and laboratories of Yoshimitsu Telecommunications Company (YTC), the Cybernetic Samurai is set in a post-WW3 dystopia where Japan is an apparent beacon of civilisation amid a crumbling world order that is starved of resources and increasingly desperate.
The novel has much to recommend it. Despite being written in 1985, it has a lot to say about the history of artificial intelligence and the difficulties of its development which are very relevant today. Repeated references are made to "fifth-generation" AI which is considered completely distinct to the artificial consciousness that is TOKUGAWA, and "fifth-generation" seems roughly analogous with the AI tools that we hear so much about currently. There's also some nice stuff about the difficulty of generating true randomness. And the book's characters are an engaging and sophisticated bunch, even if many of them fail to make it to the final chapter.
The editing is slightly sloppy, however, full of slightly strange word choices that almost make it feel like a translated work (it isn't) and typos. No book is perfect, but there were enough errors to drag me back to reality on almost every page.
Victor Milán wrote an important but flawed work which is well worth a look, but falls down in its editing and several plot developments that would be predictable enough even if they weren't telegraphed so blatantly. Apparently there's a sequel (The Cybernetic Shogun), and there is a significant loose end which I assume sets that up, but unless Lloyds of Kew yields another of its occasional unexpected gems, I doubt I'll ever see it, let alone read it.