Speaking of Elon Musk hate-reads, here is the final post of the year from "Logarithmic History" (Doug Jones), assuming substack allows me to quote it in full:
'For some reason, the following seemed apposite this year, about a senator and his mook (AI alter ego), from Bruce Sterling’s 1996 science fiction short story Bicycle Repairman, set sometime in the indefinite future.
“Wow,” Mabel said. “The old guy’s a hundred and twelve or something, isn’t he? … Even with government health care there can’t be a lot left of him.”
“He’s already gone,” Kitty muttered. “His frontal lobes are burned out. … He can still sit up, and if he’s stoked on stimulants he can repeat whatever’s whispered to him. So he’s got two permanent implanted hearing aids, and basically … well … he’s being run by remote control by his mook.”
…
“Man, never trust a mook,” Lyle said. “I hate those things.”
…
“I don’t really see the problem,” Mabel said, puzzled. “Senator Hirschheimer from Arizona has had a direct neural link to his mook for years, and he has an excellent progressive voting record. Same goes for Senator Marmalejo from Tamaulipas; she’s kind of absentminded, and everybody knows she’s on life support, but she’s a real scrapper on women’s issues”
…
[Kitty said] “They told me in briefing that it was a very terrible business, and that everyone would panic if they heard that a high government official was basically a front for a rogue artificial intelligence.”
Mabel, Pete, and Lyle exchanged glances. “Are you surprised by that news?” Mabel said
Speaking of Elon Musk hate-reads, here is the final post of the year from "Logarithmic History" (Doug Jones), assuming substack allows me to quote it in full:
'For some reason, the following seemed apposite this year, about a senator and his mook (AI alter ego), from Bruce Sterling’s 1996 science fiction short story Bicycle Repairman, set sometime in the indefinite future.
“Wow,” Mabel said. “The old guy’s a hundred and twelve or something, isn’t he? … Even with government health care there can’t be a lot left of him.”
“He’s already gone,” Kitty muttered. “His frontal lobes are burned out. … He can still sit up, and if he’s stoked on stimulants he can repeat whatever’s whispered to him. So he’s got two permanent implanted hearing aids, and basically … well … he’s being run by remote control by his mook.”
…
“Man, never trust a mook,” Lyle said. “I hate those things.”
…
“I don’t really see the problem,” Mabel said, puzzled. “Senator Hirschheimer from Arizona has had a direct neural link to his mook for years, and he has an excellent progressive voting record. Same goes for Senator Marmalejo from Tamaulipas; she’s kind of absentminded, and everybody knows she’s on life support, but she’s a real scrapper on women’s issues”
…
[Kitty said] “They told me in briefing that it was a very terrible business, and that everyone would panic if they heard that a high government official was basically a front for a rogue artificial intelligence.”
Mabel, Pete, and Lyle exchanged glances. “Are you surprised by that news?” Mabel said
“Heck no,” said Pete.
“Big deal,” Lyle added.'
A year of great reads. Thanks for sharing! Happy new year! Excited to see the book in the wild.
Thrilled to hear that finishing the book manuscript is on tap for the first part of the year.