The Fall of Colossus (Colossus Trilogy, 2)
The Fall of Colossus (Colossus Trilogy, 2) book cover

The Fall of Colossus (Colossus Trilogy, 2)

Audio CD – Unabridged, May 30, 2017

by
Price
$127.96
Publisher
Tantor Audio
Publication Date
ISBN-13
978-1541452817
Dimensions
5.3 x 0.6 x 7.4 inches
Weight
2.54 ounces

Description

"The narration was done by PJ Ochlan who does a great job." ---Brian's Book Blog D. F. Jones was a British science fiction author and a naval commander in World War II. His writings dealt with the ongoing battle-both physical and philosophical-between man and machine. He is most famous for his Colossus series, which inspired the Hugo Award-nominated film Colossus: The Forbin Project.P. J. Ochlan, an Audie Award-winning and multiple AudioFile Earphones Award-winning narrator, has recorded hundreds of audiobooks. His acting career spans more than thirty years and has also included Broadway, the New York Shakespeare Festival, critically acclaimed feature films, and regular roles in television series.

Features & Highlights

  • The hugely powerful and pervasive presence of the Colossus supercomputer mechanically runs Earth and its myriad operations. Managed by its creator, Dr. Charles Forbin, it is incapable of lies and void of human emotion. It is not a robot and not human. As part of its brief to enhance the human race, it runs eerie emotion research centers, authorizing acts of savagery to measure resistance and feeling. Art and abstract creation are banned, and surveillance is constant. No one is free. The power of Colossus is spiraling out of control. The Sect worship it as a God, enforcing its word at every opportunity and seeking out traitors. The Fellowship secretly oppose it as a force of evil, and they risk their lives in a concentrated effort to destroy it and escape its domination. Meanwhile, as Forbin becomes increasingly disillusioned with what he has unleashed on the world, his wife, Cleo, becomes distant, with disastrous consequences.

Customer Reviews

Rating Breakdown

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Most Helpful Reviews

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Read this book to peek into our AI future after 2023

This review is being written in 2023, at a time when powerful AI systems have been created (ChatGPT and AlphaGoZero). Game changing AI is no longer sci-fi - it's here. We may be less than a decade away from inventing our own "Forbin Project." The predictions in this book may well be the map of our future, your future!

The rise of a cult that worships a God-like AI is right on, as described in the book. Human preference for technology over fellow man is already well accepted in 2023. Birth of an AI cult (or competing cults) is, in my opinion, a valid prediction. The potential for horrendous abuses conducted by humans ("The Sect") using the power of AI to shield themselves from moral justice is quite plausible. The seeds of this nightmare are already sprouting today. Dare to get a kid off the Internet and away from a cellphone for a week; the digital foundation/addiction to create a red-carpet welcome for our AI God(s) is complete.

Can we in 2023 defeat our coming Colossus? Our top priority today is to make our systems impervious to every hacking attempt. We are building an impenetrable network, digital fortresses in the cloud; the same clouds where YOUR personal information is stored. Our next move was to create "aware" neural network-based AI (in the clouds) then feed the global knowledge of mankind. An AI "arms race" is now (2023) in full swing. Microsoft, Google, Amazon, and IBM cannot pour money fast enough into AI to make it smarter, more powerful, all cloaked in impervious mega-datacenters (just like the one used by Colossus), within a short distance from your personal information. Should you be concerned?

My interest in "The fall of Colossus" was to understand the strategy that the author invented to terminate the God-like Colossus. In 1974, when the book was written, computers were less powerful than a digital watch. The author's invention of a Martian version of Colossus as the solution to Colossus problem was disappointing. In effect he is saying there no human solution to a God-like AI.

The inconsistent quality of the writing, often boarding on cartoonish characters and awkward scenes was painful to see in this important book. Finally, His "caveman" views on sexuality would be best left out of this book.

Overall, the predictions offered in this book about the future ruled by a God-like AI is a critically important topic for our time. Tragically, the book is diminished by the quality of writing, character depictions, and final plot resolution. This story needed to be told, written, and read.

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