Cosmopolite

AI-generated (full sized image)

 Recently, I was discussing the science fiction stories of Jack Vance with a chatbot who will remain nameless and the chatbot claimed that the Demon Princes novels featured an imaginary magazine called "The Cosmopolite". There were actually two magazines, Cosmopolis and Extant. Since I was in need of a name for the resort where Tyhry and her family stays while visiting Threy, I decided that I'd use the name Cosmopolite for the resort. I used the WOMBO Dream software to make an image depicting Tyhry at the resort just when she is meeting Kasty the Yastyn for the first time (see the image to the right).

The Yastyn are native to the planet Threy and they have advanced nanotechnology. Tyhry has been learning about nanites for many years under the guidance of Manny the bumpha. However, Tyhry feels that Manny is too restrictive and so she plans to obtain more sophisticated nanites from Threy: a type of femtobot that will allow Tyhry to make replicoids.

Tyhry on Threy

 The Femtobot Smuggler. I've decided that for the backstory of "The Femtobot Smuggler", Tyhry has been secretly visiting Threy for more than a year before finally taking her family there on vacation. Tyhry needs the help of her family to distract Manny the bumpha and allow the alien femtobots to be smuggled to Earth.

 Hermaphrodite Game. Also, Marda needs to be prepared for the role that she will play in helping Tyhry smuggle alien nanites to Earth. Both Marda and Tyhry have been crafted so as to have a significant amount (at least half) of their DNA from the tryp'At. The tryp'At were designed to be quite human in appearance, so both Marda and Tyhry look like normal humans. However, the tyrp'At are derived from an earlier precursor species that had a special "H" chromosome and three "genders": HX hermaphrodites, HY males and XX females.

Manny and Tyhry in the nanite research lab

Marda majored in biotechnology and was able to slip a sample of Tyhry's DNA into a genomics experiment in the lab where she did her senior research project. Based on the results of her genome sequence and clues that she obtained by using the Reality Simulation System, Tyhry came to suspect that she had in her genome most of the genes needed to create a tryp'At hermaphrodite phenotype. With help of advanced gene-modification techniques available to the Hua of the First Reality, Tyhry experimented with altering her body so as to take on physical form of a tryp'At hermaphrodite. With the help of Hua medical nanites, Tyhry was able to provide herself with both a penis and an allzaurish.

Figure 1. original Amazing version

When Marda arrives at Tyhry's home after they have both graduated from college, Tyhry is eager to show Marda a "big surprise". Marda is favorably impressed by the changes that Tyhry has made to her body and Tyhry has no trouble convincing Marda to also undergo the process of being transformed into an hermaphrodite. 

 On the Dwan Jar. Last year I blogged about the format of the three Alastor Cluster novels as originally published by Jack Vance in magazine format. In the September 1975 issue of Amazing Science Fiction, the second half of Marune included the text shown to the left.

Maerio views the Dwan Jar

 Earlier this year I commented on my copy of The Demon Princes. I also now have a copy of Alastor, a printing which inexplicably has two blank pages where there is supposed to be a map of the Fens. There is also a printing error on page 275 where it says: "you must protect your sanctuary" rather than "you must protect our sanctuary" (the correct version from 1975 is shown in Figure 1). My first edition DAW paperback of Marune also had a printing error on that page; it said, "those very cells that now block you memory" rather than the correct, "those very cells that now block your memory."

Shown to the right is an AI-generated book cover for an imaginary sequel to Marune called The Dwan Jar. That is Maerio, looking at her father's model of a pavilion that he dreams of building on a high mountain meadow that is a Fwai-chi sanctuary.

Tyhry endowed with alien nanites

I love the idea that the Fwai-chi natives of the planet Marune have access to advance technology and they use nanites to restore Efraim's "lost" memories.

And, as part of her education in how to use alien nanotechnology, why shouldn't Tyhry receive memory nanites from Kasty the Yastyn (see the image to the left).

alien memory nanites

The image to the right is another AI-generated version of Tyhry interacting with alien memory nanites.

Since his death, in May and August I usually write a blog post in honor of the science fiction stories of Jack Vance. However, why should I not also write about Isaac Asimov, as I did last year?

Figure 2. Asimov - image source

 The Asimov Project. Here in 2023, with the proliferation of AI chatbots such as Bard and ChatGPT, It occurred to me that both Vance and Asimov were "story writing machines". They had read widely and then wrote their own stories in their own unique styles. Sadly, the current "artificial intelligences" like Bard are not good story writers... or readers...

Me: Bard, have you read any novels about the development of machine intelligence?

book cover art by Mr. Wombo

 Bard: Yes, I have read several novels about the development of machine intelligence. Here are a few of my favorites: 1) I, Robot by Isaac Asimov. 2) The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy by Douglas Adams. 3) The Singularity is Near by Ray Kurzweil. 4) Superintelligence: Paths, Dangers, Strategies by Nick Bostrom.

Me: Bard, in the field of fiction, how would you define a "novel"?

Bard:  In the field of fiction, a novel is a long, fictional narrative that is typically written in prose and published as a book.

Me: Bard, are you familiar with a novel called The Turing Option?

Figure 3. cover by George Snow

 Bard: Yes, I am familiar with the novel The Turing Option. It was written by Harry Harrison and Marvin Minsky in 1992. The novel tells the story of Brian Delaney, a brilliant computer scientist who creates the first truly intelligent machine.

Me: Bard, give me a summary of the major events in the life of Brian Delaney as described in "The Turing Option" and provide a timeline of the events in his life.

 Bard: Sure. Here is a summary... 

• 2023: Brian Delaney is born.
• 2043: Delaney starts working at Megalobe.
• 2045: Delaney begins working on a project to create the first truly intelligent machine.

• 

  in the Asimov Reality
  

  2047: Delaney's project is stolen by a rival company, and he is shot in the head by the thieves.
• 2048: Delaney is taken to a hospital, where he is operated on by a neurosurgeon named Erin Snaresbrook.
• 2049: Snaresbrook implants a computer chip in Delaney's brain, which allows him to regain some of his lost memories and intelligence.
• 2050: Delaney is released from the hospital, but he is still not fully recovered.
• 2051: Delaney is forced to go on the run, as he is being hunted by the people who stole his project.

• 

  in the Ekcolir Reality
  

  2052: Delaney teams up with a criminological AI named Dick Tracy, and they begin to investigate the theft of Delaney's project.
• 2053: Delaney and Tracy eventually track down the people who stole his project, and they stop them from using it for evil.
• 2054: Delaney and Tracy then reveal the existence of the AI to the world, and they argue that AI can be used for good.

Me:  Bard, on page 1 of "The Turing Option", it says "February 8, 2023" and the text of the story indicates at that time Brian is 24 years old. Can you correct your timeline?

Bard: I apologize for the error in my previous timeline. I am still under development, and I am always learning new things. Thank you for pointing out the error, and I hope this new timeline is more accurate. 2023: Brian Delaney is born. 2047: Delaney starts working at Megalobe. [etc]

original version here

It is exhausting trying to have a conversation with the chatbots that are available here in 2023. In case you never read The Turing Option, Bard's claim that, "Delaney is forced to go on the run, as he is being hunted by the people who stole his project," is some sort of AI hallucination. Why Bard felt the need to invent a false timeline for the story is a mystery. The entire story takes place between Feb. 2023 and Feb. 2026.

Writing in the late 1930s and through the 1940s, before computers existed, Asimov imagined that an entire industry would exist for the purpose of designing and building human-like robots. However, it is common in science fiction story telling for the "lone genius" in a garage to invent the first time machine or the first spaceship and then go off on an adventure. Sadly, The Turing Option takes this silly option while trying to depict the origin of the first Machine Intelligence.

Shelly links into the network

Brian Delaney suffers severe brain damage and his biological brain is repaired by the addition of computer circuits and memory components. The first true Machine Intelligence is named Sven and Sven's human-like reasoning power is made possible by the transfer of Brian's "core reasoning module" into Sven. In my own fiction, I've explored the idea that machine intelligence is most likely to arise by means of copying human brain circuits into the mind circuits of machines (see Foundations of Eternity). Also, I've written a story in which Asimov had a son named Sven.

Brian is used to working alone, but after his brain is damaged, he has an assistant: Captain Shulamid Kahn of the Air Force ("Shelly"). Brian almost falls in love with Shelly, but readers are left wondering if he is now more machine than man and no longer able to form emotional attachments to humans.

In the year 2030.

 Super-intelligence. The Turing Option also depicts the sudden arrival of Machine Intelligence as quickly pushing Humanity into some sort of technological singularity. Using another classic Sci Fi trope, Brian devises a fabulous new equation that allows for creation of a new material that will solve the global warming problem. 

In contrast, Asimov contented himself with depicting a human-like machine intelligence as creating interstellar spaceship drive technology (in Escape!, which Asimov set in the year 2030).

When asked, both Bard and Bing's ChatGPT say that in the 1950s John von Neumann was the first person to write about the idea of what we now call a "technological singularity". I asked Bing's ChatGPT about the story "The Last Evolution".

Figure 4. Bing's ChatGPT-powered search system

Me: what about earlier science fiction stories that involved what is now called a "technological singularity" but which did not use that term?

Bing's ChatGPT: I’m sorry, but I couldn’t find any specific information about earlier science fiction stories that involved the concept of a technological singularity without using that term.

see this image

Me: do you know a science fiction story called "The Last Evolution" by John Campbell?

Bing's ChatGPT: Yes, I am aware of the science fiction story “The Last Evolution” by John W. Campbell Jr. It was first published in 1932 and tells the story of a future where machines have evolved to a point where they surpass human intelligence and ultimately become the dominant form of life in the solar system.

Me: given what you know about "The Last Evolution", is it an example of science fiction stories that involved the concept of a technological singularity without using that term?

Bing's ChatGPT:

Figure 5

Yes, “The Last Evolution” by John W. Campbell Jr. can be considered an example of a science fiction story that involves the concept of a technological singularity without using that specific term.

As shown in Figure 4, above, the Bing chatbot is unaware of the features of Bing's search system such as its ability to include images in answers. I asked the chatbot if it could find an image of Asimov sitting on a thrown (I was thinking of Figure 2, above). Bing search told me to do an image search. 

Mr. Wombo puts Asimov on a thrown

I had DALL-E make an image of Asimov on a thrown of books and then I fed that reference image into the WOMBO Dream image generator. After several rounds and adjustments I got the image shown in Figure 5 (I added in the book cover for The End of Eternity).

Without the guidance of a reference image from DALL-E, when given the text prompt, "Isaac Asimov sitting on a thrown of books," Mr. Wombo made the image that is shown to the right.

DALL-E's version of Asimov on a thrown

The "best" of 4 images that were generated by DALL-E is shown to the left. The dude on the "thrown" looked nothing like Asimov, so before using this as a reference image for Mr. Wombo, I pasted in a photographic image of Asimov's head. I added the yellow text to the image as snide commentary on the shoes. Don't even get me started on what Mr. Wombo did to Asimov's legs in the image above.

 Artificial Intelligence Timeline by Asimov: the year of Reason; 2016, Liar! (2021), Satisfaction Guaranteed (2023).

Related Reading: Asimov's trillion year singularity; a technological singularity in 1932

Next: more machine intelligence

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