Sunday, December 6, 2015

Emergence, by Gwyneth Jones

[Anthology]
★★☆☆☆

(SF) Romanz, a judge in the moons of Jupiter, deals with a tough case involving a juvenile delinquent AI. (7,100 words; Time: 23m)

Recommended By: πŸ†₁Sturgeon+3 πŸ“™₁GDozois+2 πŸ“™₁JStrahan+2 (Q&A)


"Emergence," by (edited by Jonathan Strahan), appeared in (RSR review), published on by .

Mini-Review (click to view--possible spoilers)

Review: 2015.038 (A Word for Authors)

Pro: AIs that commit petty crimes was an amusing twist.

Con: There isn't really a story here--just a sequence of events that the narrator stumbles through.

The story has every bad "fantasy AI" trope in the book. AI's that emerge by themselves, AIs that have emotions and act irrationally, AIs that evolve, AIs that are super fast compared to people. AIs that have no basis in science or technology, but which are simply thinly-disguised ordinary people.

The little speech at the end about how intelligence emerges has nothing to do with the plot and makes for very painful reading, as does everything after it.

Other Reviews: Search Web, GoodReads.com
Gwyneth Jones Info: Interviews, Websites, ISFDB, FreeSFOnline

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1 comment (may contain spoilers):

  1. At first I was thrilled, later disappointed because the idea had potential but lost its strength quite fast, for nothing relevant happend, the clarity of the beginning was lost to confusion. For a best of year story rather weak.

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