Thomas R. Weaver

This near future thriller takes place on an Earth in danger of failing its human occupants due to the near-fatal effects of climate change. Marcus Tully is an investigative journalist who is still mourning the death of his wife and unborn daughter ten years earlier in a heatwave that struck the Persian Gulf.

He is determined to find out what happened to her. He thinks he knows who to blame. He believes the President of the United States at the time ordered the use of an untested device to show more remove humidity from Houston and dump it over the ocean. Unfortunately, the humidity dumped on the Persian Gulf instead causing deadly conditions for 160 million people.

Now, the same former President is running for Protector - an Earth-wide office to solve the climate crisis. His opponent is an AI named Solomon who was created by Dr. Martha Chandra. Not only does Marcus know Martha but her sister Livia works for him as a researcher.

Invited to New Carthage, one of a small number of floating ecosystems, where Martha lives, Marcus and Livia go to see her both to find out about the upcoming election but also to see what she knows about Tully's wife's death. Shortly after they arrive, Martha is murdered leaving Livia as the heir to her sister's riches and Marcus at a near dead end to solving what happened to his wife.

He also gets to know Solomon and supports his campaign to me the Earth's First Protector. But he questions whether or not he's making the right decision in a world were information can be so easily manipulated.

This story was filled with moral dilemmas and advanced technology. I was intrigued by the possibilities of neural meetings and certainly by the creation of Solomon. This was one thought-provoking science fiction novel. show less

Artificial Intelligence has been the topic of, or at least solidly present in, a lot of the speculative fiction I’ve read recently as well as being part of my day to day discourse and ever present in the news, so when I started reading this book I was a bit worried it would just be a background theme that by now risks getting repetitive.
As it turns out, I didn’t need to worry: the titular Artificial Wisdom, which is the capacity of a computer system to take complex decisions taking into show more account disparate factors, is at the core of the plot and is a sufficiently different take on the topic to make it fresh and interesting to me.
The blurb does a good job of covering the basics of the plot without spoiling the many twists so I won’t cover it here; I always like books that try to straddle genres, and this one succeeded in it for me, with a coherent blend of near-future speculative fiction, closed room murder mystery, geopolitical machinations and more.
I enjoyed the pacing and the development of the main characters, as well as the relatability of the philosophical and moral conundrums they find themselves confronted with.
My only complaint is the fact that the very end after the last twist and shift in perspective was a bit rushed, possibly the result of a late decision to have a follow-up novel? Nevertheless, I am now hooked and will be looking forward to see where the author takes the concept next. Well deserved five stars.

Note: I received this book for free as an Early Reviewer from LibraryThing but the opinions above are mine and unbiased. show less

Artificial Intelligence has been the topic of, or at least solidly present in, a lot of the speculative fiction I’ve read recently as well as being part of my day to day discourse and ever present in the news, so when I started reading this book I was a bit worried it would just be a background theme that by now risks getting repetitive.
As it turns out, I didn’t need to worry: the titular Artificial Wisdom, which is the capacity of a computer system to take complex decisions taking into show more account disparate factors, is at the core of the plot and is a sufficiently different take on the topic to make it fresh and interesting to me.
The blurb does a good job of covering the basics of the plot without spoiling the many twists so I won’t cover it here; I always like books that try to straddle genres, and this one succeeded in it for me, with a coherent blend of near-future speculative fiction, closed room murder mystery, geopolitical machinations and more.
I enjoyed the pacing and the development of the main characters, as well as the relatability of the philosophical and moral conundrums they find themselves confronted with.
My only complaint is the fact that the very end after the last twist and shift in perspective was a bit rushed, possibly the result of a late decision to have a follow-up novel? Nevertheless, I am now hooked and will be looking forward to see where the author takes the concept next. Well deserved five stars.

Note: I received this book for free as an Early Reviewer from LibraryThing but the opinions above are mine and unbiased. show less

Artificial Wisdom is set in the future and the world has decided to elect someone to be manage the world's climate crisis. Surprisingly the two choices when it's time to vote are former President Lockwood who has a sketchy past and an AI named Solomon. A journalist named Tully, with a tragic past, is lured into finding out secrets about Lockwood that could change the election into Solomons favor. But decisions have to be made in order to save the future of humanity.
Overall I enjoyed the show more book, it definitely went in a direction I was somewhat expecting though that did not ruin it for me. Seeing as it left on a huge cliffhanger obviously more secrets are left to be uncovered and I will definitely be looking forward to the next book. show less