The Turing Option

Harry Harrison of course is one of science fiction's "grand old men," and Marvin Minsky is a leading light in the nascent field of artificial intelligence (AI). The Turing Option is a true Gernsbackian novel (a lovely term referencing the grandfather of American science fiction, Hugo Gernsback, Jr., which has since been replaced by the vaguely porny-sounding "hard SF" as the descriptor of choice) set in the not-too-distant future (the book opens in 2023) which explores the boundary between artificial and organic (or "real") intelligence as well as the sources of human personality. The lead character is a young scientist who survives an assassination attempt even though he is shot in the head; as his knowledge is desperately needed by show more his employers, the AI technology that he'd developed is utilized to reconstruct his brain and, with it, his mind: his knowledge, personality and memories. This is one of the rare instances where a lecture in thriller clothes works; indeed, I was far more interested in the didactic segments than the plot itself (corporations with their own private armies, espionage and "black ops" services trumping national governments, waging guerilla war on each other, yadda-yadda-yadda). There is a lot to absorb, but it is so fascinating that it never bogs down; indeed, I had to force myself to read it more slowly in an attempt to retain more of the information conveyed. Deeply thought-provoking and easily the best thing I've read by Harrison thus far (admittedly that isn't much), I will definitely be re-reading this again at some point. And again. And again. Michael (Mr. "There's No Such Thing as Global Warming!") Crichton only wishes he could write this well.

The funny/sad thing is, I'd be willing to bet that The Turing Option is now as out-of-date as the prospects of K. Eric Drexler -- who offers a complimentary blurb on the inside front cover. show less

https://fromtheheartofeurope.eu/the-turing-option-by-harry-harrison-with-marvin-...

The first chapter is dated 8 February 2023; the first 18 are set then and later in the year, the next 25 are set in 2024 and the last two in 2026.) I’m going to focus only on the parts set in 2023 here, but I’ll make one general observation: I found the prose to be rather clunky in a number of places, much more so than Harrison at his best, and wondered if Minsky, who was a well known artificial intelligence theoretician rather than a fiction writer, had possibly had more to do with the text than the cover credits suggest.

The narrative thrust of the book is about the development of artificial intelligence in computers, but in fact for most of the show more first half of it, that theme takes second place to the surgical problems of restoring human brain damage with advanced biological and technological techniques. This is described in immense and frankly excessive detail, though it is interesting that we are now starting to get close to this sort of cybernetic enhancement in real life.

The wounded computer scientist is Irish, which unfortunately allows Harrison to indulge in some stereotyping – Mary Robinson had been elected in 1990 and 1992 saw the X case, so it was clear to anyone who cared to look that the life experience of an Irish person born in 1999 (as his protagonist is) would be pretty different from the de Valera years. And there’s this passage on free movement:

“I have studied the relevant data bases. The European Economic Community forms a customs union. A passport is needed to enter any member country from outside the community. After that there is no need to show it again. However, Switzerland is not a member of this group. I thought that this problem might be postponed until we reached that country’s border.”

I’m cheating a bit because that’s from one of the 2024 chapters. But in fact we’ve had passport-free travel with Switzerland since 2009; and, sadly, we no longer have it with the UK. But this is a book about technological speculation, not future geopolitics. (The word “China” does not appear even once)

I can’t honestly recommend it except as a snapshot of Minsky’s thought at a particular moment, and frankly he said and did more interesting things later in his career. show less

It should be great, shouldn't it? Harry Harrison, author of Bill the Galactic Hero and The Stainless Steel Rat, writes an AI-based thriller with Marvin Minsky, one of the most well-known AI researchers on the planet.

The result is absolutely terrible. The plot, and a few of the elements, aren't too bad. I suspect that what let the book down was MM's insisting on "accurate" science. The characters drop into exposition mode for pages at a time while they bring the reader up to speed on basic AI concepts. Really, really horrible.

I wanted to love this book. I really did. Harry Harrison (RIP, Harry, I can't seem to get over being sad you're gone) and Marvin Minsky: How could that not be wonderful? Sadly, it is not.

While I worked, one of the fields I specialized in was AI. I still own a few books by Minsky that I couldn't quite let go, and he is still one of the great intellects of the age. I own an original copy of Perceptrons. He can write. Harry could write. Just not this time out.

Mostly the book reads like a murder mystery, set in near future, with almost everything more or less "down to earth".
Except, of course, the development of AI and what was most interesting in the book for me, – attempt at cybernetic reconstruction of a brain!
It reads breezily, with reasonably captivating plot, and as mentioned, - some interesting tech/ideas.

I had problems with this book. Not sure who is to blame. Minsky or Harry Harrison. IMHO it suffers from too much attention to technology. and goes on about stuff that never went anywhere. As far as story goes, the mystery that it hopes to stir up in the beginning never did strike me as important. I don't know...maybe it's a great book and I don't get it. I'll check out other reviews and see if it's worth taking a second look.

This book is not written with a great deal of skill and style, it is more a popularization of some interesting ideas from artificial intelligence enthusiasts.
The way it is presented reminds me a great deal of one of my other books, [The Silicon Man].