I love this question! I think we have to include HAL on any list (and I was embarrassed not to have seen the visual language copied in Calypso!). Brandon was just on a panel at PhilCon discussing the film, and one of the lighter questions the panel addressed was favorite HAL lines.
I've just finished reading Orson Scott Card's Ender series (okay, just the first four books out of what is now a thousand-book series). The last three of these form their own story, and one of the characters is an AI. From the start OSC and the characters in the story treat Jane as a person, and, of course, much of the philosophical meat of the story is asking us in what way she is a person (and therefore what it means to be a person). The story ends with Jane acquiring a soul and a fleshly body, which is of course about OSC's Christianity, and Jane's character arc does want readers (especially adolescents) to ask some hard questions about who we are.
But I'm going to say that right now (after only one coffee), I think the AI in the film Her is probably my favorite. Or, to put it another way, I think the questions Her asks about AI and our own capacity for love and affection are the most interesting AI questions.
James Swallow's Synthesis (a Trek EU Titan Novel) takes an interesting approach to AI with whole sentient planets and ships, well worth checking out..
I love this question! I think we have to include HAL on any list (and I was embarrassed not to have seen the visual language copied in Calypso!). Brandon was just on a panel at PhilCon discussing the film, and one of the lighter questions the panel addressed was favorite HAL lines. I've just finished reading Orson Scott Card's Ender series (okay, just the first four books out of what is now a thousand-book series). The last three of these form their own story, and one of the characters is an AI. From the start OSC and the characters in the story treat Jane as a person, and, of course, much of the philosophical meat of the story is asking us in what way she is a person (and therefore what it means to be a person). The story ends with Jane acquiring a soul and a fleshly body, which is of course about OSC's Christianity, and Jane's character arc does want readers (especially adolescents) to ask some hard questions about who we are.
But I'm going to say that right now (after only one coffee), I think the AI in the film Her is probably my favorite. Or, to put it another way, I think the questions Her asks about AI and our own capacity for love and affection are the most interesting AI questions.
The AI society in the Jack Mcdevitt series of novels. Because they coexist with humans and probably control human existence without any of the issues.
Wow, that sounds optimistic. The Engines of God is the only McDevitt novel I've read. Do you have a recommendation for another one to read?