The thing about A,I at the current state of the art, is that it can track the location, actions, transactions, and communications of every "citizen" 24/7 AND develop automated loyalty scores (supported by a detailed dossier). Spying on everyone in a way that would take millions of Stasi in the old days, but AI massively reduces the cost and risk of human agents..
Frank Herbert was ahead of his time with that. I'm not a "believer" in computers or AI -- which is really a fast computer and an ever-growing lookup table programmed to pattern match. No intelligence implied or intended, and it can go VERY wrong. Facial recognition and self driving vehicles are a case in point. On Nov 4, 2021, at 4:55 PM, Scott Ritchey via Mercedes wrote: > Frankly, I found some of the Brian Herbert prequels (like House Atraides and House Harkonen) more engaging but probably only because I had already read the later books. > > Interestingly ( considering current trends) the theme that runs throughout all of the series is a prohibition against "thinking machines" (what we would call AI). > > -----Original Message----- > From: Mercedes On Behalf Of Clay via Mercedes > Sent: Wednesday, November 3, 2021 4:23 PM > To: Mercedes Discussion List <mercedes@okiebenz.com> > Cc: Clay <clay.dread...@gmail.com> > Subject: Re: [MBZ] Dune > > I found it only really begins to make sense after you get through God Emperor, as that tome lays out all the missing background of how the worms work. Dune is pretty much a comment on Iran/Iraq and big oil from 1919-1965 and exploitation by the west. The next books in the series delve into the mystical nature, with God Emperor and the next two trying to tie it up in a neat bow. The Brian Herbert books REALLY delve into the nuts and bolt and expand the universe filling in nooks and crannies you can only guess at their import in his father's writing. > > clay > > I have no pronouns please do not refer to me. > > > >> On Nov 2, 2021, at 7:14 PM, Karl Wittnebel via Mercedes <mercedes@okiebenz.com> wrote: >> >> I think I will have to read the book now. It seems intriguing. > > _______________________________________ > http://www.okiebenz.com > > To search list archives http://www.okiebenz.com/archive/ > > To Unsubscribe or change delivery options go to: > http://mail.okiebenz.com/mailman/listinfo/mercedes_okiebenz.com > > > > _______________________________________ > http://www.okiebenz.com > > To search list archives http://www.okiebenz.com/archive/ > > To Unsubscribe or change delivery options go to: > http://mail.okiebenz.com/mailman/listinfo/mercedes_okiebenz.com > _______________________________________ http://www.okiebenz.com To search list archives http://www.okiebenz.com/archive/ To Unsubscribe or change delivery options go to: http://mail.okiebenz.com/mailman/listinfo/mercedes_okiebenz.com _______________________________________ http://www.okiebenz.com To search list archives http://www.okiebenz.com/archive/ To Unsubscribe or change delivery options go to: http://mail.okiebenz.com/mailman/listinfo/mercedes_okiebenz.com
