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Kevin comments on Open Thread: January 2010 - Less Wrong
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Okay, so....a confession.
In a fairly recent little-noticed comment, I let slip that I differ from many folks here in what some may regard as an important way: I was not raised on science fiction.
I'll be more specific here: I think I've seen one of the Star Wars films (the one about the kid who apparently grows up to become the villain in the other films). I have enough cursory familiarity with the Star Trek franchise to be able to use phrases like "Spock bias" and make the occasional reference to the Starship Enterprise (except I later found out that the reference in that post was wrong, since the Enterprise is actually supposed to travel faster than light -- oops), but little more. I recall having enjoyed the "Tripod" series, and maybe one or two other, similar books, when they were read aloud to me in elementary school. And of course I like Yudkowsky's parables, including "Three Worlds Collide", as much as the next LW reader.
But that's about the extent of my personal acquaintance with the genre.
Now, people keep telling me that I should read more science fiction; in fact, they're often quite surprised that I haven't. So maybe, while we're doing these New Year's Resolutions, I can "resolve" to perhaps, maybe, some time, actually do that (if I can ever manage to squeeze it in between actually doing work and procrastinating on the Internet).
Problem is, there seems to be a lot of it out there. How would a newcomer know where to start?
Well, what better place to ask than here, a place where many would cite this type of literature as formative with respect to developing their saner-and-more-interesting-than-average worldviews?
Alicorn recommended John Scalzi (thanks). What say others?
I am a big fan of Isaac Asimov. Start with his best short story, which I submit as the best sci-fi short story of all time. http://www.multivax.com/last_question.html
I prefer this one, and yes, it really is that short.
Thanks, Brown wrote that in 1954, two years before Asimov wrote The Last Question. Do you think Asimov read Brown's story?
Asimov thought it was his best story, too (or at least his favorite). Can't say I disagree.
Ah yes, CronoDAS recommended that, too. (Sorry, I should have acknowledged!)
Oh! More Asimov, "I, Robot". Here the guy was talking about Friendly AI in 1942.
Not really; they're not decision theory stories. The Three Laws are adversarial injunctions that hide huge amounts of complexity under short English words like harm. It wouldn't actually work. It didn't even work in the story.
The whole point of the stories is that it doesn't work in the end, it is a case study in how not to do it. How it can go wrong. Obviously he didn't solve the problem. The first digital computer had just been constructed, what would you expect?
The FAI problem has nothing to do with digital computers. It's a math problem. You'd only need digital computers after you've solved the problem, to implement the solution.
Not that they weren't good stories, and not that I expect fiction authors to do their own basic research, but I wouldn't say they're about the Friendly AI problem.
It is most certainly not an academic look at the concept, but that doesn't mean he didn't play a role in bringing the concept to the public eye. It doesn't have to be a scientific paper to have a real influence on the idea.
Along those lines, I'd recommend the Metamorphosis of Prime Intellect. It's a short-novel length expression of an AI that gains control of all matter and energy in the universe while being constrained by Asimov's Three Laws.
It's available free online under copyright. http://www.kuro5hin.org/prime-intellect/
If you want to read a full length Asimov book, my personal recommendation is the End of Eternity. It has a rather unique take on time travel and functions well as a stand alone book. It has just been reprinted after being out of print for too long.
Foundation is his most well known novel and it also very much worth reading.
I can't find someone violating the copyright online with a quick Google, but Asimov's short story "The Last Answer" is also a good one with a different take on religion than "The Last Question".