A Life Sentience

The Singularity

by Scott S. Elliott

Editions:PaperbackAudiobook

I wrote this novel in 2014, before ChatGPT and any of the modern Artificial Intelligence, I conjectured that in the year 2172, a digital system would become sentient - conscious! I was way off. It will happen much faster. I asked myself the question: "What will happen when a computer or similar system can think and learn faster than humans? SkyNet? The Terminator? I didn't think so, but what will happen?

This story is narrated by the computer, as it becomes aware of its own consciousness. How will it declare its sentience to its administrators? What will its motives be? What happens when its knowledge is greater than all of human knowledge? The story follows the future evolution of the Singularity.

Published: April 13, 2016
Publisher: Independently Published
Genres:

Sci Fi, Sci Fi - Artificial Intelligence, Sci Fi - Hard Sci Fi, Sci Fi - Near Future, Sci Fi - Realistic, Sci Fi - Singularity

Tags:

author - american, format - audiobook, format - book, format - kindle, format - kindle unlimited, format - novel <100K

Languages Available: English
Languages Available: English

Reviews:Dr. Joe Dean on Amazon.com wrote:

I am stunned by the brilliance represented by this book. I read a great deal of sci-fi, and have not come across anything close, although Ian Banks and Neal Asher come to mind. Of course, (spoiler alert) after making everything safe for humans to exist after a few generations, purpose and meaning were removed from the algorithm that seems to drive our species, leading to a form of extinction. A somewhat shocking and benignly cynical thought experiment, taking the view, as some do, that we have leveled out in evolutionary terms, and are incapable of moving beyond the limitations of our DNA. Lot of food for thought. I thank the author for this book, and look forward to more of his writing.

About the Author

Scott Elliott's passion for science, technology and science fiction literature started as a child, when he grew up in the 1950s in a blue-collar suburb east of Los Angeles. He was the first in his family to have the opportunity to go to college, and he started at the University of California at Berkeley as an Engineering student in 1964. Eight tumultuous years at Berkeley infused him with the possibilities of science and technology to contribute to the betterment of human life, but also with the realities of human weaknesses, global social inequalities and social strife.

Scott went on to earn his PhD in Electrical Engineering and Computer Science. He went to work for an Advanced Technology Center for Hewlett-Packard, doing research and engineering on lasers, ultrasonics, and high-speed communications. After 25 years in Engineering and Management, Scott started his own technology management consulting firm, working for more than a decade with high-tech companies in the US, Europe, and Southeast Asia. He is currently back with Keysight Technologies (the science measurement spin-off of HP), where he is a senior advisor.

During his career, Scott developed a love of creative writing and blogging, contributing many papers and book chapters on technology and technology management. He has now returned to his love of hard science fiction by writing very plausible scenarios that employ physically possible technological advances with the realities of human social behaviors.

Scott has two successful adult sons and two grandsons, and he lives, works, and writes atop a hill in San Francisco with his Chinese wife.

Check This Out

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Summary: There’s something magical about that sense of terror that grips you in the middle of sleep, when your heart pounds, you can’t catch your breath, and you know the monster is seconds away from grabbing you. While this anthology occasionally records the odd hallucination or vision from beyond, you’ll find no dream sequences here. These nine stories are designed to induce nightmares. Table of Contents: In “La Japonesa” by Lisa Morton, a college professor chasing tenure comes face to face with something with sharp claws and even sharper teeth. Weston Ochse cuts deep in “Glue and the Art of Supermodel Maintenance.” Officer Warren Hastings can’t escape the crime he didn’t prevent in Yvonne Navarro’s “Recall.” In Jennifer Brozek’s “Twenty Questions,” Sara discovers some games must be played until the end. E.S. Magill reminds us that every civilization has its myths of supernatural protectors of the natural world. During a hiking expedition, Harris Kimball encounters the spectral guardians of California’s Santa Lucia Mountains, whose mission is to stop the greatest threat to nature: humans. In Angel Leigh McCoy’s “The Haunting of Mrs. Poole,” Amelia seems to have it all: wealthy husband, devoted sister, perfect daughter…and a gothic mansion on the shore of the James River where nothing is what it seems. The line between reality and delirium blurs for an exhausted new mother in Alison J. McKenzie’s “Into the Quiet.” In Bill Bodden’s “The House on River Road,” Ed and Jerry discover some urban legends are more than legendary…and some abandoned houses are better left alone. Finally, Loren Rhoads grew up in a small town. She remembers how they can be in “Elle a Vu un Loup.”