This book was ok. Borrowed heavily from Tolkien in spots but all and all it's still a good read.
Great concept, loved it.
interesting twist brining new tech into old wolrd action
Caverns of Socrates is a mix of the author's excitement on delving into the different philosophies of reality, the mind, and the brain: whether the individual nature of a human is based on the biological makeup of the body, or whether the body houses something more - the soul, which makes us the persons we are.
This is mixed in with a "normal fantasy" tale of a group of fantasy game players who are asked to test the ultimate virtual reality game that is created by the first artificial intelligence created reality. The players don't "play" their characters, rather, they BECOME them, until the game is over...
All that could go wrong does, as is the case in ALL artificial intelligence novels. (Why do the AI's that we create always turn on us in fiction? Is this a innate hatred we have for ourselves, expressed in fiction?...I digress...)
I found the book good, but a little overwhelming. The author attempts to immerse you in the virtual world by using words in the writing that you wouldn't understand without context. Add this to the advanced philosophic conversations, the advanced technical details of running an AI, it was a little annoying and overwhelming. Just my opinion.
On the positive side, despite the things I didn't like, I couldn't leave the novel unread. It was a good story that I would have liked to be a little easier to read. The subject of artificial intelligence, and the technical aspects of bringing it to life and the philosophic discussion was a little much to take on, but I think if you like either one or both, you should try the book. I read it to the end...though I thought I wouldn't at the beginning!
This is mixed in with a "normal fantasy" tale of a group of fantasy game players who are asked to test the ultimate virtual reality game that is created by the first artificial intelligence created reality. The players don't "play" their characters, rather, they BECOME them, until the game is over...
All that could go wrong does, as is the case in ALL artificial intelligence novels. (Why do the AI's that we create always turn on us in fiction? Is this a innate hatred we have for ourselves, expressed in fiction?...I digress...)
I found the book good, but a little overwhelming. The author attempts to immerse you in the virtual world by using words in the writing that you wouldn't understand without context. Add this to the advanced philosophic conversations, the advanced technical details of running an AI, it was a little annoying and overwhelming. Just my opinion.
On the positive side, despite the things I didn't like, I couldn't leave the novel unread. It was a good story that I would have liked to be a little easier to read. The subject of artificial intelligence, and the technical aspects of bringing it to life and the philosophic discussion was a little much to take on, but I think if you like either one or both, you should try the book. I read it to the end...though I thought I wouldn't at the beginning!
The best one I have read from him.
