A.I. reviewed The Amaranth Chronicles: Deviant Rising by Alexander Barnes and Christopher Preiman

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A.I. Reviews The Amaranth Chronilces: Deviant Rising

Alexander Barnes

Some say the creation of a truly intelligent, sentient, A.I., would be man’s last achievement. That it would grow by leaps and bounds to a level of complexity and sophistication that would so completely outpace us that we, the human race, would be dissolved into the darkness of the universe, having served only as a progenitor of an omniscient entity. Elon Musk says it’s right around the corner…

But that’s like calling an animatronic Bullwinkle moose the precursor to the Terminator...

Let me explain. We have so little understanding of what sentience actually is, and with us as our only template, we’re thousands of years away from creating anything with the sufficient genius comparable to the kid in the back of the short school bus licking the window. What we should be afraid of isn’t A.I., taking over the world, making mankind obsolete, we should be scared of people relying on A.I., more and more for things they should be able to do themselves. That is, if they would just put their phone down and take their hand out of their pants. Artificial Intelligence isn’t getting smarter, we are getting dumber. Enter the wonderful world of A.I., article writer from AI-writer.com

I think we’ve all dreamed of having a robot that would make our lives easier but A.I.-Writer.com boasts its robo-genius will take the heavy lifting of having to be witty and creative off your back by scouring the internet for any topic you so desire. After parsing Google's top hits, it presents to you an “auto-blog” that you can then post making all of your borderline illiterate friends, sitting there on their phones with their hand down their pants, think you’re a literary genius. 

But not really…

I used it recently to “generate a comprehensive analysis and report” of The Amaranth Chronicles: Deviant Rising. No, I'm not just hurt the review was a bit scathing, I’m hurt there are a bunch of engineers marveling at their genius, believing they are summoning fire from the gods with the shit that came spilling out the other end like a tipped over porta potty at the county fair.

To be honest, I’m not even sure who I'm writing this post for. Maybe it’s that I’m so sick and tired of hearing the “thunderlust” of everyone talking about how A.I. is about to take over when that is so not true. A.I., is a marketing term to get funding from investors that wish they had put money down on the social media goldrush of the early 2000’s.

“A.I., is a work in progress, and it is currently growing and will one-day supersede us.”

Sorry, not buying it. Once again that’s man’s hubris believing we are divine fallen angels whittling the wood of creation. We are actually closer to the drunk frat boy ordering an Ironman costume from wish.com only to receive a flea market quality action figure labeled “Hero-man”. The problem with building an A.I., that could, at bare minimum, convince you it was a person sitting there on their phone with their hand down its pants, is that the human condition itself is so poorly understood. 

The Greek philosopher Socrates is credited as the father of Western Philosophy and as being the very first moral philosopher who grappled with ideas of ethics and the human condition, and half of college graduates pronounce his name “So-crates”. While I am thankful for most of Keanu Reeves contributions to our shared lexicon, this is not one of them. #The80’s 

If the act of being self aware was understood enough to recreate it, there would no longer be substance abuse counselors trying to keep patients from relapsing and relying nearly completely on self-report with each change in prescription. A.I., is not an engineering, or even philosophical problem, but rather a limitation of how we currently perceive and understand what sentience is.

It’s not just replicating pattern recognition and problem solving skills inside of a digital environment, especially when our consciousness is more of an analogue process, but the “interdisciplinary” foundation that would be needed to start truly understanding it hasn’t been invented yet. Imagine having a PhD in computer science, psychology, philosophy and a host of other avenues of understanding ourselves and the color wheel of the human condition. If getting to a certain point where we can rethink the siloed nature of traditional education and come up with something more efficient that would possess the necessary skills to create a human like A.I, why would we want too? We are all already here. Wouldn’t it only serve to make us more understanding and curious about ourselves? Wouldn’t it make us more understanding and curious about each other? Wouldn’t it make us appreciate each other more? The entire idea of creating a robot becomes obsolete. That was a twist you didn’t see coming, huh? But I digress…

I wrote about A.I, or something like it, trying to take over the future world Chris and I created in the Amaranth Chronicles: Deviant Rising because I thought it was entertaining. Here is what the A.I., thinks of The Amaranth Chronicles: Deviant Rising:

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A.I.- Writer.com Master Thesis On: The Amaranth Chronicles Book By Alexander Barnes And Christopher Preiman

I call this book a "good read" And it's definitely a genre book, but not everyone will like it. This novel is revered by readers of science fiction classics and is a great introduction to a universe where freedom still exists a little. The captivating beginning and the action-packed ending will delight every reader. [Sources: 2, 3]

The dialogue and interaction are excellent, especially between Aurelius and his companions, and there is a freshness and a sense of reality in the wok. It's an entertaining read, even after the first two-thirds, in which we get to know the characters. The characters and the world are explored, but not too much in terms of plot or character development. [Sources: 3]    

But at the second - third mark, the story becomes a faster - faster - predictable battle scenario, and the fun is quickly disregarded and left over, which made me excited about how quickly such an interesting story could go south. The only problem is that the plot only sees important characters in the last moments (or a few), and we really need Paul and Nyreen at this point. After I finished the book and realized how much I loathed Lithias actions, it was probably a blessing in disguise. [Sources: 0, 3]    

Soldiers who gave her a crucial role again, which she was far from ready to take on. The characters in Deviant Rising are so well developed that they give up their lives to be taken care of by the reader, and although Cade has many improvements, they are not always good or bad. The individual character voice is not bad, since almost all the protagonists are male, except Lithia. [Sources: 0, 3]    

For those who still cling to the ideal of freedom, the network is a threat they do not want to give in to. While the world's poorest citizens have shown a willingness to acquire the most powerful weapons and equipment at their disposal, those in the colonies who respect their independence are prepared to resist, and are certain of, compulsory carrying orders. [Sources: 2, 3]    

I still believe that those who are interested in the genre and those who are interested in historical fiction like this novel and are not impressed by its flaws. I will classify every act of the book, the first would get a three star, the middle four star, and the last act deserves a star. [Sources: 0, 2]    

The afterword gives Aurelius and Lithia the chance to express their attraction to each other and convey a touch of pseudo-romance. Later, the story is essentially just slowed down and you're in it. It is written in the same style as the first act of the book, but with a slightly different tone and plot. [Sources: 0, 3]    

I gave him a pass because he didn't let his toughness be clear and said he was scared and didn't want to fight when Bobby wasn't in danger, but I'm going to give him the pass. I gave her a passport because she went to the church garden and fought with him instead of fighting him in front of his family and friends, which she did. [Sources: 0]    

I assured her that she could make the journey and she knew it would bring back memories. If the time machine was real, I could have gone back and told her that I really appreciate this afternoon with my family. [Sources: 1]    

Instead, I had to believe that she had not only learned how to become a trained shooter with a single shot in a carnival game, but had also developed a killer instinct to put an end to her life. She once told how she was sickened by a man who had just lost his head in a shooting, and moments later was shot dead by a troop of advancing Marines. I doubt that any worker in my profession would allow a stranger to come in and be part of such a crucial task in their chosen profession. And I would never let an untested civilian get into a situation like SGT Clemons's. [Sources: 0]    

As the small, sparkling light in my field of vision assembled a series of numbers and arranged small computer-aided helix symbols, ice - cold water ran down my back. I held her arm-length for a moment and examined her face before letting go. As a few soft tears pearled over her eyes, the hold I was standing in began to blur. She grabbed the earring and ran her finger around the outer edge until it covered the length of her ear and finally came out of the loop at the foot of each earlobe. [Sources: 1]    

She threw dirt into the hole I had made in the large pot in which the flowers sat, and she thought she smelled and sneezed and picked petals from every flower the universe had to offer, but she had never seen one like it. [Sources: 1]    

Even after all this time, she could still remember the little dolphin wind chimes that hung on the porch. She remembered how high the roof of the dome in which she had lived appeared to her, how the glass shone in the night, and she remembered leaning against the hill behind the house and wondering if the sky above other planets beyond the earth was as beautiful. [Sources: 1]

    Sources:

    [0]: https://www.goodreads.com/en/book/show/36619668

    [1]: https://reedsy.com/discovery/book/the-amaranth-chronicles-deviant-rising-alexander-barnes

    [2]: https://yourfirstreview.com/the-amaranth-by-alexander-barnes-and-christopher-preiman/

    [3]: https://www.audible.com/pd/The-Amaranth-Chronicles-Deviant-Rising-Audiobook/B07L18NC9G

The Amaranth Chronicles: Deviant Rising

By Barnes, Alexander, Preiman, Christopher

Buy on Amazon

While not the endorsement I was hoping for, and the fact the A.I. talks about time travel, which never happens in the book, feel free to grab a paperback, epub or the professionally read audio book version of The Amaranth Chronicles: Deviant Rising.

About The Amaranth Chronicles: Deviant Rising

After a culture of surveillance has taken control of the galaxy, it’s up to an eclectic group of misfits from disparate corners of the cosmos to rediscover the forbidden concepts of life, love and liberty.

The Helix was created to revolutionize the way we communicate. But even the purest of intentions can spawn terrible evil.

Lithia Boson never wanted to join some grand rebellion against evil, she just wanted to escape from her abusive aunt Petra and take her little brother Bobby with her but when the United Planets of Earth find out that the lone passenger on her little cargo ship is a rogue agent from the U.P.E. with knowledge of exactly how deep the government’s control of society goes, she isn’t given a choice.

Far from home and no one she can call on, Lithia must turn to a group of ragtag freedom fighters and refugees for help but who can she really trust when they are the reason her life stands in ruins and she doesn’t even know where her brother is.

Out among the planets of the frontier Lithia is caught up in events far bigger than herself and that she doesn’t really understand but Lithia has always been a survivor and to rescue her brother Lithia will find strength she never knew she had and go further than she ever thought possible.