March 2015

Triggers by Robert J. Sawyer

0

The novel “Triggers” by Robert J. Sawyer was published for the first time in 2012.

US President Seth Jerrison is the victim of an assassination attempt while is giving a speech in Washington DC. He’s immediately taken to a hospital, where he undergoes a delicate surgery. During the operation, a new attack causes the destruction of the White House and the electromagnetic pulse caused by the bomb also affects the power grid.

In the same hospital, Professor Ranjip Singh is conducting an experiment on memory. It aims to help soldiers suffering from post-traumatic stress disorder by eliminating their most traumatic memories. The electromagnetic pulse caused by the attack heavily influences the equipment, creating a link between the memories of various people in the hospital. Having access to the memories of another person can create complications, especially since there is a person who has access to the memories of the president, including the top secret ones.

0

The story “Life of the Author plus 70” by Kenneth Schneyer was published for the first time in 2013.

Eric Weiss is a writer who had no success. He’s the only person to have borrowed his own novel from the local library after he suggested buying it. Eventually, he had to adapt to working for a creative department of cartoons. By signing his contract he noticed the curious clause that includes the possibility for him to get hibernated in case of life threats.

Things to improve for Weiss but after ten years he gets warned that he never returned the book he borrowed. The fine to be paid is $102,400 and Weiss’ attempts to amicably solve the situation only make it worse. His case is handled by an artificial intelligence and it’s impossible to talk to a human being. Weiss is forced to try every loophole to try not to pay an awful lot of money.

Bradley Horowitz with his wife Irene Au

3

Bradley Horowitz is the new head of Google+ and announced various changes to Google’s social network. The platform will be split into separate areas where the Photos service will be devoted to image management, Streams will keep Google+ core and Hangouts while the service that should be devoted to audio / video communications and the classic text messaging.

An Atari 2600 console

0

DeepMind Technologies, a company that develops artificial intelligence acquired by Google a little over a year ago, is developing a machine that can play with 49 classic video games of the Atari 2600 console. This system, called Deep Q-network (DQN), achieved a great ability to play, even exceeding the capacity of human beings. So far nothing strange since by now computers can beat humans in complex games but the important fact is that this artificial intelligence learned to on its own.