REVIEW SUMMARY: 3 exceptional stories + 7 good stories + 5 stories mediocre or worse = a good set of stories.

MY RATING:

BRIEF SYNOPSIS: Fifteen original stories centered on the theme of artificial intelligence.

MY REVIEW:

PROS: 10 stories good or better; despite the common theme, many diverse stories are presented.

CONS: 5 stories mediocre or worse.

BOTTOM LINE: A good set of stories around the idea of artificial intelligence.

We Think Therefore We Are is a science fiction anthology edited by Peter Crowther that is centered on the theme of artificial intelligence. Despite that one theme, the stories presented offer a nice variety of plots and tone. Flavors range from classic sf tropes (Stephen Baxter’s thorough “Tempest 43″ and Eric Brown’s wonderful “Salvage Rites”) to lighter and more meta-fictional entries (“Adam Robots” by Adam Roberts and “The New Cyberiad” by Paul Di Filippo). Perhaps not surprisingly, Asimov’s Three Laws of Robotics come into play in two of the stories (Brian Stableford’s “The Highway Code” and Chris Roberson’s “Dragon King of the Eastern Sea”). The wide range of ideas presented make for a good collection, even if some of the stories were less entertaining than others. But the ones that worked – particularly Keith Brooke’s awesome take on uploaded consciousness, “Sweats” – worked really well. Rounding out the anthology, Paul McAuley gives an interesting introduction that talks about artificial intelligence in science and media.

Standout stories in this volume include:

  • “Salvage Rites” by Eric Brown
  • “Adam Robots” by Adam Roberts
  • “Sweats” by Keith Brooke

Individual story reviews follow…


Stephen Baxter’s “Tempest 43″ takes us to an AI-controlled weather satellite whose purpose is to prevent hurricanes by beaming microwaves into the Atlantic Ocean to redistribute its heat. A U.N. Representative and a Historian are tasked with discovering why the satellite failed to prevent a devastating hurricane. The satellite is manned by a prisoner who was bio-engineered – a technology that has since been outlawed – and was pioneered by the now-defunct company who built the satellite. Baxter uses the Historian to inject heavy doses of well-conceived world building into a mystery that’s ultimately easily-guessable. (Come on…a sentient AI named CAL?)

Brian Stableford applies Asimov’s Three Laws of Robotics to sentient trucks in his story “The Highway Code”. Tom Haste is a long haul truck that wrestles with the Code to the point of needed psychotherapy. But the true test comes on one of the transcontinental bridges where Tom must act quickly to avoid disaster. This is a straightforward and lighthearted story.

In “Salvage Rites” by Eric Brown, the three crewmembers (two human, one AI) of a salvage tug locate a spaceship sent out 500 years before on a mission to find God. The captain, Ed, is enraptured by the discovery, hoping it can provide answers to his sister’s accidental death years before. But his Discovery may spell doom for the Earth. The author takes this strong premise and layers other interesting elements into the mix, like the intriguing relationship between Ed and Ella, the human-like AI that acts as crewmember. As the rue nature of the monastery ship becomes apparent, the narrative crescendos into a dramatic, page-turning treat that was simply hard to put down.

James Lovegrove’s meta-fictitious “The Kamikaze Code” reveals the truth behind a government group that hires writers to short stories. The engaging mystery of the story is marred only by its explanation, which is more fantasy than science fiction.

“Adam Robots” by Adam Roberts (whose title is the latest in a line of meta-fictional musings by this author) gives us a robot version of the Adam & Eve story. Adam, a robot, is told by his human creator that is to avoid examining a jewel which will grant him knowledge of what it means to be human. The way the robot wrestles with the idea of free will is nicely done and the ending offers up an unexpected twist that tops off a great short story.

A miner named Malcolm creates an AI from the leftover parts of other AIs in “Seeds” by Tony Ballantyne. The story focuses on Malcolm’s relationship with the AI named Aelous and, to a lesser extent, with Susan, a scientist working with Von Neumann Machines. It soon gives way to a wrestling of control (or freedom, depending on your point of view). Some interesting ideas, to be sure, but the blurry plot and extraneous talk of ownership shares ultimately left me feeling lukewarm.

In “Lost Places of the Earth” by Steven Utley, a cartographer seduces a younger student amidst a virtual map of the Paleolithic era, while the professor’s holographic doppelganger espouses lots of information about the era. This is not a bad story, but it’s not a particularly good one either.

“The Chinese Room” by Marly Youmans is based upon the thought experiment by John Searle, who (go, go, gadget Wikipedia!) attempts to show that “a symbol-processing machine like a computer can never be properly described as having a ‘mind’ or ‘understanding’, regardless of how intelligently it may behave.” Had I known that beforehand, I might have enjoyed this story more, which ends up reading like a biography of a few uninteresting characters doing uninteresting things.

Robert Reed’s story “Three Princesses” mixes together ecological disaster and cosmetic surgery in a so-so tale of contemplation by a father who waits in line at an amusement park with his daughter. I can’t say these elements gelled well for me. Reed has wowed me much more than this.

Paul Di Filippo takes us to the far, far future in “The New Cyberiad,” a story in which two super-advanced God-like artificial intelligences seek to spice up their ordinary and predictable lives by re-introducing their long-lost creators (humans, also knows as palefaces) into the world. To do so requires an inordinately long and complex plan, so as to make the problem more interesting to their infallible ways. What ensues is a comedy of errors that highlights the author’s ability to take Big Ideas and spin them into a fun tale – partly wondrous, partly tongue-in-cheek – that sure to please. Bonus points for several meta-science-fictional references.

In “That Laugh” by Patrick O’Leary, a psychologist engages in a conversation with what he thinks is a person (he receives answers through a speaker) but is most likely an artificial intelligence being developed or investigated by the U.S. government. I’m not entirely sure I know anything more about the actual scenario than the confused psychologist. There were some genuinely chilling moments, to be sure, usually emphasized by an unnerving psychotic laugh — but overall the story left me scratching my head.

“Alles in Ordnung” by Garry Kilworth is a short, serviceable story – a one-sided conversation, really – about a man who suspects a super-organized farmer (hence the title, which means “Everything is in order”) of being an alien. This is amusing in its own right, with an ending that echoes the short fiction of yesteryear.

Keith Brooke takes uploaded consciousness for a memorable ride in “Sweats,” a story that knocked me for the proverbial loop. The premise is both intriguing and thought-provoking. This is a future where the rich inhabit the bodies of the poor through downloaded consciousness, free to do whatever they wish (and whatever they want to avoid with their own bodies). A murder raises some great issues about culpability and, at the same time, poses a mystery that entrenches you within the story. This story takes place in the universe set forth in his novel The Accord, a consensus-based virtual reality Heaven. I have not read that book but now I want to do so very soon. (Possibly bad news for me, this story takes place after the book. I hope I didn’t run across any spoilers!) At any rate, excellent story!

“Some Fast Thinking Needed” by Ian Watson concerns 5 artificial intelligences based on the 5 clones of one woman. Their mission is to communicate with an alien artificial intelligence, along the way pontificating on matters philosophical. While the driving mystery of the alien AI’s purpose is worthwhile, the story, with clunky verbiage to boot, does little to answer any of the questions raised.

Chris Roberson’s “Dragon King of the Eastern Sea” is another excellent story set in his Celestial Empire future history. It’s also an homage to Isaac Asimov’s robot short stories, complete with a ship’s computer that finds itself unable to reconcile its own Imperial version of the Three Laws of Robotics (known here as the Three Governing Virtues of Machine Intelligence). The mystery is a decent one once revealed, but it comes late in the story; until then it’s just the Chief Operator trying to make sense out of the seeming mumbo jumbo of randomly chosen historical passages. A nice touch was the idea of history being the story that best serves the present rather than being based on facts — a supposition that comes into play in the story itself.

Related posts:

  1. REVIEW: Infinities edited by Peter Crowther
  2. REVIEW: Pandora’s Star by Peter F. Hamilton
  3. RETRO-REVIEW: A Second Chance at Eden by Peter F. Hamilton
  4. REVIEW: Judas Unchained by Peter F. Hamilton
  5. REVIEW: The Dreaming Void by Peter F. Hamilton

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