bnieman

Information has had an amazing evolution, and AI will evolve it faster in the future

Revisado: 05-11-25

Great discussion of how humans have evolved information networks that control how humans, their societies and their religious and political organizations develop. Very well performed. everything in the book leads to the discussion of how information networks that have been developed and moderated by humans always, are on the cusp of being developed and moderated by AI machines. The question how goals for these machines will be determined and controlled is very interesting. As is the question how much AI machines will evolve independently of humans. Very interesting reading.

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Tragedy, Complacence, Predation, Resilience

Revisado: 04-17-25

Despite the ending on a note of resilience, the story is mostly one of tragedy, complacence and predation. Told at a high level, detailing government action and inaction. But also at the personal level of a handful of resilient survivors. More detail than I needed, but scope shows the author’s passion and scholarship. Performance was very good.

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Cast Increible, A Fish Story

Revisado: 03-16-25

There is plenty to enjoy in this story, as with the weaving together of the various character story lines. But I frequently found myself gagging on the “biggest in life” stories of the characters. Eccentric, brilliant, hyper curious, inner muse-driven, tortured souls - people who should be Marvel comic characters. Their stories all became too much for me.

Performances were all good, although I struggled with Evelyne’s French accent.

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Long, complex history of the land now home to 1.3 billion people

Revisado: 02-22-25

I decided to read this to learn about the country where many of my colleagues/friends have their origins, now a country wanting to grow and flex national power. I barely realized for most of the book that the India I was reading about was a much greater part of South Asia than the artifact of colonial meddling called India today. I also wanted to understand how India evolved to have a Hindu and Muslim identity. Going back 4.5 billion years to the present, the authors presented rich detail in an economical manner to answer my key questions and to give a thoughtful summary of how the area evolved through ages, empires and kingdoms, creating the cultural and political elements of today’s India. The detail of geography, leaders and cultural elements were a challenge to follow at times, but the info I hoped to find was there, and more.

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Tedious, Humorless, Self-Indugent, But A Few Interesting Ideas

Revisado: 01-09-25

This would have made a decent 30-page book. There are some interesting ideas discussed in it, though not very interestingly. The ideas are delivered in 1-10 minute slivers with “ironic” titles for each. A key point of the book seems to be that financial traders are stupid, excepting the author, because they believe that their skill is responsible for any success they have, rather than random good luck: From a selection of 1000 traders, 300 or so will be successful over a five to seven year period simply by luck. The author is clever in his understanding of randomness. So he mostly spends his time reading: philosophy, or poetry. Occasionally he will perform some Monte Carlo simulations that tell him to look for the rarely occurring, large reward event to bet on. Or he will write a book, then remove from his Contacts a publisher too dull to publish him. I admit, I couldn’t get to the end of the book, except by sampling random sections to see if it ever became enjoyable. Maybe you will enjoy it more.

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esto le resultó útil a 2 personas

Well Told Story of A Great American River

Revisado: 12-19-24

This is a well told story, full of interesting details about human interaction and attempts to control the river. History, engineering, politics and ecology all interwoven. The performance was excellent. Fun read.

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Enjoyed Learning About Humboldt

Revisado: 07-02-24

This was an informative story about Humboldt, a highly energetic and insightful scientist/explorer, his relationship with Goethe, and his influence on Darwin, Heckel, Thoreau and Muir. I didn’t appreciate the long summaries of his influencees as much as the author probably wished me to. I would have more preferred more detail about Humboldt and his historical period - though there is a satisfying amount already - and a compact summary of his influences. Performance was fitting for the story.

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Inventive Story About Our AI Future.

Revisado: 06-04-24

For the first several chapters I thought I would be able to suggest this to my eight-year-old niece. Only after it became clear that the relationship between human and artificial intelligence was being explored did I really start to engage. The performance was engaging throughout and brought Kara to life, carrying the story for me throughout. Fun story that I would recommend to friends.

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Has all the great elements of a novel

Revisado: 05-17-24

The story has great characters, well revealed by wonderful language (in two dialects), and unexpected story turns that make for a thrilling tale. The performance is one that really helps make the characters come alive. Very enjoyable and recommended.

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Well Told Story of Earth’s Evolution

Revisado: 05-09-24

I’m a former geologist. But I was trained in a narrow segment of the field, apparently. I learned so much about the first three billion years of Earth history and its relationship to the solar system. Particularly the evolution of elements, minerals, and to some extent, rocks. Hazen frequently surprised me by the breadth of details he integrated into the story. Seemed to work hard to present competitive theories objectively. I enjoyed the book a lot.

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