Archive for January, 2008

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EP142: Artifice and Intelligence

 
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By Tim Pratt.
Read by Stephen Eley.
First appeared in Strange Horizons, August 2007.

Two months earlier, the vast network of Indian tech support call
centers and their deep data banks had awakened and announced its
newfound sentience, naming itself Saraswati and declaring its
independence. The emergent artificial intelligence was not explicitly
threatening, but India had nukes, and Saraswati had access to all the
interconnected technology in the country — perhaps in the world –
and the result in the international community was a bit like the
aftermath of pouring gasoline into an anthill. Every other government
on Earth was desperately — and so far fruitlessly — trying to create
a tame artificial intelligence, since Saraswati refused to negotiate
with, or even talk to, humans.

Rated PG. Contains some profanity and references to sex.

Referenced sites:
Sci Phi Show – Interview with Eliezer Yadkowski
The Singularity Institute

T.A. Pratt’s Marla Mason novels

Jan 25, 2008 | 25 comments View Post
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EP141: The Color of a Brontosaurus

 
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By Paul E. Martens.
Read by Stephen Eley.
Closing Music: “Better” by Jonathan Coulton.
First appeared in Andromeda Spaceways Inflight Magazine, Issue #29.

There was no doubt that the femur was that of a modern human. Not a proto-human, or some previously unknown dinosaur. Joel and Renee had arrived at the same answer. It was demonstrable, provable. When they finally did release news of the discovery, people might argue about it, but they’d be unable to refute it.

But how did they answer the next question? How did the bone come to be embedded in solid rock millions and millions of years before such a bone could have existed?

It had to be a time traveler. There was no other answer. Or was that just what he wanted to believe?

Rated PG. Contains some profanity and scientific politics.

Jan 18, 2008 | 29 comments View Post
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EP140: Astromonkeys!

 
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By Tony Frazier.
Read by Norm Sherman (of The Drabblecast).
First appeared in Jim Baen’s Universe, June 2006.

“All right, so I’m chasing these things down the
street, and there’s more showing up all the time, so
now there’s like ten of them. I have no idea how I’m
supposed to wrangle all these space monkeys, and right
about then is when this dude comes swooping down out
of the sky, wearing this blue costume with a big
yellow star on his chest.”

“Another hero,” Jill says.

“Guy named Astro,” I say. “I’d run into him a
few times before, back when GoDS 1.0 was still
together. He would be fighting this monster – that was
his thing, fighting these random space monsters – and
we’d show up to help out. I thought he was okay, but
the other guys didn’t like him much.”

“Why not?” Jill asks.

“Well, he was kind of a dork. No offense,” I
say, turning to Dave. Dave waves it off.

Rated PG. Contains some profanity, some scatology, and a lot of silly superhero violence.

Referenced Sites:

John W. Campbell Award for Best New Writer

Mur Lafferty

Jan 11, 2008 | 21 comments View Post
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EP139: Acephalous Dreams

 
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By Neal Asher.
Read by Stephen Eley.

“AI Geronamid has need of a subject for a scientific trial. This trial may kill you, in which case it would be considered completion of sentence. Should you survive, all charges against you will be dropped.”

“And the nature of this trial?”

“Cephalic implantation of Csorian node.”

“Okay, I agree, though I have no idea what Csorian node is.”

The Golem stood and as she did so the door slid open. Daes glanced up at the security eye in the corner of the cell and stood also. He thought, briefly, about escape, but knew he stood no chance. His companion might look like a teenage girl but he knew she was strong enough to rip him in half.

“You didn’t tell me. What’s a Csorian node?”

“If we knew that with any certainty we would not be carrying out this trial,” replied the Golem.

Rated R. Contains scenes of strong graphic violence and sexual assault.

Jan 04, 2008 | 30 comments View Post