If you’re breathing, you’re aware of the AI boom we are going through at this moment in time. You’ve heard AI is either going to ginzu-knife chop us up into little pieces destroying human civilization.
Or...
It’s going to solve all of our problems while we sit back and drink AI-prepared Mai-Tai’s and indulge in our secret-est of secret fantasies.
It’s usually an either-or situation, with tech-billionaires lining up on either side, slinging mud, and challenging each other to fights.
It’d be better if we, society, understood AI, just a little better, so we can at least pick a side. But who wants to read academic papers on neural networks, and LLM’s, transformers, or predictive algorithms (I mean, I do, but that’s another story)?
So try these books and graphic novels (don’t be a snob, graphic novels are just books with pictures). They’ll educate you, present some philosophical question to ponder, and are a helluva lot more fun to read than the latest from the MIT AI lab.
Let the learning begin:
Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep? by Philip K. Dick — This book was adapted into the cult-classic Blade Runner. The books are always better than the movies with the possible exception of The Swiss Family Robinson. Delves into the nature of being human. Is an android that looks human, acts human, and exhibits human like emotions a human? Your choice.
Alex + Ada by Jonathan Luna and Sarah Vaughn — Graphic Novels warning. It comes with pictures. It's a similar theme — AI consciousness — but also delves into consent. Is there such a thing as consent for an android/AI. Artwork is spectacular, clean, and a perfect fit to the story. If you want to jump straight to the complete set click here.
Descender by Jeff Lemire and Dustin Nguyen — This is one of the best and a must read for every AI/Sci-fi obsessed person out there. What does it means to be sentient? How do you cope with existential dread? How do robots cope? What's the survival rate for humans and robots in a hostile environment? It’s filled with questions. You'll be filling in the answers. The illustrations are watercolor style paintings and flat-out fun to view. And they fit perfectly with the story. Pictures. Words. Together.
Transmetropolitan by Warren Ellis and Darick Robertson — This is a slap-in-the-face, non-pc, AI’s going to ruin us type story. Spider Jerusalem (I know, great name), is a futuristic, cyberpunk-ish version of Hunter Thompson. Story slams together AI, politics, and the media. Graphic style artwork suits this not for the easily offended readers story.
Neuromancer by William S. Gibson — The grand-daddy of AI stories was written before we even had an internet. It birthed the term cyberspace and invented the cyber punk genre. It’ll be on every tech-person’s favorite book list. Sorry, but AI is cooler, smarter, and probably better looking than you in this one.
There you go. These stories will entertain you, make you smarter, and perhaps a little paranoid about using AI in that new talking refrigerator you were contemplating.
Want one last bonus story:
Try Paper Girls by Brian K. Vaughn and Cliff Chiang — It’s a smash up of 80’s nostalgia, girl power, robots, and futuristic tech.
Enjoy.
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