Robopocalypse

Over at Intimate Strangers, I share a few thoughts about the unsettling nature of computers that play Jeopardy, and a TV show you can watch to further explore these ideas.

But the reader in me thought about books on a similar subject. One book I'm really looking forward to is Robopocalypse by Daniel Wilson that's coming this June from Doubleday. I have to admit, I love that title a ridiculous amount. Sometimes I just randomly insert it into conversation for fun. The film has already been optioned for film to be directed by Steven Spielberg. And I pretty much love the cover, too.



They are in your house. They are in your car. They are in the skies…Now they’re coming for you.


In the near future, at a moment no one will notice, all the dazzling technology that runs our world will unite and turn against us. Taking on the persona of a shy human boy, a childlike but massively powerful artificial intelligence known as Archos comes online and assumes control over the global network of machines that regulate everything from transportation to utilities, defense and communication. In the months leading up to this, sporadic glitches are noticed by a handful of unconnected humans – a single mother disconcerted by her daughter’s menacing “smart” toys, a lonely Japanese bachelor who is victimized by his domestic robot companion, an isolated U.S. soldier who witnesses a ‘pacification unit’ go haywire – but most are unaware of the growing rebellion until it is too late.

When the Robot War ignites -- at a moment known later as Zero Hour -- humankind will be both decimated and, possibly, for the first time in history, united. Robopocalypse is a brilliantly conceived action-filled epic, a terrifying story with heart-stopping implications for the real technology all around us…and an entertaining and engaging thriller unlike anything else written in years.


Sounds awesome.

But if June is too long a wait for you, you can check out Genesis by Bernard Beckett which is a slender book heavy on philosophical ideas. Unfortunately, I never reviewed it, but I did enjoy it. It's at a bargain price at Amazon right now, or you can ask your local bookseller if they carry it.

I know there are some other classic authors I've never read like Issac Asimov I've never read. (though I did see, I, Robot the movie. Also love Wall-E!)

What other good books about robot/computer uprisings have you read? Any others coming out I should look forward to?