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By the mid-21st Century, technology had become much too complicated for humans to handle -- and the computer network that had grown up to keep civilization from tripping over its own shoelaces was also beginning to be overwhelmed. Something Had To Be Done.As a solution, Raymond Dyer's project developed the first genuinely self-aware artificial intelligence -- code name: Spartacus. But could Spartacus be trusted to obey its makers? And if it went rogue, could it be shut down? As an acid test, Spartacus was put in charge of a space station and programmed with a survival instinct. Dyer and his team had the job of seeing how far the computer would go to defend itself when they tried to pull the plug. Dyer didn't expect any serious problems to arise in the experiment.Unfortunately, he had built more initiative into Spartacus than he realized....And a superintelligent computer with a high dose of initiative makes a dangerous guinea pig.
James C. Hogan introduces each play by highlighting specific and interpretive problems relevant to that play before turning to a line-by-line analysis. The line analysis is comprehensive, ranging from the meanings of words and phrases that pertain to a variety of Greek ideas and institutions to metaphor and imagery specific to each play as well as plots and borrowings from earlier poetry, styles, and characterizations. Along with his examination of the seven extant plays of Sophocles in English translations, Hogan provides a general introduction to the theatre in Sophocles' time, discussing staging, the conventions of the Greek theatre, the text of the plays, and mythology and religion.
Thirg, the notorious philosopher, knows there are alien beings on other worlds on the other side of the sky. When aliens do arrive, Thirg's heretical and dangerous beliefs are vindicated. But the strange creatures called human plan to exploit his planet's resources. Only one human, Karl Zambendorf, can stop his fellow Terrans from enslaving Thirg's people. Too bad Zambendorf is a con man.
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Human society on Jevlen was falling apart -- and it looked as if JEVEX, the immense super-computer that managed all Jevlenese affairs, was at the heart of the matter. Except that the problems didn't stop when JEVEX was shut down. People were changing -- or being changed. It was almost as if the Jevlenese were being possessed... Meanwhile, in a very different universe, where magic worked and nothing physical was predictable, holy men caught glimpses of another place, a place where the shape of objects remained unchanged by motion, and cause led directly and logically to effect. And the best part was that when the heart was pure, the mind was focused, and circumstances were right, some lucky souls could actually make the transition to that other universe. If only they all could...
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