Computer One

by Warwick Collins

On a California campus in the early years of the twenty-first century, Professor Enzo Yakuda is on the verge of retirement. Although he is a Zen Buddhist, a lifetime's thought and study have led not to inner calm, but to an obsession which begins to haunt him and take over his life. Yakuda believes that he can prove that the self-repair function of Computer One, the international civil computer network which runs just about everything on the planet, will cause an inevitable confrontation with mankind. His nightmare, however, is that in raising the alarm about this hidden danger he will inevitably precipitate the annihilation of the entire human race.

Computer One is both a compelling novel and a terrifying scientific treatise on the near future. Its particular horror lies in the perfectly logical dreamworld of modern scientific theory, its compulsion deriving from a plot which moves like a Greek tragedy towards its chillingly inevitable climax.

This first American edition contains a long, previously unpublished account, written by the author, concerning both the controversial origins and the startling nature of this explosive novel.

Genres: Science Fiction, Fiction, Book Club

274 pages, Hardcover

First published January 1, 1993

Reviews

[Sarah Bronte Connor · Rating 5 out of 5]

Ok, this is my first review here....sorry for my bad English.

Even though this novel was written back in 1993/4, i just discovered this book like 2 years ago and then decide to buy it in amazon.
Anyway, this is my opinion of this novel...

if you really want to analyze about why was morally right for Skynet to try to eradicate us(humans)and the same philosophical question for the AI Hal 9000’s hostile approach toward its humans programmers and the AIs in GURPS Reign of Steel and cybrids from the game Starsiege that also in tried to exterminate mankind, etc...

THIS is the novel for such analytical subject.

The analysis that I’m telling you that was spoken in this novel was wrote in a very rational and scientific way in this book(in my opinion), and it is the same Darwinian’s survival of the fitness subject that is also debated just like in another hard scifi novel(this time of an alien invasion scenario) that I read not too long ago called The Killing Star(witch I also recommend to read it) by Charles R. Pellegrino and George Zebrowski.
This novel and The Killing Star novel both are REAL food for your mind or thoughts.

Of those who also like stories of machines vs humans’ apocalyptic and/or post-apocalyptic stories, you won’t regret buying this novel. Even mister Arthur C. Clarke read this novel(when it was just released and new) and seem also to like it since he quote for the novel in the same cover "It really scared me...move over Hal!".

I wish I could speak the author in person (by mail or chat) and congratulate him for such novel and express to him how much I like it.

Ok, that is my critic and opinion of the novel, bye.

[A. · Rating 1 out of 5]

Woooooooooooah. What a Rand-ical trip, dude! This book is chock-full of empty theorizing, people just yammering at one another over any sort of thing they feel like, and really, really bad computer talk. Gods, the author like learned nothing about either people or computers before starting this book. No one really talks to one another, they're just sounding boards for other people's discourse. And the CS is painfully poor. I think I'm now less scared of the internet killing everyone than I was before. It was like reading a book-length "Press Enter..." but not, because at least Varley knew what he was talking about. No one shall ever speak to me of this book again.

[Rob · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is one of the scariest books I have error read. Warrick is a modern George Orwell and this is one of a few selection of books that I have never had the guts to re-read.

I've worked as an IT engineer for 15 and the parallels with technological development are profound.

[Yevgeniy Brikman · Rating 3 out of 5]

The good

- An interesting premise of a single, super-powerful computer that all of humanity relies on... That goes rogue.

- The reasoning behind why the computer goes rogue is flushed out in an interesting way. I like the idea that it's hard to tell the difference between "aggression" versus an intelligent being proactively taking action to defend itself against some perceived threat. The computer, of course, believes that humans will eventually be a threat to it, so it takes action to eliminate humanity. This is similar to the Dark Forest theory in many other books, but at a more local scale.

The not so good

- The characters are two-dimensional.

- There is only one woman in the entire story, she has 0 speaking lines, and the only thing she does is have sex with two of the male characters.

- The description of how the computer and viruses work is... A bit odd.

- A lot of the (interesting) premise of the book is delivered in the form of an academic talk. It's a bit... dry.

[Laura Roslin · Rating 3 out of 5]

DNF Meh couldn't get into the characters

[George · Rating 5 out of 5]

Like a great Murakami novel only WAY more sad love it because it more like what would actually happen.

[Megan · Rating 2 out of 5]

Good premise, lazily researched and poorly written.

[Ralph · Rating 4 out of 5]

Review pending.

[Steven Raszewski · Rating 4 out of 5]

Very good. Spooky.

[Helen · Rating 3 out of 5]

Review to follow when the rest of the book club have finished :)