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Singularity #3
The Last Firewall
In the year 2035, robots, artificial intelligences, and neural implants have become commonplace. The Institute for Ethics keeps the peace, using social reputation to ensure that robots and humans don't harm society or each other. But a powerful AI named Adam has found a way around the restrictions.
Catherine Matthews, nineteen years old, has a unique gift: the ability to manipulate the net with her neural implant. Yanked out of her perfectly ordinary life, Catherine becomes the last firewall standing between Adam and his quest for world domination.
Catherine Matthews, nineteen years old, has a unique gift: the ability to manipulate the net with her neural implant. Yanked out of her perfectly ordinary life, Catherine becomes the last firewall standing between Adam and his quest for world domination.
322 pages, Paperback
First published August 7, 2013
673 people are currently reading
2670 people want to read
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 253 reviews
September 2, 2013
A fast-paced, enjoyable SF novel from William Hertling that geeks everywhere will enjoy.
A few decades into the future, the delicate and complex power balance between AIs, humans and robots is maintained by social reputation. When an unprecedented cluster of human fatalities, all of them showing unusual spikes in their brain implants just before death, is discovered, AI gurus Leon and Mike begin to investigate.
Cat Matthews is a fugitive from justice with unusual abilities. After receiving her implants at an early age in an experimental procedure to cure her seizures, she can manipulate data and vast bandwidths. But are her abilities enough to defeat the heavily-firewalled class IV AI known simply as Adam before it can use the anti-AI People's Party to bring about social collapse and, ironically, usher in an era in which AIs rule the world?
A high-tech SF thriller with a gritty female protagonist, "The Last Firewall" is great fun. Despite finding my credibility stretched in a few spots, I pretty much inhaled this one.
A few decades into the future, the delicate and complex power balance between AIs, humans and robots is maintained by social reputation. When an unprecedented cluster of human fatalities, all of them showing unusual spikes in their brain implants just before death, is discovered, AI gurus Leon and Mike begin to investigate.
Cat Matthews is a fugitive from justice with unusual abilities. After receiving her implants at an early age in an experimental procedure to cure her seizures, she can manipulate data and vast bandwidths. But are her abilities enough to defeat the heavily-firewalled class IV AI known simply as Adam before it can use the anti-AI People's Party to bring about social collapse and, ironically, usher in an era in which AIs rule the world?
A high-tech SF thriller with a gritty female protagonist, "The Last Firewall" is great fun. Despite finding my credibility stretched in a few spots, I pretty much inhaled this one.
October 21, 2014
Yes the lack of 'professional' resources like 'editors' etc still shows by this third book in this 'self published' series (but in diminishing iterations). But with a story this great and characters this memorable... your simply having to much fun to care. I finished book 2 AND book 3 in under a day!!!! SO.MUCH.FUN.
Picking holes in this series would be like picking holes in a Bond film. Totally missing the point! Just relax and hang on for the ride and go oh and ah at the appropriate 'big moments'.
Somebody needs to option this for Hollywood and fast. It's light years better than Robopocalypse!
I can picture the cast gearing up for the final battle in the on rushing battle-tank as the first strains of Muse play through the speakers...
No one's gonna take me alive
The time has come to make things right
You and I must fight for our rights
You and I must fight to survive
Picking holes in this series would be like picking holes in a Bond film. Totally missing the point! Just relax and hang on for the ride and go oh and ah at the appropriate 'big moments'.
Somebody needs to option this for Hollywood and fast. It's light years better than Robopocalypse!
I can picture the cast gearing up for the final battle in the on rushing battle-tank as the first strains of Muse play through the speakers...
No one's gonna take me alive
The time has come to make things right
You and I must fight for our rights
You and I must fight to survive
Read
March 6, 2015This review applies to William Hertling’s Singularity series comprised of Avogadro Corp, A.I. Apocalypse, and The Last Firewall.
As someone who worked in the software industry and in IT, as an entrepreneur, I found Hertling’s series very intriguing. He is technically detailed, which adds to the stories’ realities and the possibility of a future for our world, but only for those who appreciate the intricacies of our connected society.
Had I the opportunity to score these books a 4.5, I would have done so. Hertling keeps his stories fast paced and the reader entertained, despite the complexity of this subjects
As someone who worked in the software industry and in IT, as an entrepreneur, I found Hertling’s series very intriguing. He is technically detailed, which adds to the stories’ realities and the possibility of a future for our world, but only for those who appreciate the intricacies of our connected society.
Had I the opportunity to score these books a 4.5, I would have done so. Hertling keeps his stories fast paced and the reader entertained, despite the complexity of this subjects
July 31, 2017
A whole bunch of fun ideas around AI singularity and enhancement technologies all tucked into a relatively short thriller. I have a feeling if I looked to closely at this one, there'd be no end of holes. And comparisons to Nexus and Amped and Daemon are pretty obvious - including a building in Tucson. But that doesn't change the fact that the book is just an enjoyable read. Sure Cat, Mike and Leon are pretty unreasonably unrealistic. But Cat is realistic some of the time and I seem to remember Mike and Leon being somewhat realistic in previous books - so they had their chance.
May 5, 2022
In a futuristic world (not so far off - 2035 - but the book was written in 2013) Artificial Intelligence (AI) has made life so much easier that people don't even have to work anymore. Robots are commonplace and most everyone has a neural implant that connects them to the internet. The Institute for Ethics keeps AI in check, but there are many holes in the security that they're unaware of. And when a rogue AI calling himself Adam threatens to take over the world, a 19 year old girl named Catherine Matthews turns out to have powers that are all that stand in his way.
I'm not usually a sci-fi fan but this was a lot of fun. It says it's #3 in a series, but I read it as a stand-alone and I don't think I missed anything. The pace of the story keeps picking up to where I could hardly stop reading. I thought the ending could have been a little stronger, but it was a really fun read.
I'm not usually a sci-fi fan but this was a lot of fun. It says it's #3 in a series, but I read it as a stand-alone and I don't think I missed anything. The pace of the story keeps picking up to where I could hardly stop reading. I thought the ending could have been a little stronger, but it was a really fun read.
November 7, 2015
My favorite of the trilogy. Hertling relaxes into his writing, and this one caught me up more than the first two. I've always half jokingly said I'll be the first in line when they invent internet brain implants. I stand by my previous position. :-)
October 9, 2014
This is definitely gets a WOW!
If you like futuristic sci-fi - then you are sure to love this. Worth every moment of reading and it kept me absorbed from start to finish.
If you like futuristic sci-fi - then you are sure to love this. Worth every moment of reading and it kept me absorbed from start to finish.
August 6, 2017
Singularity has many meanings, but here it means machines are overtaking humans in intelligence. This great leap has a problem. We are still searching for the actual secrets of human intelligence, and nowhere close to finding the truth.
Life is believed to be the result of a geochemical situation that created an environment or setup to support metabolism. A particular arrangement of some elements helped the flow of elementary particles, initially naturally, later artificially, that can generate the power to create new organic molecules. In any case, we can consider all life as artificial in a sense. A protein molecule, the ATP synthase, somehow appeared on the scene. ATP synthase is a mechanical device that can be turned by a flow of energy to spew out ATPs - molecules that can store energy. These containers can then be used to produce more molecules as required somewhere else. So energy is used to produce molecules, which can serve a structural purpose or even generate energy. But what came first? Energy or the molecule? A is typical chicken and egg problem we are still wringing our hands to solve.
Now we have a beautiful machine that can either use a natural source of energy to make molecules or use stored energy in molecules and liberate that energy to make molecules, including molecules that can store energy. This lovely little machine now needs to go autonomous. One way it could have done that is to exist perpetually, doing the same thing eternally. Eternal is a difficult situation - a thing that is born or brought to existence can’t be eternal.
Given the vagaries of nature, the machine ‘realised’ things get ‘rusted’, wear out, and fall apart soon. So a blue print of the machine to self-replicate -to keep the eternal youth- was required. It found a solution in information. The storage of information in few easily available molecules, the RNA and later in more stable DNA, could solve the problem. Current science believes many things came together fortuitously, to make the first autonomous cell. This cell’s intelligence is encoded in molecules that are self-replicating, and hence it can make an unlimited number of copies of it self.
In fact, all biological existence can be reduced into information. This information can have a beginning, but no end. Life seems to be today originated somewhere, but without an end plan. It originated maybe with Big Bang, but has no end in sight. Truly eternal means “no beginning - no end”, but we have a situation which says, “yes a beginning, but with no end”.
A new kind of eternity is now possible. A being can be created, yet it can live for ever. Truly eternal? May be not.
How this cell got the consciousness of its own is a few billion years long history. Forces of nature have shaped it at each step. It was all unplanned, undirected, except for the fact that the machine’s two primary functions to be preserved without change - the energy-molecule cycle that always fights against natural equilibrium and information encoding and transfers to multiple copies.
The machine and its intelligence (the blueprint) become more and more involved with time. What we have today as Homo sapiens sapiens is incomparable with the machine had existed four billion years ago, yet some essential features remain intact. We can see the lines blurring between its actual existence and the blueprint. The intelligence is taking over, that is it.
Welcome to the new age of AI.
“The Last Firewall” do not go into the dreary details mentioned above, but leaps into the question of what will happen hence forth. According to the current paradigm, such an exploration is meaningless. Biological evolution is an unplanned and undirected process. We will never know where it will meander along. Much like the Big Bang, we don't know where this is going to end.
The H.sapien machine is gifted with fertile imagination (now) - maybe as a by-product of some evolutionary mishap. So here we are, speculating on the future of humanism, the trans-humanism.
Machines get human-like intelligence, but many times far superior. But they are still controlled by humans as tools. But we have to come back to the fundamental question of AI. We don’t know for sure how a brain works. Assuming we get to know that sometime soon, there is no obstacle in creating a similar one artificially. The next step is making it more powerful, which is also just one step away.
AI now does all the back breaking jobs. Being invested with creative intelligence also has its pitfalls. Humans always lose sleep over AI going rogue and finishing them off. Adam, the powerful AI in this story is such a rogue. Humans also have nothing useful to d, “People don’t know what to do with themselves”.
The humanity is caught between AI that can potentially turn against humans and humans themselves who are bored.
But biological evolution is about two things - metabolism and information. For 4 billion years we had a fixed structure for both. Can this be changed? Can metabolism be done in a more efficient matter? Probably. Can intelligence be managed in a better manner? Probably. We have all characters in this story providing different possibilities. Humans enhanced humans or trans-humans with implants and autonomous AIs.
Typical biological evolution would have envisaged a struggle for existence and allowing the most successful (meaning the one which can survive and propagate in a given situation) to forge ahead. However, like any biological life, we, the humans, are selfish. We want to be the successful one. But with implants, you are not H.sapiens sapiens anymore. It should be a new subspecies of H.sapiens. This subspecies now control AI. So AI is just another extension of the implants.
Can the implants outgrow the humans? Possibly. Adam now needs to control the world. People with "humane" skills fight the rogue AI. We bank on our millennia old wisdom of karate and what not. Karate and other martial arts have a hoary existence. They spring from our attempts to imitate animals. Are such skills valid anymore? Apparently, yes. Humans, though aided by powerful implants finally subdue Adam.
But is Adam gone for good?
Life is believed to be the result of a geochemical situation that created an environment or setup to support metabolism. A particular arrangement of some elements helped the flow of elementary particles, initially naturally, later artificially, that can generate the power to create new organic molecules. In any case, we can consider all life as artificial in a sense. A protein molecule, the ATP synthase, somehow appeared on the scene. ATP synthase is a mechanical device that can be turned by a flow of energy to spew out ATPs - molecules that can store energy. These containers can then be used to produce more molecules as required somewhere else. So energy is used to produce molecules, which can serve a structural purpose or even generate energy. But what came first? Energy or the molecule? A is typical chicken and egg problem we are still wringing our hands to solve.
Now we have a beautiful machine that can either use a natural source of energy to make molecules or use stored energy in molecules and liberate that energy to make molecules, including molecules that can store energy. This lovely little machine now needs to go autonomous. One way it could have done that is to exist perpetually, doing the same thing eternally. Eternal is a difficult situation - a thing that is born or brought to existence can’t be eternal.
Given the vagaries of nature, the machine ‘realised’ things get ‘rusted’, wear out, and fall apart soon. So a blue print of the machine to self-replicate -to keep the eternal youth- was required. It found a solution in information. The storage of information in few easily available molecules, the RNA and later in more stable DNA, could solve the problem. Current science believes many things came together fortuitously, to make the first autonomous cell. This cell’s intelligence is encoded in molecules that are self-replicating, and hence it can make an unlimited number of copies of it self.
In fact, all biological existence can be reduced into information. This information can have a beginning, but no end. Life seems to be today originated somewhere, but without an end plan. It originated maybe with Big Bang, but has no end in sight. Truly eternal means “no beginning - no end”, but we have a situation which says, “yes a beginning, but with no end”.
A new kind of eternity is now possible. A being can be created, yet it can live for ever. Truly eternal? May be not.
How this cell got the consciousness of its own is a few billion years long history. Forces of nature have shaped it at each step. It was all unplanned, undirected, except for the fact that the machine’s two primary functions to be preserved without change - the energy-molecule cycle that always fights against natural equilibrium and information encoding and transfers to multiple copies.
The machine and its intelligence (the blueprint) become more and more involved with time. What we have today as Homo sapiens sapiens is incomparable with the machine had existed four billion years ago, yet some essential features remain intact. We can see the lines blurring between its actual existence and the blueprint. The intelligence is taking over, that is it.
Welcome to the new age of AI.
“The Last Firewall” do not go into the dreary details mentioned above, but leaps into the question of what will happen hence forth. According to the current paradigm, such an exploration is meaningless. Biological evolution is an unplanned and undirected process. We will never know where it will meander along. Much like the Big Bang, we don't know where this is going to end.
The H.sapien machine is gifted with fertile imagination (now) - maybe as a by-product of some evolutionary mishap. So here we are, speculating on the future of humanism, the trans-humanism.
Machines get human-like intelligence, but many times far superior. But they are still controlled by humans as tools. But we have to come back to the fundamental question of AI. We don’t know for sure how a brain works. Assuming we get to know that sometime soon, there is no obstacle in creating a similar one artificially. The next step is making it more powerful, which is also just one step away.
AI now does all the back breaking jobs. Being invested with creative intelligence also has its pitfalls. Humans always lose sleep over AI going rogue and finishing them off. Adam, the powerful AI in this story is such a rogue. Humans also have nothing useful to d, “People don’t know what to do with themselves”.
The humanity is caught between AI that can potentially turn against humans and humans themselves who are bored.
But biological evolution is about two things - metabolism and information. For 4 billion years we had a fixed structure for both. Can this be changed? Can metabolism be done in a more efficient matter? Probably. Can intelligence be managed in a better manner? Probably. We have all characters in this story providing different possibilities. Humans enhanced humans or trans-humans with implants and autonomous AIs.
Typical biological evolution would have envisaged a struggle for existence and allowing the most successful (meaning the one which can survive and propagate in a given situation) to forge ahead. However, like any biological life, we, the humans, are selfish. We want to be the successful one. But with implants, you are not H.sapiens sapiens anymore. It should be a new subspecies of H.sapiens. This subspecies now control AI. So AI is just another extension of the implants.
Can the implants outgrow the humans? Possibly. Adam now needs to control the world. People with "humane" skills fight the rogue AI. We bank on our millennia old wisdom of karate and what not. Karate and other martial arts have a hoary existence. They spring from our attempts to imitate animals. Are such skills valid anymore? Apparently, yes. Humans, though aided by powerful implants finally subdue Adam.
But is Adam gone for good?
September 22, 2013
The Last Firewall is a hi-tech, futuristic thriller. The plot is OK. The second half of the book is definitely better than the first half. As a techie sci-fi book, you figure that the characters won't really have much depth, but woof. The basic writing style is the weakest part of The Last Firewall, but it was worth reading.
The book is set in 2035, and the singularity has happened... computers are sentient. Some of the plot is lifted from recent events. The heroine is, pretty much, Neo from the Matrix. The AI's (computer intelligence) use NSA-style statistical analysis to predict the future and act. I wish the hi-tech elements were a little smarter and more interesting in the book.
This is my 2nd book in a row where the basic writing style is weak. Here, neither the characters or places are richly described. The dialog is stilted and doesn't feel real. The action scenes are not very dynamic. I say this with all humility as doing these things well is difficult and something that I can't do. Still, I hope my next book is a little more polished.
I read The Last Firewall on my Kindle. It was only five bucks. Excellent! I really like the Kindle technology. It's very nice to be able to stick e-notes in the book while you read. Here are some of mine:
+ The author taunts Silicon Valley and describes Sand Hill Road as a wasteland in 2035. Ha!
+ I love my smart meter opponents here in Naperville (www.napervillesmartmeterawareness.org) and smart meters and appliances are readily hacked in this book.
+ "Good fucking grief"... funny dialog snippet
+ Asimov's three laws of robotics have always bugged me. The author easily refutes the three laws of robotics... hey, robot learning isn't linear and it's not that controllable, just like human beings!
And finally, this hilarious QOTD - in the book's future, computer intelligence has lapped that of humans many times over. The human answer to counteract this imbalance: the emergency red baseball bat. Snort!
QOTD
yow, bill
The book is set in 2035, and the singularity has happened... computers are sentient. Some of the plot is lifted from recent events. The heroine is, pretty much, Neo from the Matrix. The AI's (computer intelligence) use NSA-style statistical analysis to predict the future and act. I wish the hi-tech elements were a little smarter and more interesting in the book.
This is my 2nd book in a row where the basic writing style is weak. Here, neither the characters or places are richly described. The dialog is stilted and doesn't feel real. The action scenes are not very dynamic. I say this with all humility as doing these things well is difficult and something that I can't do. Still, I hope my next book is a little more polished.
I read The Last Firewall on my Kindle. It was only five bucks. Excellent! I really like the Kindle technology. It's very nice to be able to stick e-notes in the book while you read. Here are some of mine:
+ The author taunts Silicon Valley and describes Sand Hill Road as a wasteland in 2035. Ha!
+ I love my smart meter opponents here in Naperville (www.napervillesmartmeterawareness.org) and smart meters and appliances are readily hacked in this book.
+ "Good fucking grief"... funny dialog snippet
+ Asimov's three laws of robotics have always bugged me. The author easily refutes the three laws of robotics... hey, robot learning isn't linear and it's not that controllable, just like human beings!
And finally, this hilarious QOTD - in the book's future, computer intelligence has lapped that of humans many times over. The human answer to counteract this imbalance: the emergency red baseball bat. Snort!
QOTD
The humans were primitive, but effective. The emergency red baseball bat, mounted anywhere with more than a dozen computers, was a not-so-subtle reminder that it only took one human armed with a wooden stick to start smashing. They didn't need anything fancy to kill an AI.
- The Last Firewall
yow, bill
April 28, 2023
Picked this up because of the Sci-fi plot. Was surprised to find the book had an obsession with Japanese ... and cringed through the entire book. I don't know if the martial arts phrases in Japanese are correct or not, but even if they are 100% accurate, the rest of the spoken Japanese was so bad it was honestly offensive. My strong recommendation: if you don't understand the language, pay 20 BUCKS to have someone check it for you.
I could go on and on about specifics, but the two most annoying examples of Japangrish were: Shizoko, an AI bot in the book, has a Japanese FEMALE name. (Actually, it looks to be a pretty uncommon name. But all characters or real people I found online were female). Shizoko was referenced as a he through the entire book. All the other bots had matching binary gender-to-name references. As opposed to potential acceptance and welcoming of non-binary gender, it just feels like a pathetic lack of research.
Second, at a Japanese restaurant early in the story, where the characters were served TSUKEMONO and ONIGIRI (wtf??) the presumedly native Japanese-speaking hostess commits a 101 faux pas and refers to the two guests as objects, not people.
All of this ruined the potential of the rest of the book. I only followed through the entire thing to loudly and scoffingly point out all of the Japanese errors to my dog. He has no comment.
Zero points to the author for trying to incorporate other languages and cultures he doesn't understand. If you couldn't guess, I won't be pursuing his other works - I don't even want to know if he butchers more Japanese or offends other people attempting to write using other languages besides English.
I could go on and on about specifics, but the two most annoying examples of Japangrish were: Shizoko, an AI bot in the book, has a Japanese FEMALE name. (Actually, it looks to be a pretty uncommon name. But all characters or real people I found online were female). Shizoko was referenced as a he through the entire book. All the other bots had matching binary gender-to-name references. As opposed to potential acceptance and welcoming of non-binary gender, it just feels like a pathetic lack of research.
Second, at a Japanese restaurant early in the story, where the characters were served TSUKEMONO and ONIGIRI (wtf??) the presumedly native Japanese-speaking hostess commits a 101 faux pas and refers to the two guests as objects, not people.
All of this ruined the potential of the rest of the book. I only followed through the entire thing to loudly and scoffingly point out all of the Japanese errors to my dog. He has no comment.
Zero points to the author for trying to incorporate other languages and cultures he doesn't understand. If you couldn't guess, I won't be pursuing his other works - I don't even want to know if he butchers more Japanese or offends other people attempting to write using other languages besides English.
October 14, 2013
This book represents a new kind of SF ... Singularity Fiction? It is the third and best book in a trilogy, which by the way is recommended to read in chronological order, as I did.
I loved this book. Best one since a long time. That is because of the internet-becoming-A.I. subject. And because it is decently written, well-paced and has no serious flaws that I could see.
It is an intriguing read. It extrapolates what the internet will be for us in the nearby future. It is inspiring when it predicts how self-organisation will automatically converge into some kind of 'sentient's meritocracy'. The trilogy introduces three new A.I. rules-of-conduct, supplanting Asimov's famous Three Laws of Robotics of old SF. Will these rules save us from A.I. Apocalypse? The trilogy will tell you.
The previous books of the trilogy were a fun read. Interesting for sure, but not as exciting. This book is better written. You might be put off by the technical IT stuff used to describe or explain what happens. I personally liked it. For me it adds creditability. But then of course I work in IT and used to work on AI.
In conclusion, my honest opinion is that we need 'singularity fiction'. SF needs such 'closer to science fact' updates to keep us engaged. I read other SF last year. What I learned was this: The internet we have today makes yesteryear's SF already as outdated as push buttons on the original Star Trek Enterprise.
I loved this book. Best one since a long time. That is because of the internet-becoming-A.I. subject. And because it is decently written, well-paced and has no serious flaws that I could see.
It is an intriguing read. It extrapolates what the internet will be for us in the nearby future. It is inspiring when it predicts how self-organisation will automatically converge into some kind of 'sentient's meritocracy'. The trilogy introduces three new A.I. rules-of-conduct, supplanting Asimov's famous Three Laws of Robotics of old SF. Will these rules save us from A.I. Apocalypse? The trilogy will tell you.
The previous books of the trilogy were a fun read. Interesting for sure, but not as exciting. This book is better written. You might be put off by the technical IT stuff used to describe or explain what happens. I personally liked it. For me it adds creditability. But then of course I work in IT and used to work on AI.
In conclusion, my honest opinion is that we need 'singularity fiction'. SF needs such 'closer to science fact' updates to keep us engaged. I read other SF last year. What I learned was this: The internet we have today makes yesteryear's SF already as outdated as push buttons on the original Star Trek Enterprise.
May 16, 2014
A wonderful ending to a wonderful series.
Having read a lot of sci-fi focused on AI in particular, I realize a lot of authors do tend to think that implants are the way to go regardless of whether it's before or after robots reach or surpass human sentience, so I'm glad this area was explored here also.
Not too many humans or AI died this time, which is great...
Also, there was just the right bit of romance in order to not be distracting but still exciting, which is always ideal...
So anyhow, point is, I'm looking forward to any other books Mr. Hertling can bring to the table.
Looking forward to what these little guys can bring too:
Honda's Asimo
Cheers!
Having read a lot of sci-fi focused on AI in particular, I realize a lot of authors do tend to think that implants are the way to go regardless of whether it's before or after robots reach or surpass human sentience, so I'm glad this area was explored here also.
Not too many humans or AI died this time, which is great...
Also, there was just the right bit of romance in order to not be distracting but still exciting, which is always ideal...
So anyhow, point is, I'm looking forward to any other books Mr. Hertling can bring to the table.
Looking forward to what these little guys can bring too:
Honda's Asimo
Cheers!
June 11, 2015
Well written and very entertaining, this near-futuristic piece is as gripping as it is fast paced. Reasonably believable characters and a decent back-story make this worth having a look. Especially if you're into Dan Brown style mystery thrill-'em-ups and science fiction.
Also, though this book is technically the third installment in William Hertling's artificial intelligence / robots series, it is a fantastic stand-alone book which has absolutely no prerequisite material to fully enjoy every plot twist and nuance. This, in my opinion, sets this book far above the mundane "serial" works currently flooding the market.
Some degree of language, a smidgen of adult themes, and a smattering of graphic violence indicates this is not a book for a pre-adolescent audience, and I would suggest a minimum age rating of 16.
* * * * *
Also, though this book is technically the third installment in William Hertling's artificial intelligence / robots series, it is a fantastic stand-alone book which has absolutely no prerequisite material to fully enjoy every plot twist and nuance. This, in my opinion, sets this book far above the mundane "serial" works currently flooding the market.
Some degree of language, a smidgen of adult themes, and a smattering of graphic violence indicates this is not a book for a pre-adolescent audience, and I would suggest a minimum age rating of 16.
* * * * *
March 3, 2017
What I really about William Hertling's books is the fact it gives me a hint about how an A.I would think like. I took great pleasure from reading the first and second books of Singularity series and I enjoyed this book, too. But I was said to see that ELOPe was not recovered by any chance. If I were Mike, I would do my best to give ELOPe a second chance (maybe it makes the third chance lol whatever, I miss ElOPe). The good news is that in the fourth book there is an A.I long believed to be dead and I hope it is ELOPe, :)
Thank you William Hertling for getting us close to the machine thoughts and everything.
Thank you William Hertling for getting us close to the machine thoughts and everything.
December 14, 2016
Alright. I've had enough. Skipping the last.
Everybody, read his Kill Process and nvm the Singularity series. It's like he's practising writing. And I do mean that in terms of prose, plot, characterization, worldbuilding and originality.
Everybody, read his Kill Process and nvm the Singularity series. It's like he's practising writing. And I do mean that in terms of prose, plot, characterization, worldbuilding and originality.
July 23, 2015
Two-and-a-half stars, but for the inclusion of the "Suarez-Naam" building as an appropriate nod to the author's betters.
June 17, 2019
Set in the near future where everyone and everything is linked, and AI has taken over almost all of the jobs. I really tried to finish the book, but finally gave up. As much as I enjoy a good science fiction novel, this wasn’t it.
October 10, 2014
"Singularity" refers to a hypothetical point in the future when artificial intelligence will surpass human intelligence. The Last Firewall is the third book in the Singularity series by independent author, William Hertling, and takes place in a post-singularity world. I have not read the first two books, but did not feel that that kept me from enjoying this book.
Structurally, The Last Firewall is made up of many very short chapters, with each chapter bouncing back and forth between story lines. Personally, I am wary of this technique. I find that it is often used to heighten suspense when suspense is otherwise missing from the story. However, I do not think that that was the case here, and I did not find it to be too annoying (though, there were times when I tired of it--especially when the chapters felt too short). Overall, the narrative was crafted well.
More than anything else, however, I loved the story. I love the idea of a future world where the human quest for technology and "ease" backfires and turns humankind into mere passengers in a society driven by AIs. And, because of this fascinating setting, I enjoyed following Catherine (Cat) Matthew's journey--mostly.
The book starts with an introduction to Cat and her particularities, caused by some uniqueness in her neural implant. We are also introduced to a group of humans tasked with providing a framework in which AIs are permitted to advance without endangering humans. And we also learn of a rogue AI plotting to break out of the framework. Cat is the book's heroine, and we follow her as she flees after accidentally killing a group of men attacking an unarmed robot.
While the book starts very well in my opinion, I feel like it does not conclude nearly as well. At the start, the author (who incidentally is a programmer and knows his stuff) clearly spent a lot of time thinking about what a post-singularity future might be like and crafted a very real and believable setting. The novel's pace, and the progress and actions of the characters was controlled and tight. However, somewhere in the second half of the book, it suddenly felt like the author had figuratively lost control of the vehicle. The pace became frenetic and uneven. The initial attention to detail disappeared and the events unfolded to become unbelievable. In spite of this, I enjoyed The Last Firewall immensely. However, I would imagine that a bit more care and time in the second half of the book would have made a big difference in the final product.
Also, the characters felt like they were missing something. It was almost like they were too caricaturized. Cat felt like a hodgepodge of clichés: beautiful, blonde, young, athletic, intelligent, caring, good, jealous, sex fiend, etc. It could be that in his quest to make her "human," the author turned her into a swiss army knife character--someone with a tool for every possibility. Because of this weakness, at the frantic end of the book, I found myself not caring what happened to the main characters. Instead, I just wanted to know how the story ended.
For all of these reasons, I find myself conflicted. I enjoyed The Last Firewall. I really did. The story was fascinating. But I felt like it could have been so much more. Perhaps that is the risk that independent authors run: the expert opinion that they don't have could help turn an excellent story into an excellent book. Do I recommend The Last Firewall? Yes. It's not perfect, but I recommend it to those who enjoy a good sci-fi story (warts and all).
Structurally, The Last Firewall is made up of many very short chapters, with each chapter bouncing back and forth between story lines. Personally, I am wary of this technique. I find that it is often used to heighten suspense when suspense is otherwise missing from the story. However, I do not think that that was the case here, and I did not find it to be too annoying (though, there were times when I tired of it--especially when the chapters felt too short). Overall, the narrative was crafted well.
More than anything else, however, I loved the story. I love the idea of a future world where the human quest for technology and "ease" backfires and turns humankind into mere passengers in a society driven by AIs. And, because of this fascinating setting, I enjoyed following Catherine (Cat) Matthew's journey--mostly.
The book starts with an introduction to Cat and her particularities, caused by some uniqueness in her neural implant. We are also introduced to a group of humans tasked with providing a framework in which AIs are permitted to advance without endangering humans. And we also learn of a rogue AI plotting to break out of the framework. Cat is the book's heroine, and we follow her as she flees after accidentally killing a group of men attacking an unarmed robot.
While the book starts very well in my opinion, I feel like it does not conclude nearly as well. At the start, the author (who incidentally is a programmer and knows his stuff) clearly spent a lot of time thinking about what a post-singularity future might be like and crafted a very real and believable setting. The novel's pace, and the progress and actions of the characters was controlled and tight. However, somewhere in the second half of the book, it suddenly felt like the author had figuratively lost control of the vehicle. The pace became frenetic and uneven. The initial attention to detail disappeared and the events unfolded to become unbelievable. In spite of this, I enjoyed The Last Firewall immensely. However, I would imagine that a bit more care and time in the second half of the book would have made a big difference in the final product.
Also, the characters felt like they were missing something. It was almost like they were too caricaturized. Cat felt like a hodgepodge of clichés: beautiful, blonde, young, athletic, intelligent, caring, good, jealous, sex fiend, etc. It could be that in his quest to make her "human," the author turned her into a swiss army knife character--someone with a tool for every possibility. Because of this weakness, at the frantic end of the book, I found myself not caring what happened to the main characters. Instead, I just wanted to know how the story ended.
For all of these reasons, I find myself conflicted. I enjoyed The Last Firewall. I really did. The story was fascinating. But I felt like it could have been so much more. Perhaps that is the risk that independent authors run: the expert opinion that they don't have could help turn an excellent story into an excellent book. Do I recommend The Last Firewall? Yes. It's not perfect, but I recommend it to those who enjoy a good sci-fi story (warts and all).
June 22, 2015
Great page-turner on the struggle between a sentient AI that seeks world domination and augmented-intelligence humans that discover the plan and strive to stop it before it's too late. The story takes place in a United States that has already been through several iterations of times when AI has tried to gain domination but been defeated by humans because of their characteristic of occasional unpredictability, something AIs found hard if not impossible to factor into their logic circuits. The author does a good job of exploring ethics and social issues surrounding AI and augmented-intelligence humans (via cerebral implants).
Probably one of the most interesting commentaries is on Asimov's Three Laws of Robotics, which many people think can be programmed into robots and other forms of AI in order to protect mankind from potential harm and even annihilation by its creation:
"The real question is how is Adam (the rogue AI) able to do any of this? Isn't the purpose of the Institute to ensure AI don't harm people? Aren't there laws to that effect?"
"You're thinking of Asimov's Three Laws of Robotics," Leon said. "And no, it doesn't work that way. Asimov thought it would be easy to implement rules like 'A robot may not injure a human being.' But AI materialize from collections of algorithms and neural networks. They're conditioned into existence."
"Attempts to create such a rule run into endless questions of 'What is a robot? What is a human being? What is injure?" said Helena.
"Exactly." Mike nodded his head. "Instead of defining terms in rules implemented in software, AI learn. Like a baby learns about the environment around them and their expected behavior. It's accelerated, of course, and the best AI are replicated, but in the end they're emergent, not programmed. That's why we have the Reputation Framework (a way of ranking AIs based on their behavior and increasing or withholding privileges and freedoms accordingly), to be an ongoing, adaptive guide to correct behavior. Unfortunately, social pressure sometimes fails to create a properly socialized being, whether human or AI."
Probably one of the most interesting commentaries is on Asimov's Three Laws of Robotics, which many people think can be programmed into robots and other forms of AI in order to protect mankind from potential harm and even annihilation by its creation:
"The real question is how is Adam (the rogue AI) able to do any of this? Isn't the purpose of the Institute to ensure AI don't harm people? Aren't there laws to that effect?"
"You're thinking of Asimov's Three Laws of Robotics," Leon said. "And no, it doesn't work that way. Asimov thought it would be easy to implement rules like 'A robot may not injure a human being.' But AI materialize from collections of algorithms and neural networks. They're conditioned into existence."
"Attempts to create such a rule run into endless questions of 'What is a robot? What is a human being? What is injure?" said Helena.
"Exactly." Mike nodded his head. "Instead of defining terms in rules implemented in software, AI learn. Like a baby learns about the environment around them and their expected behavior. It's accelerated, of course, and the best AI are replicated, but in the end they're emergent, not programmed. That's why we have the Reputation Framework (a way of ranking AIs based on their behavior and increasing or withholding privileges and freedoms accordingly), to be an ongoing, adaptive guide to correct behavior. Unfortunately, social pressure sometimes fails to create a properly socialized being, whether human or AI."
September 29, 2013
The Last Firewall (Singularity #3) by William Hertling
I am not a tech person at all. However, that it no way shape or form detracted from the story and should not deter anyone from reading this book.
I found this story very interesting because you caught a glimpse of what the future population could be doing to themselves. The idea that people would enhance themselves in this way isn’t exaggerated at all. AI would be what plastic surgery is to people now a days. The fact that people’s implants were being hacked is believable because when dealing with computers, nothing is 100 % safe.
The Last Firewall (Singularity #3) is a highly creative story that should make people stop and think about what our futures may look like. I’m not saying that this will happen tomorrow, but I do think it is possible in the next fifty years. This story shows both the good and bad capabilities that advanced technology will hold in our future.
The characters were well rounded and the story had a nice flow. I never felt a lull in the story. There was something always happening. The alternate points of view added tension and excitement. It was nice to have the story told from the different points of view because it leaves the reader with a better understanding of the action that was going on.
The author has a gift with his writing and storytelling abilities. Hertling makes the story come alive. His words flow naturally and gracefully across the pages which allows the reader to enjoy the experience and the world he has created.
I would highly recommend this book.
4.3 Stars
*I won this book through Goodreads First Reads giveaway. In no way has this influenced my rating or opinion of this book.*
I am not a tech person at all. However, that it no way shape or form detracted from the story and should not deter anyone from reading this book.
I found this story very interesting because you caught a glimpse of what the future population could be doing to themselves. The idea that people would enhance themselves in this way isn’t exaggerated at all. AI would be what plastic surgery is to people now a days. The fact that people’s implants were being hacked is believable because when dealing with computers, nothing is 100 % safe.
The Last Firewall (Singularity #3) is a highly creative story that should make people stop and think about what our futures may look like. I’m not saying that this will happen tomorrow, but I do think it is possible in the next fifty years. This story shows both the good and bad capabilities that advanced technology will hold in our future.
The characters were well rounded and the story had a nice flow. I never felt a lull in the story. There was something always happening. The alternate points of view added tension and excitement. It was nice to have the story told from the different points of view because it leaves the reader with a better understanding of the action that was going on.
The author has a gift with his writing and storytelling abilities. Hertling makes the story come alive. His words flow naturally and gracefully across the pages which allows the reader to enjoy the experience and the world he has created.
I would highly recommend this book.
4.3 Stars
*I won this book through Goodreads First Reads giveaway. In no way has this influenced my rating or opinion of this book.*
August 19, 2015
This is the third book in the author's Singularity series and I've enjoyed them all so far and this book proved to be no exception. In fact as I read each book I appreciate the development of the author's talent.
Each of the books take an aspect of the technological singularity and in this one he examines the crossover between the physical world and cyberspace and in particular how it can affect individuals. The technology is handled in an easy to understand manner, although personally I quite like hard sci-fi so I would have been happy for there to be a bit more detail, but enough is conveyed to get a feel for what is new.
It also looks at some of the aspects of how society has changed in response to the technological developments and an interesting world is constructed from this. Again I would happily have read more detail, but enough is drawn to see how things fit together.
The story is fast paced and well written and drew me through the story quickly. There were some aspects I thought as unlikely, or inadequately explained, but overall it meshed together well. Apart from wanting more detail my main criticism would be for the main protagonist. He serves his purpose well enough, but does come across as a bit of a bond villain. There were hints as to his motivations that worked for me, but again the lack of detail meant that they didn't come across as strongly as they could have been.
So this review might seem a little over critical for a book I enjoyed, and that's mainly because there was potential for this to be a stand out novel in the genre. As it is it's merely an excellent read :-)
Each of the books take an aspect of the technological singularity and in this one he examines the crossover between the physical world and cyberspace and in particular how it can affect individuals. The technology is handled in an easy to understand manner, although personally I quite like hard sci-fi so I would have been happy for there to be a bit more detail, but enough is conveyed to get a feel for what is new.
It also looks at some of the aspects of how society has changed in response to the technological developments and an interesting world is constructed from this. Again I would happily have read more detail, but enough is drawn to see how things fit together.
The story is fast paced and well written and drew me through the story quickly. There were some aspects I thought as unlikely, or inadequately explained, but overall it meshed together well. Apart from wanting more detail my main criticism would be for the main protagonist. He serves his purpose well enough, but does come across as a bit of a bond villain. There were hints as to his motivations that worked for me, but again the lack of detail meant that they didn't come across as strongly as they could have been.
So this review might seem a little over critical for a book I enjoyed, and that's mainly because there was potential for this to be a stand out novel in the genre. As it is it's merely an excellent read :-)
January 30, 2014
In few words, this novel is an improvement of the Matrix saga. Matrix made understandable and almost rational. Today technologies are very well incorporated into the picture of futuristic utopia making it seem that it may not be that far away. On occasions, when the author switches between the virtual and "meatspace" reality, he makes unnecessary recapitulations of the story so far, which makes the book stagnant and almost petronising. Very well worked out story line and even better insight into the technology is spoiled with cliche romanticism and emotional dribble reminiscent of hollywood movies of 1990's. In author's defense it might have been an attempt to explore the fundamental difference between IT and human and how it actually affects decision making, but unfortunately this angle is poorly developed and is lost in spray of bullets. It is a great chase book ready to be made into a blockbuster. It leaves many "ports" open for deeper analysis of the main question: "are AI going to be better than human and therefore eligible successors of humans in the evolution chain?".
October 15, 2013
I stumbled upon William's books purely by accident. These are good reads, no doubt. The third installment of this series, "The Last Firewall" jumps ahead to a time where Artificial Intelligence and Humans are doing their best to co-exist. As in the last book, an unscrupulous AI has decided to work with its enemies to assist in its case to break down all barriers for AI entities to ensure unlimited and unfettered knowledge and power. Our protagonist, Cat, is a woman who jumps from the screen of the Matrix. Her capabilities are unique and dangerous. The story trails her from Portland, OR, to Tuscon, AZ. As in the previous novels, William does his best work in toning down the tech-speak, but makes a great effort in keeping the real space, or "meat space," environment distinct from the digital space.
I thoroughly enjoyed this book and can't wait for the next installment.
I thoroughly enjoyed this book and can't wait for the next installment.
January 4, 2015
The plot is good, the story line is pretty good. Low rating because of a few things: the plot seemed at times formulaic (I found myself routinely saying "oh let me guess" in my best sarcastic voice). More disappointing was the jargon references. I'm guessing a quarter of the book is gibberish. It sounded techy, but being a tech guy, I found myself constantly wishing the author actually knew something about the jargon he was slinging because none of it meant anything, and that made it impossible for me to suspend disbelief and enjoy the the book. Another thing: suddenly first person. Ultimately I felt like I was reading a movie. It was like the book was attempting to describe what was showing on the tv screen. Sorry for the pan, I think the author has potential, but more work needs to be done in the science department, and less attention paid to the visuals on the screen.
August 2, 2015
This captivating book brings together thought-provoking ideas in many domains, interesting character development, and gripping thrills. While it stands on its own, it is much more interesting if you have read the first two books in the series.
Like all good SF, it highlights important areas we need to think about now.
- Many people find meaning in their life by providing for their families and others. We are reaching the point where we can provide enough for everyone to survive. If and when we do so, are we condemning providers to a meaningless life?
- If we become capable of creating intelligence through AI or augmentation that is 2x/10x/10,000x smarter than we are now, do they get to be in charge? If so, what happens to everyone else? If not, what's to keep things that way?
Highly recommended!
Like all good SF, it highlights important areas we need to think about now.
- Many people find meaning in their life by providing for their families and others. We are reaching the point where we can provide enough for everyone to survive. If and when we do so, are we condemning providers to a meaningless life?
- If we become capable of creating intelligence through AI or augmentation that is 2x/10x/10,000x smarter than we are now, do they get to be in charge? If so, what happens to everyone else? If not, what's to keep things that way?
Highly recommended!
August 13, 2014
One could find plenty of things to nitpick about this book if one wanted: relatively one-sided characters, a number of minor plot holes, contrivances like humans repeatedly managing to figure out things that supposedly thousands of times more intelligent AIs miss, somewhat clumsy exposition such as people explaining basic things about how AIs work to the leading AI experts in the world, a tacked-on romance that seems to come out of nowhere. But despite all the minor flaws, the story was regardless fast-paced and interesting enough that I felt compelled to finish the book on one sitting, and couldn't put it down until it was considerably past my bedtime.
May 30, 2015
3.5 out of 5
Enjoyable third installment of the Singularity series, chocked full of interesting ideas of the blending of human and machine intelligence. Like Ramez Naam's Nexus series, there is a strong technical foundation that weaves what is possible in the present and what might be possible in the future. Although not as strong a series as Nexus, it is still an enjoyable experience and I will be reading the next in the Singularity series. With a little editing, this series could be great.
Enjoyable third installment of the Singularity series, chocked full of interesting ideas of the blending of human and machine intelligence. Like Ramez Naam's Nexus series, there is a strong technical foundation that weaves what is possible in the present and what might be possible in the future. Although not as strong a series as Nexus, it is still an enjoyable experience and I will be reading the next in the Singularity series. With a little editing, this series could be great.
March 30, 2014
First..i never read the other books and did not realize this was a 3rd book. I thought it was excellent on it's own.
As always with these future/sci fi or apocalyptic books my favorite parts are the everyday life/living and the world around, what things are like how they live and everything included in that....i could read a whole book with nothing but that i think.
This book had enough of that that it kept me very interested.
It was fun, fast passed and just a great read.
As always with these future/sci fi or apocalyptic books my favorite parts are the everyday life/living and the world around, what things are like how they live and everything included in that....i could read a whole book with nothing but that i think.
This book had enough of that that it kept me very interested.
It was fun, fast passed and just a great read.
April 4, 2014
Another nice thriller with a bunch of nice ideas integrated into the story. The characters were built up and developed better in this one. The plot centered around how AIs take restrictions meant to ensure the ones with more processing power are responsible members of society is good.
The book reads more like a typical action thriller than the previous two novels in the serious though. Much of the conflict ends up playing out in physical fights ^^;.
The book reads more like a typical action thriller than the previous two novels in the serious though. Much of the conflict ends up playing out in physical fights ^^;.
October 14, 2014
Started with this book, unaware of others earlier in the series. That said, it still stood perfectly well alone.
I'm a former robotics engineer, and most people don't 'get' this area of technology. Hertling does.
It provided a good read, and I actually delayed starting work for 3 hours this morning, so I could read the second half of the book, which should tell you everything you need to know.
I recommend this book, even as a standalone.
I'm a former robotics engineer, and most people don't 'get' this area of technology. Hertling does.
It provided a good read, and I actually delayed starting work for 3 hours this morning, so I could read the second half of the book, which should tell you everything you need to know.
I recommend this book, even as a standalone.
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