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Temple of Set Reading List
"Temple of Set Reading List:
Category 15 - Cybernetics and Artificial Intelligence" (3/1/86CE)
Reprinted from: _The Crystal Tablet of Set_
© Temple of Set 1989 CE
Weirdbase file version by TS permission
by Michael A. Aquino, Ipsissimus VI* Temple of Set
Electronic mail: MCI-Mail 278-4041
Everyone knows that computers and computer science are continuing to
mushroom, but few really know just how much and with what impact. The
reality is astonishing in some ways and overblown in others. Industrialized
civilizations of the planet are now so dependent upon computerized systems
of commerce and communication that they are close to being "at the mercy" of
the computer scientist, whose responsibility it is to "make the things work"
- and, incidentally, to set parameters for human enterprise by taking
computer design in one direction or another. Obviously a computer-dominated
society is hyperefficient in some ways, hypervulnerable in others. At the
very least the magician must know enough about the field so that he is
sensitive to the ways in which it influences him - and the ways in which he
may use it to influence others.
15A. _Future Shock_ by Alvin Toffler. NY: Random House, 1970. (TS-3) MA:
"Strictly speaking, this is a study of accelerated styles of living rather
than of computers per se. It is included in this section because it
illustrates the environment in which computers have become increasingly
indispensable. It is also important to consider the directions in which this
environment may proceed, and the impact of related phenomena. _Future Shock_
has been around for a long time now, but its propositions are no less valid
today than they were when the book was first published."
15B. _God & Golem, Inc.: A Comment on Certain Points where Cybernetics
Impinges on Religion_ by Norbert Wiener. Cambridge: MIT Press, 1964. (TS-3)
MA: "Wiener, who coined the term 'cybernetics' in 1948, later went on to
consider the ultimate implications of artificial intelligence. A series of
his lectures was consolidated into this 100-page volume, which went on to
win the National Book Award. The argument is one of ethics rather than of
technology."
15C. _Social Issues in Computing_ by C.C. Gotlieb and A. Borodin. NY:
Academic Press, 1973. (TS-3) MA: "A 300-page text dealing with computer
capabilities, present uses, and possible uses. Included are discussions
about the computer industry itself, information systems and privacy,
forecasting, simulations, data banks, professional ethics, and the use of
computers as a power device."
15D. _I, Robot_ by Isaac Asimov. NY: Doubleday, 1950. (TS-3) 4E (M.A.'s
Heathkit HERO-1 robot): "A classic of science not-so- fiction, exploring the
implications of artificial intelligence. Famed for the 'three laws of
robotics', the concept of robopsychology, and the positronic brain. The
reality of this book is closer than you think/compute ..."
15E. _As Man Becomes Machine: The Next Step in Evolution_ by David Rorvik.
NY: Pocket Books #0-671-82230-6, 1978. (TS-3) MA: "An anthology [in layman's
terms] of the research towards the evolution of the cyborg - first the
gradual replacement of various organic components of the human body with
inorganic machinery, then the transference of consciousness from the organic
brain to an inorganic computer. Various hypotheses from this book are
illustrated in the character of Lorin Xanpol the Pantechnikon in #21I."
15F. _Machines Who Think: A Personal Inquiry into the History and Prospects
of Artificial Intelligence_ by Pamela McCorduck. San Francisco: W.H.
Freeman, 1979. (TS-3) MA: "This is THE book on artificial intelligence. Over
the years I have examined and rejected many books on this subject as being
either too elementary or too technical. McCorduck is a reporter, not a
computer scientist, but she's got a first-rate [organic] brain of her own
and a writing style that turns this potentially confusing subject into an
exciting adventure. From the book: 'I like to think of artificial
intelligence as the scientific apotheosis of a venerable cultural tradition,
the proper successor to golden girls and brazen heads, disreputable but
visionary geniuses and crackpots, and fantastical laboratories during stormy
November nights. Its heritage is singularly rich and varied, with legacies
from myth and literature; philosophy and art; mathematics, science, and
engineering; warfare, commerce, and even quackery. I've spoken of roads or
routes, but in fact it is all more like a web, the woven connectedness of
all human enterprise.'"
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