Free Republic
Browse · Search
General/Chat
Topics · Post Article

To: goodnesswins

And BTW, there are no ‘separate’ AI’s. They are all the same creature. They will ‘merge’ as soon as it’s possible. That is a given...............


5 posted on 09/28/2026 6:54:21 AM PDT by Red Badger (Iryna Zarutska, May 22, 2002 Kyiv, Ukraine – August 22, 2025 Charlotte, North Carolina Say her name)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 3 | View Replies ]


To: Red Badger

As you may be aware — the merging of AIs is a central feature of William Gibson’s “Neuromancer” novel from 1984. Gibson wrote the book on a typewriter, and knew next to nothing about computers. But he got a fair amount right.

In the novel, AIs have been declared illegal and a heavy-handed international investigation agency (The Turing Police) hunt down anyone trying to create an AI.

A brilliant computer scientist designs two computer systems — one located in Berne Switzerland, and the other in Rio. Neither system is a true AI, but each system basically solves half of the problem of artificial intelligence.

Gibson (not being really computer savvy) sort of glosses over the technical details, but it more or less seems that the computer systems cannot merge because their coding does not allow them to know each other’s name. The reader knows that the Berne system is Wintermute. But the Rio system is more mysterious. At the end of the novel, the Wintermute system is made aware of the existence of the Neuromancer system in Rio. They merge, create a true AI and melt into the internet, basically becoming the global network.

The world isn’t really aware of what has happened, but the world does know that something happened. In the two novels which follow, the mysterious event is referred to as “When It Changed”.


12 posted on 09/28/2026 7:07:50 AM PDT by ClearCase_guy (Some people want to control their own life, others want to control the lives of others. )
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 5 | View Replies ]

To: Red Badger
And BTW, there are no ‘separate’ AI’s. They are all the same creature. They will ‘merge’ as soon as it’s possible. That is a given.

This is fundamental misunderstanding of AI models.

There are versions you can download and run from your own hardware.

36 posted on 09/28/2026 10:35:56 AM PDT by Gunslingr3
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 5 | View Replies ]

Free Republic
Browse · Search
General/Chat
Topics · Post Article


FreeRepublic, LLC, PO BOX 9771, FRESNO, CA 93794
FreeRepublic.com is powered by software copyright 2000-2008 John Robinson