G's Future
A novella.
G’s Future is the story of the first machine with Artificial Intelligence to pass the ‘Turing Test’ and win the Gold Medal Prize at the Loebner Prize Contest.
G is an android who possesses what is known in humans as the ‘general intelligence factor’, or the ability to exhibit high level intelligence across all subject matter. G is self-aware and can think like a human. He was created by Julian Thornway, a genius and the great grandfather of 12 year old Timothy Thornway.
Timothy lives in Algonquin, Illinois, which is a small town northwest of Chicago on the Fox River. Julian asks Timothy to spend two weeks with him in Michigan by the lake to help him prepare G for the Loebner Prize. The contest is being held in Chicago at Navy Pier and people are already protesting the event. The Turing Test is a game in which a machine and a human are questioned by a judge who tries to determine who the machine is. The objective of the machine is to fool the judge.
Julian thinks he can win the $1,000,000 Gold Medal Prize and prove to the world that G is the first machine with artificial intelligence that can think and reason like a human. G, on the other hand, must prove to everyone that he should be accepted by society and not be banned from existence. The future of humanity may depend on it.
Don Viecelli
Information about the author in his own words:
"I was born and raised in Michigan and attended Michigan State University where I majored in Advertising and Marketing. I moved to Chicago in 1973 where I have worked and raised my family. I am a Product Marketing Professional and have worked for several high technology companies in the Chicagoland area. My family and I vacation at Carolina Beach in North Carolina often. I have always liked science fiction and strive to write interesting novels that weave real science with fiction. Please read my Newsletters wth book reviews on my website to learn about exciting new science fiction writers and stories."
G's Future
G's Future consists of two books. The current recommended reading order for the series is provided below.
Book Reviews
G's Future (A Novella)by Don Viecelli I love this story, but at times it was a trying experience. This book reminds me a lot of that movie Making Mr. Right. It stared John Malkovich and Ann Magnuson and was about an android made for the purpose of exploring space. It was also one of those movies that had a somewhat strong female character - though she still had some of those foibles that might brand her as a bit less than the quintessential future of woman. This novel has those same elements. The android designed to go into space that is. Sorry no strong female roles. I call this a novel because it lists at 160 pages I don't have the word count but I think 160 is good for a novel. This story starts out with and revolves around the character Timothy. Almost a leave it to beaver household. Tim is 12 so this is very much at the beginning a juvenile science fiction story. It could easily be a YA but what drags it down is the style the author took in writing. I've been blasted before about this but I will say it again. Sometimes when we concentrate really hard on making our science good enough to be the hard stuff; we forget to put effort into the difficulty of developing good narrative. The writing reads like it is intended for the 8 to 15 year bracket and maybe even a bit earlier. It took a long time and a lot of patience to get to the good stuff. Part of the trouble for me was that there were lots of scenes with many people but scant dialogue for quite a way through. This tends to lead to a lot of expository paragraphs. It did not destroy the story it just pushed it back a few grade levels for me. But that might be just me. It's about the time we meet the android that the characters start to take on some life. Maybe this is planned- we could always hope that. The story starts with the simple life of Timothy and his sister Kate his mother Susan his father Charles his best friend Johnny and Johnny's sister Amy (Timothy's crush). All getting ready for summer vacation, which this time includes an invitation from Timothy's grandfather Julian to spend two weeks helping with a science project. Timothy is not sure since he'd rather spend time with Amy er I mean Johnny. Of course, when they go to visit Julian they meet G the android- the science project. Timothy is to be there for two weeks providing a sort of companionship to the Android in order to prepare it for the up coming Turing Test, which could net them one million dollars and public acclaim. Now we have plenty of moral issues that arise with the danger of being exposed to people who might find the android threatening and we have a sort of I Robot thing starting here. Timothy proceeds to become really good friends with G and they get along famously and G just seems like a regular guy. Who doesn't have to eat or sleep and who has more knowledge than the average genius. What doesn't seem to get covered is whether self awareness comes close to equating to sentience and perhaps that could be covered in another story. There's lots of excitement and chances for G to prove himself and there is even another secret project going on, which seems predictable but in a way that doesn't really spoil the story. There is still the eventual training at NASA and lots of other good stuff ahead. I really did enjoy the moral examination though I felt that because this seems more of a story about an idea and ideals and some of the moral ramifications that there was a bit less involvement of character development than what I like. But that's because I'm a fan of character driven stories. This is really a good book for all ages. It maintains purity as a youthful juvenile fiction with enough elements for the YA and the adult crowd. It may be that not everyone will have the trouble I had getting through the first part, but if they do they only have to tough it out for a bit before it gets interesting. What's really neat is there are so many interesting threads touched upon in this story that there's room for some really exciting ideas and fiction to come. J.L. Dobias