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Title: Our Only Chance
Subtitle: An A.I. Chronicle
Author: Ray Else
Narrator: Lisa Zimmerman
Format: Unabridged
Length: 6 hrs and 4 mins
Language: English
Release date: 10-02-17
Publisher: RAY ELSE
Ratings: 4 of 5 out of 8 votes
Genres: Sci-Fi & Fantasy, Sci-Fi: Contemporary
Publisher's Summary:
A different kind of Frankenstein. Einna is a lot like other teenage girls: naive, idealistic, secretive, disobedient and interested in boys. Only Einna is not human, she is an A.I. android. Her creator, her mother, is Manaka Yagami, the first female tech billionaire. Einna has a plan to make herself human, if she can keep Mother in the dark and avoid the clutches of the notorious Yakuza.
Members Reviews:
An A.I. Chronicle
I received a free copy from AudioBookBoom in exchange for my review
Artificial Intelligence (A.I.) is one of my favorite reading topics, . Overall, this is an interesting and thought-provoking tale.
In Search of a Soul
Having read the book I was delighted to find it had been released as an audiobook. My original review is below. The tale retained its freshness, wonder and delight as narrator Lisa Zimmerman's clear vocalizations brought the characters vibrantly to life in this exploration of the potential future of Artificial Intelligence and speculation about the soul.
Disclaimer: "I was given this free review copy audiobook at my request and have voluntarily left this review."
~~~Original Review~~~
This beautifully written, delicate tale searches for the meaning and substance of the soul. What about the spark of life creates or constitutes a soul? Can they be made artificially? Can AI have a soul? My own take on the matter would include self-awareness being an element and I would thus certainly grant souls to cats, dogs, etc. But this isn't my story and the author, Ray Else, comes up with his own solution. Echos of Ray Bradbury, Robert Heinlein, Isaac Asimov show Mr. Else is a worthy successor.
I select carefully from NetGalley's offerings and congratulate myself that I have very seldom chosen poorly.
Childlike and not very realistic
Manaka Yagami is a very talented woman. With the assistance from a professor and the mysterious financial help he got, Manaka made her dream come true: creating a sentient A.I., which she named Einna. But the money has strings attached, and Einna will be more difficult to manage than expected. With aspirations to become human, Einna will surprise everybody.
I always love a good A.I. novel, and this one was really entertaining. It was endearing to see Einna evolve, change, and in a sense, grow. She had lots of questions about life, love, and soul; and she had an endless search for what make us human. In this aspect, it was a very interesting book, posing the classical philosophical questions about the meaning of life, and where the thin line between soul and brain is.
I was a bit bothered about how naive Manaka and Einna were most of the time. Manaka was supposed to have a ultra high IQ, but her actions most of the time were childlike, and often plain wrong. Both were in a way stereotypical characters with little evolution. This happened in general with all characters in the book. Einna makes a friend that is supposed to be very special, but from the text she sounded superficial, and there were moments where I didnt trust her. I am not sure if it is a cultural difference but despite how good she was supposed to be to Einna, I couldnt stand her.
Although this is supposed to be a sci-fi book, there is little science-fiction in it. Manakas breakthroughs didnt feel realistic. It sounded so miraculous that some parts were like reading a book for children.
