{"id":4525,"date":"2022-06-21T21:13:22","date_gmt":"2022-06-22T02:13:22","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/lfs.org\/blog\/?p=4525"},"modified":"2022-06-22T14:55:47","modified_gmt":"2022-06-22T19:55:47","slug":"billionaire-blogger-bill-gates-gives-a-thumbs-up-to-a-2022-best-novel-finalist","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.lfs.org\/blog\/billionaire-blogger-bill-gates-gives-a-thumbs-up-to-a-2022-best-novel-finalist\/","title":{"rendered":"Billionaire blogger Bill Gates gives a thumbs up to a 2022 Best Novel finalist"},"content":{"rendered":"

By Michael Grossberg<\/strong><\/a><\/p>\n

Billionaire blogger Bill Gates is highlighting a Prometheus Best Novel finalist \u00a0among his favorite books of the year.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

On the book page of Gates\u2019 blog, he\u2019s currently recommending Klara and the Sun<\/em>, by Nobel Prize-winning author Kazuo Ishiguro.<\/p>\n

Almost all the books Gates recommends on his blog are non-fiction, but occasionally a novel pops up \u2013 such as Amor Towles\u2019 A Gentleman in Moscow\u00a0<\/em>or David Mitchell\u2019s Cloud Atlas\u00a0<\/em>(an epic sf\/fantasy perhaps best known for the ambitious film version of its multi-era reincarnation saga.)<\/p>\n

To my mind, that makes Gates\u2019 rare thumb ups for works of fiction \u2013 especially when they fall into the genre of science fiction \u2013 even more notable and worth mentioning.
\n<\/p>\n

KLARA AND THE SUN<\/strong><\/p>\n

Gates headlines his capsule review of Klara and the Sun\u00a0<\/em>as \u201cA thought-provoking tale of friendship and robots.\u201d<\/p>\n

Here\u2019s the summary sentence Gates writes, just under his headline, to describe his basic overall reaction to reading the novel: \u201cKlara and the Sun<\/em>made me think about what life with super intelligent machines might look like.\u201d<\/p>\n

Gates, a fan of Ishiguro\u2019s earlier novel Remains of the Day, writes that his latest novel is \u201cjust as thoughtful and beautifully written as you\u2019d expect from him.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>
Bill Gates (Creative Commons license)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Here\u2019s an excerpt from Gates\u2019 blog<\/strong><\/a> review that helps to explain why he was drawn to the novel:<\/p>\n

\u201cMost fiction about robots seems to fall into one of two categories: stories about how they\u2019re going to kill us all or stories about how robots become an integral part of our lives. Although I enjoy the former \u2014 the first two\u00a0Terminator<\/em>\u00a0movies are classics for a reason, and there are some terrific episodes of\u00a0Black Mirror\u00a0<\/em>that tackle the subject \u2014 I\u2019m drawn more to books and movies that paint robots in a positive light,\u201d he writes.<\/p>\n

\u201cRobots are going to play a huge role in our future, and fiction is a great way to explore what exactly that might mean…. The Klara in the title is an \u201cartificial friend\u201d who provides companionship to a sick 14-year-old girl named Josie. The story takes place in a dystopian future where children have been genetically \u201clifted\u2019 to be smarter. The process of lifting is risky, and it\u2019s the cause of Josie\u2019s illness. Children only attend school online, so many kids have robot friends like Klara to try and make up for the lack of socialization. We don\u2019t find out much about the world outside of Josie\u2019s home, but there are references to frequent terrorism and environmental catastrophe.<\/p>\n

\u201cKlara is programmed to be deeply empathetic and curious about the world. Because the book is told in the first person, we see everything from her perspective, which is both fascinating and odd. There are long stretches where you\u2019ll almost forget that she isn\u2019t human.\u201d<\/p>\n

… As I was reading the book, I couldn\u2019t help but think about which parts of it paint a picture of our likely future\u2014and which parts were pure fiction. I believe we\u2019ll someday have both companion and utilitarian robots in our lives. Klara is mostly a companion. She\u2019s not doing much of what you\u2019d expect from a utilitarian robot, like bringing you things or preparing your meals. Her purpose is almost entirely social, and although I don\u2019t know if we\u2019ll ever have robots as emotionally sophisticated as she is, we might see pretty good companion robots emerge in the next decade.”<\/p>\n

Gates then wonders whether people will treat such robots as mere “pieces of technology” or something more…. which raises some libertarian issues that LFS members found especially intriguing to consider in judging the novel.<\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019m inclined to think like Josie and see robots as machines, no matter how intelligent and human-like they become. In\u00a0A Thousand Brains<\/a><\/em>, Jeff Hawkins explores at length what moral obligation we have to our machines. Should we feel bad about pulling the plug on an artificial intelligence if it\u2019s as human-like as Klara? Hawkins concludes that the answer is no. I agree with him, although I can imagine a future where other people might not.\u201d<\/p>\n

Overall, Gates\u2019 blog review offers a fair, and fairly accurate, description of Ishiguro\u2019s poetic and poignant novel, along with some timely thoughts about what might happen in real life regarding such A.I.s over the coming decades.<\/p>\n

SENTIENCE AND RIGHTS<\/strong><\/p>\n

Some LFS members, though, will find in the novel additional possibilities and questions related to the foundations of basic rights, and whether intelligent A.I.s might evolve some day to the degree that they achieve real personhood.<\/p>\n

If so, what rights might they gain? And what would happen if their personhood and potential rights aren\u2019t recognized?<\/p>\n

Of course, Gates isn\u2019t recommending Ishiguro\u2019s novel because it\u2019s been recognized by the Libertarian Futurist Society as one of five 2022 Best Novel finalists, along with books by Karl Gallagher,<\/a> Wil McCarthy<\/a> and Lionel Shriver<\/a>.
\nIn fact, it\u2019s doubtful that Gates has heard of the Libertarian Futurist Society or the Prometheus Awards.<\/p>\n

Yet, his comments about Klara and the Sun<\/em>\u00a0might offer an additional perspective to consider as LFS members read and weigh this year\u2019s slate of Best Novel finalists.<\/p>\n

For more about Bill Gates’ book recommendations, see this previous Prometheus Blog article<\/a> about a libertarian sf classic that’s one of his favorites.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

*\u00a0Join us<\/strong>! To help sustain the Prometheus Awards,\u00a0join\u00a0<\/strong><\/a>the Libertarian Futurist Society (LFS), a non-profit all-volunteer association of freedom-loving sf\/fantasy fans.<\/p>\n

Libertarian futurists believe that culture matters! We understand that the arts and literature can be vital, and in some ways even more powerful than politics in the long run, by sparking innovation, better ideas, positive social change, and mutual respect for each other\u2019s rights and differences.<\/p>\n

Through recognizing the literature of liberty and the many different but complementary visions of a free future via the Prometheus Awards, the LFS hopes to help spread better visions of the future that help humanity overcome tyranny, slavery and war and achieve universal liberty and human rights and a better world (perhaps eventually, worlds) for all.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

By Michael Grossberg Billionaire blogger Bill Gates is highlighting a Prometheus Best Novel finalist \u00a0among his favorite books of the year. On the book page of Gates\u2019 blog, he\u2019s currently recommending Klara and the Sun, by Nobel Prize-winning author Kazuo Ishiguro. Almost all the books Gates recommends on his blog are non-fiction, but occasionally a … Continue reading Billionaire blogger Bill Gates gives a thumbs up to a 2022 Best Novel finalist<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":10,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":true,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2}},"categories":[8],"tags":[243,1563,1265,1509,1486,1569,479,1138],"class_list":["post-4525","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-review","tag-a-i","tag-bill-gates","tag-blog","tag-kazuo-ishiguro","tag-klara-and-the-sun","tag-remains-of-the-day","tag-rights","tag-robots"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/pe8nGl-1aZ","jetpack-related-posts":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lfs.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4525","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lfs.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lfs.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lfs.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/10"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lfs.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=4525"}],"version-history":[{"count":15,"href":"https:\/\/www.lfs.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4525\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":4773,"href":"https:\/\/www.lfs.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4525\/revisions\/4773"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lfs.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=4525"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lfs.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=4525"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lfs.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=4525"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}