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"Temple of Set Reading List:
Category 15 - Cybernetics and Artificial Intelligence" (3/1/86CE)
Reprinted from: _The Crystal Tablet of Set_
(c) 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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