Turns out I had already bought the other books in this trilogy of seven parts, so I'll give it another try despite not having been much convinced by the first volume.
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Eclectic reader: philosophy and AI for work, pretty much any other genre for leisure. I mostly read on my Kobo, in a variety of European languages.
On Mastodon as @dcm@social.sunet.se
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Dimitri Mollo started reading Septologien by Jon Fosse (Septologien)
Fosses storverk «Septologien» kom ut i tre bøker i 2019, 2020 og 2021. Bøkene hausta …
Dimitri Mollo reviewed Septologien by Jon Fosse (Septologien)
Fosses storverk «Septologien» kom ut i tre bøker i 2019, 2020 og 2021. Bøkene hausta …
Some interesting bits and narrative methods, not much else
3 stars
I read the first book, The Other Name, comprising the first 2 parts, in the Swedish translation. I don't think I'll read the rest.
The book is an unbroken stream of consciousness, mostly following the mind of the protagonist Asle, an older, sufficiently successful local painter. Interestingly, occasionally it seems like the stream of consciousness expands to what goes on in the mind of Asle's friend, and sort of double, who is also a painter, also called Asle, but with a much more troubled present.
There is very little plot, as we inhabit the mind of Asle, with his (very) repetitive everyday thought patterns, memories, troubles dealing with grief, as well as few reflections on God and art. There are several repetitive and very inane conversations, especially with his neighbour. Added to the repetition of everyday thoughts, it often feels like reading never-ending small talk.
The repetition occasionally succeeds at …
I read the first book, The Other Name, comprising the first 2 parts, in the Swedish translation. I don't think I'll read the rest.
The book is an unbroken stream of consciousness, mostly following the mind of the protagonist Asle, an older, sufficiently successful local painter. Interestingly, occasionally it seems like the stream of consciousness expands to what goes on in the mind of Asle's friend, and sort of double, who is also a painter, also called Asle, but with a much more troubled present.
There is very little plot, as we inhabit the mind of Asle, with his (very) repetitive everyday thought patterns, memories, troubles dealing with grief, as well as few reflections on God and art. There are several repetitive and very inane conversations, especially with his neighbour. Added to the repetition of everyday thoughts, it often feels like reading never-ending small talk.
The repetition occasionally succeeds at creating a sort of hypnotic atmosphere, but that gets tiring quickly. Moreover, Asle's thoughts on religion and art struck me as rather uninteresting, and sort of naive/cliché.
A few nice scenes here and there, and some occasional success at building an engaging atmosphere, but not much else that might make me want to read the other parts.
Dimitri Mollo finished reading Septologien by Jon Fosse (Septologien)
Septologien by Jon Fosse (Septologien)
Fosses storverk «Septologien» kom ut i tre bøker i 2019, 2020 og 2021. Bøkene hausta glitrande kritikkar, fekk Bragepris og …
Dimitri Mollo
boosted
Aaron reviewed Artificial Intelligence by Melanie Mitchell
Artificial Intelligence
4 stars
Mitchell, a computer scientist, has written an engaging book about AI, including both its opportunities and problems. She comes down as more skeptical (or at least restrained) than AI enthusiasts, although she clearly sees benefits to the technology. More than any other book I have read, Mitchell skillfully walks non-technological people (like this reader) through technological explanations of what AI is doing. There are plenty of great visual examples in the book, demonstrating how AI can make elementary mistakes (identifying images of random dots as different animals, for instance).
More than anything else, reading this book gave me tremendous respect for what the human mind can accomplish. We use words like "intelligence" to describe what machines are doing, but nothing comes close to what the human mind can do easily.
Near the end of the book, Mitchell quotes the economist Sendhil Mullainathan: "We should be afraid. Not of intelligent machines. …
Mitchell, a computer scientist, has written an engaging book about AI, including both its opportunities and problems. She comes down as more skeptical (or at least restrained) than AI enthusiasts, although she clearly sees benefits to the technology. More than any other book I have read, Mitchell skillfully walks non-technological people (like this reader) through technological explanations of what AI is doing. There are plenty of great visual examples in the book, demonstrating how AI can make elementary mistakes (identifying images of random dots as different animals, for instance).
More than anything else, reading this book gave me tremendous respect for what the human mind can accomplish. We use words like "intelligence" to describe what machines are doing, but nothing comes close to what the human mind can do easily.
Near the end of the book, Mitchell quotes the economist Sendhil Mullainathan: "We should be afraid. Not of intelligent machines. But of machines making decisions that they do not have the intelligence to make. I am far more afraid of machine stupidity than machine intelligence. … Machines can make many many good decisions and then one day fail spectacularly on a tail event that did not appear in their training data." (page 279) The unrestrained hype surrounding AI may have the unfortunate effect of making us too trusting, and thereby blind to Mullainathan's advice.
Dimitri Mollo reviewed Är svensken människa? by Henrik Berggren
Very interesting analysis of Sweden's society and social history
4 stars
Very interesting and well-written book that defends the thesis that Sweden has a rather unique form of social organisation and social thought--the authors dub it 'state-individualism'-- in which the state is seen as guarantor of the freedom and independence of individuals from most kinds of interpersonal dependence relations (including within the family). This is put in contrast especially with the social systems in Germany and the US. Chapters go from Swedish political and social thought in the 1800s to much more recent developments (up to around 2014). It gets occasionally somewhat boring, as is to be expected, but it is overall very engaging, informative, and rich in insights.
Dimitri Mollo finished reading Är svensken människa? by Henrik Berggren
Dimitri Mollo started reading Septologien by Jon Fosse (Septologien)
Septologien by Jon Fosse (Septologien)
Fosses storverk «Septologien» kom ut i tre bøker i 2019, 2020 og 2021. Bøkene hausta glitrande kritikkar, fekk Bragepris og …
Dimitri Mollo reviewed Children of Dune (Dune Chronicles, Book 3) by Frank Herbert (Dune (3))
The science fiction masterpiece continues in the "major event,"( Los Angeles Times) Children of Dune. …
Fun but somewhat frustrating
3 stars
I enjoyed this more than the very convoluted Dune Messiah, but considerably less than the original Dune. The mysticism and the abundance of statements and dialogue that seem little more than meaningless word salad gets tiring after a while. A key plot point remains rather underdeveloped and some moments seem to clash with what has gone on before in the series. Perhaps some of the tiresomeness also comes from the fact that pretty much every protagonist in the trilogy is an anti-hero, and the few somewhat decent characters are weak and do little else than obey. Nonetheless, it's a fun read with great world-building around a future humanity in which science and technology are mostly rejected in favour of religion, militarism and mysticism.
Dimitri Mollo rated Children of Dune (Dune Chronicles, Book 3): 3 stars
Children of Dune (Dune Chronicles, Book 3) by Frank Herbert (Dune (3))
The science fiction masterpiece continues in the "major event,"( Los Angeles Times) Children of Dune. With millions of copies sold …
Dimitri Mollo reviewed Infinite Jest by David Foster Wallace
Set in an addicts' hallway house and a tennis academy, and featuring one of the …
Brilliant and Rich
5 stars
There is so much in this book that it's very difficult to verbalise much about it. Brilliant, detailed, inventive, very human studies of addiction, depression, recovery, obsession, and the difficulties of interaction and communication. All within an absurd but carefully presented (though nowadays looking less and less unrealistic) alternative 90's, a world that turns out to be quite natural to inhabit during the (long, but pleasurable) process of reading the book, along with the minds of the main protagonists and even of many of the secondary characters. The language is varied, deliciously creative, and fit to the different characters. Several scenes in the book will stay with me for a long time.
Dimitri Mollo rated Infinite Jest: 5 stars
Infinite Jest by David Foster Wallace
Set in an addicts' hallway house and a tennis academy, and featuring one of the moste endearing screwed-up families in …
Dimitri Mollo finished reading Infinite Jest by David Foster Wallace
Infinite Jest by David Foster Wallace
Set in an addicts' hallway house and a tennis academy, and featuring one of the moste endearing screwed-up families in …
Dimitri Mollo started reading LA Divina Commedia by Dante Alighieri
The Divine Comedy (Italian: Divina Commedia) is an epic poem by Dante Alighieri, begun c. …
Dopo averlo letto in gran parte alle superiori, mi sembra il momento di rileggerlo senza pressioni e pagelle.
Dimitri Mollo replied to uh's status
@uh @UlrikeHahn@fediscience.org @dcm@social.sunet.se
Indeed this is a much longer chapter! I stopped at p. 73 for now.
I share your concern about the ontology here: Juarrero talks constantly about constraints 'doing' things, and even being a form of causality (though she doesn't say how). But her examples suggest that what she calls constraints are just ways of describing patterns that appear when certain entities interact with each other in specific organised ways. This impression is reinforced by the apparently circular treatment of context-dependent constraints on p.70: they are characterised by appeal to constrained interactions...
But then, rather than being something ontologically additional that does things, constraints are just ways of talking about features of such patterns, which are in their turn constituted by the familiar kinds of causal interactions between entities. So, nothing ontologically new, just, at most, new-ish alternative explanatory tools.
(This connects, I think, to the Deacon vs …
@uh @UlrikeHahn@fediscience.org @dcm@social.sunet.se
Indeed this is a much longer chapter! I stopped at p. 73 for now.
I share your concern about the ontology here: Juarrero talks constantly about constraints 'doing' things, and even being a form of causality (though she doesn't say how). But her examples suggest that what she calls constraints are just ways of describing patterns that appear when certain entities interact with each other in specific organised ways. This impression is reinforced by the apparently circular treatment of context-dependent constraints on p.70: they are characterised by appeal to constrained interactions...
But then, rather than being something ontologically additional that does things, constraints are just ways of talking about features of such patterns, which are in their turn constituted by the familiar kinds of causal interactions between entities. So, nothing ontologically new, just, at most, new-ish alternative explanatory tools.
(This connects, I think, to the Deacon vs Heil discussion we had last week. Hat tip: @NicoleCRust@neuromatch.social, @awaisaftab@mastodon.social) (Also connected, perhaps, to the traditional criticisms of Dynamical Systems Theory, when applied to CogSci, in terms of it offering just redescriptions, rather than explanations)
Though I promised not to complain any more about the general obscurity and lack of rigour, I can't help myself. Juarrero talks about enabling constraints 'locking in' (??) information and energy flow to 'real-world traits/characteristics' (what others are there? what do such constraints do that has to do with real-world traits rather than... what exactly?). Then on p.71 she seems to give 3 non-equivalent characterisations of enabling constraints in the space of two paragraphs...