EXEGESIS - Astro Teller
EXEGESIS - Astro Teller
One of the most unusual and thought-provoking novels of 1997 would have to be Exegesis, by Astro Teller. A graduate student at Stanford, Alice Lu has spent two unsuccessful years working on an artificial intelligence computer program until the day Edgar says, "Hello, Alice." At first, Alice refuses to believe that her program, EDGAR, is working, but soon she realizes that Edgar is "alive" and becoming more aware with each passing day. Their relationship crosses several boundaries from human/machine, mother/child, and teacher/student. In its quest to learn, Edgar invades the computers of the National Security Agency, and the NSA is convinced that Alice and Edgar are involved in espionage.
Exegesis is not a thriller, and its focus is on the relationship between humans and their creations and the possibilities and implications of artificial intelligence. The story is written as a series of e-mails, making it seem more realistic. I started thumbing through the book, and before I knew it, I was at the halfway point. I finished it in one sitting and found it utterly fascinating. Following Edgar's growth and increasing consciousness was very interesting. It's easy to conceive Teller's scenario, and the issues and concepts he presents will inevitably be debated and studied in the not too distant future. If you're looking for something different, give Exegesis a try.
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