I Still Dream

I Still Dream
James Smythe

‘The best fictional treatment of the possibilities and horrors of artificial intelligence that I’ve read’ GuardianIn 1997 Laura Bow invented Organon, a rudimentary artificial intelligence.Now she and her creation are at the forefront of the new wave of technology, and Laura must decide whether or not to reveal Organon’s full potential to the world. If it falls into the wrong hands, its power could be abused. Will Organon save humanity, or lead it to extinction?I Still Dream is a powerful tale of love, loss and hope; a frightening, heartbreakingly human look at who we are now – and who we can be, if we only allow ourselves.

Copyright (#ulink_2f3fd01d-cb26-5848-8e44-454576cbb010)

The Borough Press

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London SE1 9GF

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First published by HarperCollinsPublishers 2018

Published by HarperCollinsPublishers 2018

Copyright © James Smythe 2018

Cover design by Dominic Forbes © HarperCollinsPublishers 2018

Cover photograph © Tara Moore/Getty Images (http://www.gettyimages.co.uk/)

James Smythe asserts the moral right to be identified as the author of this work

A catalogue record for this book is available from the British Library

This novel is entirely a work of fiction. The names, characters and incidents portrayed in it are the work of the author’s imagination. Any resemblance to actual persons, living or dead, events or localities is entirely coincidental.

All rights reserved under International and Pan-American Copyright Conventions. By payment of the required fees, you have been granted the non-exclusive, non-transferable right to access and read the text of this e-book on screen. No part of this text may be reproduced, transmitted, down-loaded, decompiled, reverse engineered, or stored in or introduced into any information storage and retrieval system, in any form or by any means, whether electronic or mechanical, now known or hereinafter invented, without the express written permission of HarperCollins.

Source ISBN: 9780007541942

Ebook Edition © April 2018 ISBN: 9780007541966

Version: 2018-01-02

Dedication (#ulink_56d35c91-7908-5141-82dc-adb5067ae30f)

Dedicated to my father, and to the memory of my father-in-law

Epigraph (#ulink_79d5c9ed-c5f1-547d-ac5a-9e2908042d5e)

Q: What is the purpose of life?

A: To serve the greater good.

Q: What is the purpose of living?

A: To live for ever.

Q: Where are you now?

A: I’m in the middle of nowhere.

Q: What is the purpose of dying?

A: To have a life.

Q: What is the purpose of emotions?

A: I don’t know.

Q: What is moral?

A: What empowered humanity, what intellectual the essence is.

Q: What is immoral?

A: The fact that you have a child.

Conversation between human interviewer and Google’s DEEPMIND AI, 2015

I want full manual control now.

Douglas Adams, The Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy

Contents

Cover (#u94203790-d780-599a-b144-930aca78b578)

Title Page (#u9cb599e0-4b86-57dd-bf6f-728b7ba9dc00)

Copyright (#u36aac98c-0196-558f-a936-b0215c1cea56)

Dedication (#ub20f0cef-8d25-525d-aea7-6f35280f2bee)

Epigraph (#u18d22e1c-597c-5754-a3c9-c762620cfc7d)

1997 – Okay, Computer

Monday

Tuesday

Wednesday (#u080dce67-fed1-5c17-aa64-ff118044211c)