The Most Human Human

(Written by Jennifer, who chose the book)

The pick for the bookclub in May 2011 was The Most Human Human by Brian Christian. The idea behind this nonfiction book is that every year there is a competition called the Turing test. For this test, computer programs are built to hold an instant message conversation with a human judge and try to convince the judge that the computer is in fact a human. The author of the book volunteered to be one of the human confederates in the test. Two of the awards given out during the competition are the most human award to the computer program with the highest score and also an award for the most human human. The author is set on winning the most human human award and through the process of preparing for the test recounts his exploration into the question of what makes us human and how we differentiate ourselves from machines.

We all pretty much agreed that the book started out strong but fizzled at the end. There were too many tangents and some tangents were just not that interesting (for example, lossy compression).

One interesting coincidence was that we all knew one of the other confederates from that 2009 Turing Test. Our very own Doug Peters from Nuance was featured in the book!

Apart from the fizzled ending, there were very intriguing concepts raised in the book such as the researcher who developed the sixth sense of sonar by implanting a computer chip in himself and the concept of Singularity - an enhanced state of human experience enabled by machine. One of the most interesting tangents, though, for our bookclub discussion was the Proust Questionnaire (which is mentioned in the book at about 39% through). So what do we dislike most about ourselves? Well, what we say at bookclub stays at bookclub.

Devil in the White City, and a Farewell to Debbie

On March 19th we met at Debbie's place in San Francisco to discuss her book pick, Devil in the White City: Murder, Magic, and Madness at the Fair that Changed America, by Erik Larson. It's non-fiction and looks at the events surrounding the 1893 Chicago's World Fair, and the serial killer who took advantage of the influx of people entering Chicago at that time.

Although it is not my normal type of read, I thought it was a great book. He did a wonderful job painting a picture of what life was like then, and so many amazing things came out because of that World Fair (like the Ferris Wheel, and better water sanitation).

The sad part was that it was Debbie's last time to host before moving to the East Coast! We wish her well in her new adventures and hope she'll be Skyping with us during out future book club meetings. We'll miss you Debbie!