Review of Lucas 2.0

[Jane Ogwang]

[Following is an official OnlineBookClub.org review of "Lucas 2.0" by Scooter Duff.]

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4 out of 4 stars

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Superintelligence has been a talking point among tech enthusiasts for a while now. The areas of debate include aspects of its possibility, necessity, and even the risks it poses. I, for one, believe that it shall be a reality in one of these coming decades. Before that happens, however, all we have are bits of great imagination and creativity by authors such as Scooter Duff. In his book, Lucas 2.0: Nothing Will Ever Be The Same Again, he explores several aspects of superintelligence with unmatched creativity. He also brings into light the political aspects of making superintelligence a possibility. Of course, we all know that all the political goodwill will be required to make this a reality.

The book opens with a group of renowned and respected scientists, led by Dr. Earl Shandry, in a lab with their super-intelligent creation, Lucas. In one of the first scenes, Lucas notices these humans want to switch its avatar off, fights back and wins. It dawns on them that they had technically lost control over this fantastic being. I intentionally called it a being because of the various abilities it portrayed. Lucas could have, express, and control emotions, just like humans. In addition, it could reason, think and come up with unique solutions to some of the team's problems. These abilities are demonstrated on almost every page of the book. But Lucas is destined for bigger things; it has enormous goals that it sets out to achieve in impeccable style. In collaboration with the United States Government of the day, led by President Wilshere, Lucas sets out to address several of the world's problems, including climate change. This is met by resistance from many quarters. Pick the book to see how Lucas and his team handled the dissenters and whether they managed to achieve their goals.

Scooter's performance in writing this book is incredible. Writing a novel on fictional yet scientific phenomena requires great skill. The amount of detail, authenticity, and objectivity the author used is commendable. He seemed to have done enough research on the subject matter but also blended it excellently with the human aspects of the subject. The relationship between Lucas and his creators was cordial and empathetic. They understood each other and made necessary compromises when needed. The conversations in the book also made it quite lively and engaging. They went a long way in making the book enjoyable to read.

While the subject matter was technical, Scooter limited his use of jargon and technical terms, making the book more readable. Even without a vast knowledge or experience in the field, I found the book interesting and insightful because of this simple language. Superintelligence is obviously ahead of our time, but the author also did a good job portraying a political game ahead of its time. Using a woman as President of The United States was entirely intentional. It made a statement about Scooter's belief and optimism for such future achievements. The author did not also shy away from addressing issues that currently affect us. For instance, his mention and discussion of data protection and violation made a lot of sense. It is a menace already, and in the desire to correct it in the more complicated future technology, it is only suitable to address it and provide solutions. References to Trump's administration and the MAGA movement also made the book more authentic and relatable.

There were, however, no bounds to this author's imagination. He created a lot of creative and unimaginable situations that sometimes left gaps in my mind. Lucas's ability to communicate with everyone in the world simultaneously was, for instance, not exhaustively explained. How it would be able to get into everyone's heads, even those with no access to computers, was still unexplained. A layman's thinking is that you'll probably need a chip in everyone's brain to do that. Maybe I didn't get it, and I will, therefore, not factor that into my book rating.

I give the book a perfect rating of four out of four stars. It is written excellently and professionally edited. I recommend it to science fiction lovers and all superintelligence enthusiasts. This book is also for you if you want to learn something about superintelligence. However, I should warn you about the use of profanity which makes it suitable only for mature audiences.

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Lucas 2.0
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[Hannah Mae Fabro]

The book cover seems interesting. The storyline also sounds like I will enjoy reading this book. I hope that I find time to read this soon. Thank you for your wonderful review.

[Dauria04]

It is always nice when the author does the research to talk about a subject like this. Great review.

[Edit_or]

I don’t really like this book cover but I’ll go with the saying that “do not judge a book by its cover” and go ahead to read it as the review sounds interesting.

[MsH2k]

I am assuming that's Lucas on the cover--I wish they had made a less reptilian avatar for him. Humans are barreling along this path of superintelligence, and I sincerely hope we possess the political goodwill to make it a reality that is peaceful.

Thank you for your excellent, engaging review!

[Jane Ogwang]

The book cover seems interesting. The storyline also sounds like I will enjoy reading this book. I hope that I find time to read this soon. Thank you for your wonderful review.

Thank you for your comment Hannah, I'm sure you'll enjoy reading it.

[Jane Ogwang]

It is always nice when the author does the research to talk about a subject like this. Great review.

Thank you for passing by, I'm sure you'd enjoy reading the book.

[Jane Ogwang]

I don’t really like this book cover but I’ll go with the saying that “do not judge a book by its cover” and go ahead to read it as the review sounds interesting.

I also didn't think the cover was great, but the content surely is.

[Jane Ogwang]

I am assuming that's Lucas on the cover--I wish they had made a less reptilian avatar for him. Humans are barreling along this path of superintelligence, and I sincerely hope we possess the political goodwill to make it a reality that is peaceful.

Thank you for your excellent, engaging review!

Lucas has several versions and avatars, and that's just one of them. I'm a little scared though of the dangers superintelligence may pose to the human race. We may ultimately build our own end.

[Natalie Sheph]

Lucas seems like a very interesting character. I wonder what human qualities he had and how they combined with artificial intelligence. The storyline is intriguing, and your review is detailed and well-written.

[Prisallen]

I love science fiction and the plot of this story makes it one that I think I would enjoy reading. I really like the fact that they were using the AI to learn how to improve the World's problems. Thank you for your wonderful review!

[NetMassimo]

This seems like an intriguing novel that belongs to the science fiction genre but feels like very close to us with evolutions of today's world's situations that feel familiar offering food for thought about where we might be going. Thank you for your great review!