(For anyone who hasn't heard of this, the science blogger Tim Tyler has uploaded some youtube videos about it.) I think the "wirehead problem" is very interesting and quite important, and I've been trying to find instances of it in science fiction. All I've found is stuff about drugs and brains, nothing about advanced computers, which is what I'm after. Does anyone here know of any SF novels or short stories that have dealt with this issue? I'd be surprised if there wasn't at least one short story somewhere. Now for my little plug. I write farcical speculative fiction, and have recently published two novels, one of which features the wirehead problem. I'd be interested to know if I'm the first author to treat it. Anyone who wants to find out more about my work can nip over to my blog (via the "Home Page" link in my profile), and I'm happy to announce that between the 15th and the 19th of this month, the Kindle versions will be free Please Register or Log in to view the hidden image!
Well two stories that I can think of that deal with the wire head thing are" Neuromancer," by William Gibson. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Neuromancer And in passing by Dan Simmons in his Hyperion Cantos, notably "Hyperion," and The Fall of Hyperion. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hyperion_Cantos
Hi, sorry for the outrageously late reply. Thanks for the links ...but I don't think those stories deal with self-modifying artificial superintelligence. My silent, invisible, barely existent army of readers will be interested to learn that from today (the 3rd) until the 7th of this month, I'm running another kindle giveaway which includes my new third novel. If you search "Bobby Morris" in the kindle store, you'll see me.
It depends in what way you mean, "Neuromancer" depict's human level intelligence systems that were initially used to secure networks against humans. The methods used (which can result in the deaths of such hackers) are ones that they've modified themselves to do (at least that's the understanding you get from the story). At one point the "Neuromancer" AI builds an entire virtual world to reunite Case with Linda Lee, not something that an AI would have to do unless it was capable of some form of "self-awareness" which in turn means the capacity to modify.