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How Smart is Your Smart Phone… Really?

6/30/2019

By James L Hill (aka J. L. Hill)

                I have been working with computers for nearly 40 years. My day job, I’m a software engineer, my nights and weekends too quite often. And it never ceases to amaze me that people, otherwise very intelligent people, believe computers can think.
                Ever since HAL, in ‘2001 A Space Odyssey’, people have had the notion that computers actually have reasoning or intelligence. The fact that we now have “smart phones” which can talk to us reinforces the misconception. This is not a knock against the iPhone engineers, my hat is off to them, and I use my iPhone more than my desktop or laptop computers. The scientist working on AI (Artificial Intelligence) has come a helluva long way since 2001 A Space Odyssey. But we are not at HAL yet, and thank God not at Skynet - the master computer behind the Terminator.
                We are still in the dark as to what is intelligence, artificial, animal, human, or Extra Terrestrial. For example, there are different ways to write a date, July 01, 2019; July 1st, 2019; 07-01-2019; 01-07-2019; 01JUL19; etc. When I ask someone, “What is today Date”? They could answer in any of the forms listed, and the only one that might make me wonder if the person just awoke from a coma is 01-07-2019. Then if I surmised, they are European or been in the military it makes perfect sense.
                For a computer to validate the answer is correct, there must be a complex set of condition checks and algorithm pre-existing in the computer’s memory, having nothing to do with the person’s background. And the truth is the computer’s logic and mine are no different. Both needs recognize the format given as Day-Month-Year. The difference comes, and this is the big one, if I did not know this was a proper format a simple explanation that this is how it is written in Europe would suffice. For a computer no such reasoning is possible. It will throw an error or do something even worst until a software engineer (me) adds the format to its memory. A computer cannot learn.
                I have sat in countless meetings with reasonably intelligent people trying to explain why the computer doesn’t know what you ‘mean’. It does not have deductive reasoning capabilities. In Sci-Fi to defeat the evil computer we hit it with a big dose of deductive reasoning. Or better yet, circular logic, the Kryptonite of the computer world. This is the same logic you can use on 6-year-olds for hours of fun. I call it the ‘You said, I said’ game.
                My Grandson would say, “You’re going to buy me ice cream.”
                And I respond with, “That’s nice you’re going to buy me ice cream.”
                He immediately responds, “No I said … YOU’RE going to buy me ice cream.”
                And of course, I come back with, “That’s what I said… you said YOU’RE going to buy ME ice cream.”
                He knows I am twisting his words around but can’t figure out how to get out of it and still get his ice cream. He almost got out of it when he replaced YOU with Grandpa, but then didn’t know he could replace ME with his name. Before the age of 6 they look at you with a blank stare and go ask someone else for ice cream. I employed this sort of circular reasoning in Pegasus: A Journey To New Eden, when Zack and Zuri must match wits with the ship’s computer to override its prime directive to protect the ship and its inhabitants, which includes them.
                Although we have made tremendous strides in the fields of computers, true AI remains the domain of Sci-Fi. But once we understand what intelligence is, or how learning works, maybe we can make a truly smart computer. God forbid.

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Has Science Finally Pass Science Fiction?

6/24/2019

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By James L Hill (aka JL Hill)

                Science fiction writers have always been out in front of the technology. But with new technologies and advances coming out almost daily we have to work really hard to just keep pace. We were writing about recumbent DNA, gene-manipulation, and cloning. Biologists have since cloned a sheep, combined the DNA for spider’s silk with goat’s milk, and perform testing for inherited diseases, parentage, and ancestry. What was a Brave New World is becoming just another day in the old laboratory.

                We have always been able to look to space and dream up some fantastic places. Astronomers have built satellites and the Kepler Space telescope to discover some 134 confirmed exoplanets in 76 stellar systems and over 3000 unconfirmed. And some of these planets are amazing even if they are uninhabitable like hot Jupiters. These are planets the size of Jupiter that orbit their star at a distance like Mercury. However astronomers estimate as many as 40 billion Earth-size planets in the habitable zones of sun-like stars exist in the Milky Way galaxy. We have our work cut out for us.

                We came up with rocket ships, submarines, and robots. Engineers built them. We thought up wireless communications and now there is blue tooth. Maybe science has caught up with us. Then again maybe it was never a race. When writers think of what is possible it inspires scientist to make it happen. And when scientists come up with exciting new discoveries, writers like to take it and push it to the next level. There are plenty of good ideas coming from both sides. Together we will work to come up with solutions energy problems, like solar towers or fusion power cells. Can you image a day when a watch-size battery using hydrogen fusion technology powers everything from your flying car to the cities you live in? Or pushing the boundaries of gene-splicing to give humans photosynthesis capabilities to end world hunger? Sure we may all turn a shade of green but scientist will probably figure out a way to make it work.

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Over The Transom

6/2/2019

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By James L Hill a.k.a J L Hill

You could say that I was in the publishing business since my early twenties… loosely. I took the ‘over-the-transom’ approach to getting published back then. After sending several manuscripts through the mail and receiving standard rejection letters in return, I decided to take a more direct approach. I worked as a newspaper delivery boy for the Wall Street Journal for the express purpose of gaining access to the publishing houses’ offices in Manhattan.
I looked up the magazine and book publishers I wished to contact in the Writer’s Marketplace as before, but instead of mailing to the Fiction Editor or Sci-Fi Dept, I would go to the offices that were on my route or close-by and learn the person’s name in charge. After addressing my package correctly, I slid it through their door. They don’t exactly have transoms anymore, but if they do, they have in all likelihood been sealed shut for decades.
Over-the-transom is a reference to bypassing the standard business practice and tossing your unsolicited material directly into the publisher’s office. Hence, by slinging those fifty pounds of newspapers on my back every night, I was able to sidestep the building’s doorman, the first line of defense, the mail-room clerk, whose job was to stuff the SASE with the standard rejection notes, and possibly the editor/publisher’s assistant to get my work directly to the person I wanted.
Did it work? Well, I received personal rejection letters in some cases, so I counted those as successes. My point is, as a writer, you should be willing to try everything possible to get published. As a publisher... I got a PO Box, as I do not fancy people showing up at my door in the dead of night to toss their latest and greatest over my transom, which fortunately, I do not have either. But there is a better idea.
If you are unknown, reach out to the independent publisher like me; but do so in the correct way. Technically speaking, there are three forms of publishers; the big boys, Random House, Penguin, etc., or as they are known, traditional publishers; the independents, such as myself, RockHill Publishing LLC, and the self/vanity publishers in the vein of Xlibris and Author House. Do not be fooled, some self-publishing houses are little more than vanity presses. They will print anything and usually for a sizable sum. You should not have to pay for your own publishing.
Indie publishers are more like the big boys. Some are in fact subsidiaries of a parent company operating independently on a lower scale and for a particular genre, thus the name. Others, like RockHill, were conceived not to merely publish one’s own writing but also that of those who produce exceptional work in the same genres. We, like the big houses, follow the same rules, scrutinize the work’s quality, and ask the same question, is it sell-able? But unlike them, we are not tightly bound to hitting home runs. Therefore, we take more chances.
Major houses look at what is selling presently and say, “give me more of the same.” They are willing to put out ten books of the same type that sold last year, in the hope that one will sell again this year. Plus, they have a set stable of writers, whom they support with much fanfare, and aim for their names to remain recognizable to the readers who buy these authors regularly. As a result, traditional publishers are slow to change and rigid in their requirements.
An indie publisher is more flexible; we can take a swing at the curve ball without fear of it being a strike. First, we deal in smaller margins and you are not getting a large advance, if any, from an indie publisher. We do limited runs, numbering anything from ten to a hundred, and naturally, on-demand printing. You will also be required to foot the bill for your own publicity work. But do not assume that is an automatic minus to your name.
For example, a big house gives you an advance of say, $10,000.00. I know, sounds quite generous. They then set up interviews/readings/signings, and fully expect you to show up without further payments – after all, you already have ten grand to get started – and you will not make any more money until your book sales surpass that mark. As a result, you oblige and go do whatever they have set up.
On the other hand, an indie publisher may send you some copies of your book to hawk, and if you require a larger quantity, you must purchase them. So, if they set up interviews or readings/signings, it is true that you have to cover the expenses yourself, but looking at it logically, you realize that it is basically the same procedure as with the big players anyway. Therefore, it behooves you to go, because you will not make money if you do not.
Indie publishers are popping up all the time. In fact, many writers are choosing to become publishers as well to get their own work in print; others are doing it to share the load and cost. If they are a true publishing house or trying to be, then, they will be looking for two to five authors to publish each year. For that reason, the benefit of finding and working with an indie publisher is that he is inherently focused on your book and success just as you are, because it means his own success. So, do your due diligence.
Most traditional publishers pay close to nothing until you prove yourself. On the other hand, Indie publishers print less at a time but can often offer better royalties than the large houses, but likewise, should not charge for editing or publishing. Do your homework and send only to those who are looking for writers in your genre. Edit and prepare your work meticulously and follow the publishers’ directions.

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How Smart is Your Smart Phone… Really?

Has Science Finally Pass Science Fiction?

Over The Transom

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