Cheap Complex Devices Mind Over Matter Voume Red eBook John Compton Sundman
Download As PDF : Cheap Complex Devices Mind Over Matter Voume Red eBook John Compton Sundman 
Cheap Complex Devices, purportedly an anthology of winners of the inaugural Hofstadter Prize for Machine-Written Narrative, is part of the larger work Mind Over Matter, which also comprises Acts of the Apostles by John F.X. Sundman and The Pains by John Compton Sundman. While ostensibly telling the story of the inaugural Hofstadeter Prize for Machine-Written Narrative, Cheap Complex Devices tells the story of an entity coming to awareness. What is that entity? Is it Todd Griffith, the chip designer with bullet in his brain from the novel Acts of the Apostles? Is it a bee, or a swarm or bees, a Shaker village or a very buggy floating point processor? There is ample evidence to support any of these hypotheses. Or is it, possibly, the mythical meta-character named "Sundman"? Read the book and form your own opinions.
Acts of the Apostles is a Bourne-Identity style thriller about nanomachines, neurobiology, Gulf War Syndrome and a Silicon Valley messiah. It tells how Todd Griffith, a chip designer, gets a bullet in the head after successfully debugging a race condition in the Kali chip. In Cheap Complex Devices, Todd's situation is looked at from a different angle. Some people even think that Todd himself, or his consciousness transferred into a bug-riddled computer, is the real author of Cheap Complex Devices.
The Pains is a lavishly illustrated dystopian phantasmagoria set in a universe that is part George Orwell's 1984 and part Ronald Reagan's 1984. It tells the story of Mr. Norman Lux, a sincere young monk beset with bewildering maladies that seem somehow chaotically connected to the fate of the world. Some people have observed that Mr. Lux's condition is markedly similar to that of an electron in a race condition in a buggy chip -- perhaps the one Todd Griffith was designing when he was shot? Or the one in which his thoughts are now imprisoned?
Cheap Complex Devices Mind Over Matter Voume Red eBook John Compton Sundman
This was an absolutely delightful book to read, very quirky, but a lot of fun. When I first realized how I was being played with was during the introduction where the author insists that reading the rest of the introduction makes no sense, and that going straight to the novel is the best idea, but then coerces the reader to continue reading the introduction. Interestingly, I believe that this is where the "missing book" comes into play. The books includes vague references to Douglas Hofstadter's work, some humorous... at least I think the quote from a character "And then you've got all this baroque s*** in the middle" is a reference to Hofstadter's GEB and is one of my favorites. I also found the mix-ups between the Queen Bee and Big Brother, or a honey-pot and television very thought provoking. One of my favorite humorous moments is when it is mentioned that in the Second World War Moloch was animating the German people, then a little later that "the fight against Moloch is ever so much more demanding these days...", but then concludes with "but enough of Moloch. He does not exist. I was speaking metaphorically."This isn't to say that these forays into humor are not without substance, as during this passage it is pointed out that Alan Turing had been hired by the military to help with a discipline called operational research, where mathematics was used to help make the supply chain to troops more efficient. It is also interesting that the character providing the narration in the second novel believes that this same discipline could be used to make the current world a better place.
There are little tidbits of wisdom dropped everywhere, as in a question that is asked "How are we to be as little children? Answer: We are to listen to the story. Children are willing story-listeners." Or, "Do not mistake the bee for the swarm, this is a reductionist error, the mistaking the part for the whole." And it is pointed out that "Celibacy did not destroy Shakerism; the World did", as the religion lasted over 200 years despite practicing celibacy.
If you look into John Sundman's blogs on wetmachine dot com, you can find that he states "I’m not trying to write fancy s*** that will impress professors of literary theory (although that would be nice too); I’m trying to write books that people will read on the beach, or on the subway." He succeeded in doing that beautifully. So why only 4 stars, you may ask. Simply because he got caught up for a bunch of nonsensical pages that were apparently to indicate that the "computer program" that allegedly wrote the novels was going on the fritz. I took it as an attempt at cuteness that didn't quite work. Despite that, the Cheap Complex Devices is very worth reading, and I am very glad I read it.
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Cheap Complex Devices Mind Over Matter Voume Red eBook John Compton Sundman Reviews
This is a book unlike any I've ever read. I don't generally reread books but I will reread this one for the simple fact that it's speaking to you on so many levels. After the humor and the various contradictions and loops it goes to a place that's one of the emotionally deepest I've ever read. As I said, I have to reread it.
I don't write reviews, but this book was so exceptional that I couldn't resist telling everyone I know about it. This is a non-linear book. There are layers upon layers of concepts, philosophies, STEM.
If you love PKD, you will love John Sundman! This book isn't for everyone. If you don't like to think while you read, then skip it. But, if you are a scientist, engineer, programmer, hacker, nerd, geek, techie, or sci-fi fan, then you should read this book. Or if you work in a cubicle.
To start off with, this IS a novel. You may get confused when you start reading it thinking that it's true, i.e. the story within is written by a computer program written by someone named "Pavel" for some AI contest. But, in fact, it's Sundman.
Sundman sucks you into the story before you actually realize it in the Introduction. Then, he cleverly crafts a story within a story...within a story. He spins in Douglas Hofstadter's "strange loops" in such a fashion that you start wondering what's real and what's not. Parts of it seem to come from Sundman's personal life. That just adds so much more to the depth of the strange loops. So as you read, you're going deeper into this rabbit hole. Near the end, Sundman slowly pushes you back out to reality. You don't realize it at first, but by the end, Sundman violently spits you out into the real world. It is jarring.
Some of the plot elements in the story made me wonder how he would actually pull them off in a believable way that wouldn't make me groan. Forget about suspending your disbelief! Half-way through, I started believing that people may be swarms of bees or a shaker village! If it was PKD, you could easily dismiss such fantasies as being products of illness or drug use. Not with Sundman! Through the stories (yes, multiple layers) he provides rational arguments of why a person may be a swarm of bees or a shaker village. But, Sundman describes these things in such a convincing, rational way that leaves you contemplating the meaning of things. That, btw, is the point...I think. Or, at least, one of the points. By the end of the story, Sundman has baptized you in these highly big-brained concepts, and you come out thinking, "whoa...what just happened? Man, I get it!"
There were also many "in-jokes" that techies would find very funny. What's another strange thing about those jokes are that they can be either extremely funny or deeply disturbing depending on your current state-of-mind. It's like the literary version of Mona Lisa's smile.
This is Sundman's second book. I was so mesmerized by it, that upon completion, I immediately bought his very well reviewed premier novel, "Acts of the Apostles" and started reading it. So...I thought I was out of the rabbit hole...but apparently Sundman has other plans for us that continue(?) in "Acts of the Apostles". (Remember I said non-linear?)
This was an absolutely delightful book to read, very quirky, but a lot of fun. When I first realized how I was being played with was during the introduction where the author insists that reading the rest of the introduction makes no sense, and that going straight to the novel is the best idea, but then coerces the reader to continue reading the introduction. Interestingly, I believe that this is where the "missing book" comes into play. The books includes vague references to Douglas Hofstadter's work, some humorous... at least I think the quote from a character "And then you've got all this baroque s*** in the middle" is a reference to Hofstadter's GEB and is one of my favorites. I also found the mix-ups between the Queen Bee and Big Brother, or a honey-pot and television very thought provoking. One of my favorite humorous moments is when it is mentioned that in the Second World War Moloch was animating the German people, then a little later that "the fight against Moloch is ever so much more demanding these days...", but then concludes with "but enough of Moloch. He does not exist. I was speaking metaphorically."
This isn't to say that these forays into humor are not without substance, as during this passage it is pointed out that Alan Turing had been hired by the military to help with a discipline called operational research, where mathematics was used to help make the supply chain to troops more efficient. It is also interesting that the character providing the narration in the second novel believes that this same discipline could be used to make the current world a better place.
There are little tidbits of wisdom dropped everywhere, as in a question that is asked "How are we to be as little children? Answer We are to listen to the story. Children are willing story-listeners." Or, "Do not mistake the bee for the swarm, this is a reductionist error, the mistaking the part for the whole." And it is pointed out that "Celibacy did not destroy Shakerism; the World did", as the religion lasted over 200 years despite practicing celibacy.
If you look into John Sundman's blogs on wetmachine dot com, you can find that he states "I’m not trying to write fancy s*** that will impress professors of literary theory (although that would be nice too); I’m trying to write books that people will read on the beach, or on the subway." He succeeded in doing that beautifully. So why only 4 stars, you may ask. Simply because he got caught up for a bunch of nonsensical pages that were apparently to indicate that the "computer program" that allegedly wrote the novels was going on the fritz. I took it as an attempt at cuteness that didn't quite work. Despite that, the Cheap Complex Devices is very worth reading, and I am very glad I read it.
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