Rucker software pdf

Even wider than that, is a person still a person when so many of those essential human qualities the need to sleep, eat, procreate, the fear of death are taken away from them? It's heady stuff, and like any good philosopher Rucker doesn't completely answer them as much as lay them before the reader for them to provide their own answer.

When reading Software, I think it's important to remember where and when it's coming from - compared to other novels of its cohort books like , Foundation's Edge, and the Ringworld Engineers there's a quantum leap of difference in terms of how the book understands technology and our relationship with it that might cause a modern reader to undervalue how important and influential a book like this would have been.

Jun 29, Ashryn rated it liked it Shelves: science-fiction. Interesting ideas, but the characters are so wooden. It reads like an old fashioned movie, and the characters are secondary to the story which isn't particularly complex. There's a nice thread of philosophy running through it which would have been worth expanding further via character interactions or experiences.

Jun 15, Peter Tillman rated it liked it. Sta-hi vs Mr Frostee! Lots of period California hippie humor, circa View 2 comments. This book is set in a dystopian future where the Boomer cohort has been shipped off to Florida to live on free government provided food drops, and rent is free, because Social Security ran out before when the book takes place and riots forced the government to somehow provide for the huge aging cohort.

In the book, the aging Boomers are called pheezers - for "freaky geezers" - many of whom still cling to their youthful rebelliousness remember this book was written before the 80s - when m This book is set in a dystopian future where the Boomer cohort has been shipped off to Florida to live on free government provided food drops, and rent is free, because Social Security ran out before when the book takes place and riots forced the government to somehow provide for the huge aging cohort.

In the book, the aging Boomers are called pheezers - for "freaky geezers" - many of whom still cling to their youthful rebelliousness remember this book was written before the 80s - when many of the former hippies switched "allegiance" and became responsible members of society, settling down, settling for "straight world" jobs, educational pathways, and so forth. Some drugs are legalized by the 21st C - and although there's no internet or cell phones in the book, there are startling advances in robotics such that robots can be essentially physically identical with specific individuals and robots have achieved "autonomy" or freedom.

The revolt of the robots - deciding to disobey humans - was assisted by the book's protagonist, computer scientist and pheezer Cobb Anderson.

Thus, there is a trading relationship between Earth and Moon - but the robots in charge of the moon robot colony - called "big boppers" want more,much more. Meanwhile, the worker robot bees on the moon, some of whom are called diggers, dislike their bopper overlords, and a revolution is about to break out that may overthrow the boppers and their nefarious plans.

The book revolves around Cobb's yearning for a new life - immortality. He strikes a Devil's bargain with the boppers - and travels to the colony assured by them that he will be made immortal.

His "software" - personality and memories - will be transferred to a replica robot "the hardware. There are non-stop scenes of drug use but not that much sexual prurience per se.

There is one potentially exceptionally violent scene at the beginning of the sci-fi novel - but the near victim of vivisection managed to escape. I almost didn't bother reading the book, which I regarded as trashy although it did win a prestigious sci-fi prize back in the 80s. It was over-the-top, provocative - it has a distinctly anti-feminist slant. I could "handle" the attitude having grown up in the pre-feminist era.

But many people would not enjoy reading a book that doesn't seem to contain one positive portrayal of women although Annie and Cobb finally seem to be bonding toward the end of th book, and Wendy and Sta-Hi in the end seem to have reached some sort of contentment - both women do not come off positively when they are first introduced - ditto for most if not all of the female characters in the book.

It's possible to read the book as a product of its age and laugh but some readers today might be put off by the anti-feminist slant. The book seemed fevered - although it's well written, by and large - maybe because Cobb and other characters, maybe most of the characters, are either drunk, stoned, or robots - some evil - that Cobb or Sta-Hi the other protagonist are trying to dodge, cheat, beat up, evade, escape from, and so forth.

The book doesn't lack for action and it's of course a page turner considering the reader wants to find out if Cobb does achieve eternal youth and so forth. This isn't a particularly pleasant book but as a fast, trashy read, I suppose it's acceptable.

The reader does want to find out what happens to Cobb and the other characters - I won't spoil the spectacular ending, so it's up to the reader to find out by making it to the end of the book. On a less sensationalistic note, it's interesting to read how one author envisioned life 40 years into the future - how society would cope with the Boomers, if Social Security really did dry up. There aren't any gadgets - a notable lack of imagining what would happen with respect to computers - computers are still seen in the book as taking up a room and so forth.

The book was written before the advent of personal computers - but there was always speculation about how advanced robots might become. The book, albeit to me at least, rather trashy - and as I said, it does contain one scene of near gratuitous violence plus endless more or less degrading anti-feminist portrayals of women - still, it "works" I suppose as escape fiction.

In the book, women are essentially sex objects or drugged out skanks, "mindless" robot vixens or aging virago's. None of the depictions of women are attractive although, as I mentioned above, Ann and robot Cobb eventually do form a bond, and Wendy and Sta-Hi seem headed to at least temporarily become a couple by the book's end. Interestingly, there is at least a moment of insight into why otherwise rather cartoon-like Sta-Hi became the way he became - after his father dies and he is talking with robot Cobb - Sta-Hi's shell of cool, or detachment drugged out or straight is shattered as he and the reader realize that it was his home problems, problems with his parents, that led to his self-destructive behavior.

Also, poignantly, his dad, who was always critical of his rebellious son, "loves" robot Sta-Hi since he has assumed at least a superficially "normal" life - unfortunately, that was an illusion and the reality that his actual son never changed, is yet another "insightful" or "pathetic" plot twist. The book otherwise has some nuanced characterization despite characters or robots being often portrayed as cartoons; Cobb - both as human and robot - is definitely multi-faceted.

He helped the robots free themselves - but prior to making his deal with the Devil, he can't free himself from the fear of death, and so self-medicates himself with drink daily. He's become an old though majestic man who has taken to sitting under palm trees on the beach meditatively drinking cheap sherry, trying to quell his thoughts of death, and the wife he abandoned.

Later, as a robot, he feels he has it made - but his existence depends on a tape running in a mobile computer stored in a refrigerated truck, and meanwhile, robots, including him, are banned on Earth. This book is a fast, easy read - and for a trashy sci-fi novel from that pres era, I suppose it's fun in a way.

I read it in two days - and I'm a slow reader - so a fast reader could probably read it in a few hours. It's not poorly written, and it is interesting or fun to read it mostly.

Still, despite the prestigious prize the book won back in the 80s, I can't give it more than two stars. View all 3 comments. Feb 28, Joey Comeau rated it really liked it. Oh Rudy Rucker, what a wacky bastard. His 'ware trilogy and 'the hacker and the ants' are my favourites of his. It's been so long since I read this, but I still have such strong positive feelings when I see the cover that I had to give it 4 stars when Goodreads recommended it to me. It is supposed to be Biopunk, or some were genepunk genre, but really it is science fiction written by a goddamn hippy mathematician.

Jan 10, Professor Weasel rated it it was amazing. Hilarious dialogue, deep spiritual questions, fast-moving plot, smooth style, fantastic leaps of imagination Am definitely reading the other books in the series. It's very Philip K.

Dick in the sense that there's stoner dialogue, drugs, hip West Coast setting Are you 'software'? Are you your habits and patterns and thoughts, or is there a 'soul', something intangible that can't be replicated? Is this a way of defeating death, or does something get lost if you just get copied and re-copied into infinite vessels? So, so fun. Cobb Anderson is the one who thought of evolving robots. That was the only way to make them more complex, to make them individuals.

That led to bopper revolt and anarchy on the moon. Cobb was tried for treason, not convicted, but he did lose his job. Decades later Cobb is an old man with a failing second-hand heart who doesn't want to die. He is approached by a robot that looks exactly like him who says the boppers want to make him immortal.

Mooney saw this replica leaving a valuable shipping cr Cobb Anderson is the one who thought of evolving robots. Mooney saw this replica leaving a valuable shipping crate empty, recognized it as Cobb and is hounding him. Cobb decides he will take up that offer to go to the moon. Events lead him there with Mooney's son Sta-Hi. They arrive in the midst of a civil war between the big boppers and the diggers. The former are collecting and merging bopper personalities, the latter want to remain individuals.

Nice premise that the mind, the software, can be stored and put into a new body, hardware, giving the potential for immortality. Fast read except where there was jargon and dialect. For my taste the characters seemed a bit too preoccupied with drugs, sex and alcohol. Jul 23, Scot rated it it was amazing Shelves: scifi , spiritual , avant-garde. What a wild ride this tetralogy is going to be if the first book is any indication!

I can fully see why William Gibson wrote the glowing intro about Rudy Rucker. I have only previously read one of his books and it was really good, but this has the taste of something completely mind bending.

And his subtle references to surrealism, drug and counterculture, and deeper meaning are pretty awesome. I may diverge from this opinion as the series goes along, but it's hard to imagine that being the case What a wild ride this tetralogy is going to be if the first book is any indication!

I may diverge from this opinion as the series goes along, but it's hard to imagine that being the case after the sonic boom that book one was. Oct 25, Kristen rated it liked it Shelves: audiobooks.

This book hasn't aged super well, but it was entertaining all the same. Jan 01, Zardoz rated it liked it. I'm kinda shocked that I never read this one back in Cyber Punk always meant Gibbson to me and I never followed up with his contemporaries.

The book is a little dated. Gotta love the punk gargon and all the boomers retiring to Florida to have druken orgys before they shuffle off to oblivion.

Hold on that last one isn't so far fetched. It's refreshing to read about A. The civil war between the machines wa I'm kinda shocked that I never read this one back in The civil war between the machines was a nice touch as well. I'll have to read the sequels at some point.

Aug 19, Kent Frazier rated it liked it. An interesting take on robots that lies somewhere between Asimov and Terminator, but there were no characters for whom I felt much affinity. Amusing enough that I'll probably finish at least another of the tetralogy Feb 21, Quais rated it it was amazing.

This shit is the shit. Can you wave with it? Jun 20, Pedro Pascoe rated it liked it Shelves: re-read , cyberpunk , sci-fi. I read Rucker's 'Ware trilogy back in the 's sometime. I remeber loving them, and they blew my mind in regards to thinking about minds being copied into robot bodies yet the original body being destroyed in the first place.

I remember Rucker teasing philosophical points out, bearing in mind that nobody except the original 'you' would actually really be affected. Was that a price worth paying? Similar issues were raised in 'The Punch Escrow' which I read recently, and my thoughts drifted back I read Rucker's 'Ware trilogy back in the 's sometime. Similar issues were raised in 'The Punch Escrow' which I read recently, and my thoughts drifted back to the 'Ware trilogy yes, there's a fourth book in the series.

It's on my shelf, as yet unread , and how much better I thought Rucker had handled it. Software is set in that most distant of near-future dates, the alluring year of Now that we are here, I can safely say that the future ain't what it used to be.

It's worse. All of the dystopia, and none of the flying cars. Now, either I'm remembering things from the following 2 books a distinct possibility , or I'm attributing my thoughts along the subject of digital immortality inspired by Software erroneously to the actual book.

Yes, there were bits and pieces of food for thought, but far less than I remember. I'm willing to chalk it up to the remainder being in the next two books for now, and will reserve judgment until I have re-read the next two books in the series.

And I won't be able to wait until the year they are set for the re-read, unless this digital immortality thing takes off real quick, because I likely won't be around that long. I should be around for the date of Realware, from memory, all going well. Having said all that, Software is still a cracking read.

Proto-cyberpunk, part AD another great year in the future, now sadly well and truly in the rear vision mirror , part Philip K Dick, all solid wacky future with a robot revolution on the moon, robot doubles infiltrating society, sinister ice-cream vans, fast consciousness transfers, sex, drugs and brain stealers, with just enough of the aforementioned concepts to keep the point of the book bubbling along and prevent it from falling into a shallow indulgence of slick future visions with little substance.

I likely would have dived into the next book in the trilogy, but, alas, another book also a re-read , jumped the queue. I knew this was considered a classic in the Cyberpunk genre and when I got the chance to get it, I took it without thought.

While I don't regret it, per say, it was definitely not what I was expecting. The story is pretty straightforward. AIs exist, with robotic bodies, on the moon. They were created by humans, but rebelled. Now, humans still exist on earth while robots have created a civilization in the moon. You follow Cobb Anderson, the inventor of said AIs, who is now living under constant sur I knew this was considered a classic in the Cyberpunk genre and when I got the chance to get it, I took it without thought.

You follow Cobb Anderson, the inventor of said AIs, who is now living under constant surveillance due to him "being a traitor to humanity". He's getting older and his death is near. Until he gets an offer he can't refuse from the Moonbots he once saved. Following him will be Stay-High, the junkie son of the cop that checks on Anderson.

In general the premise has some good points and the story hits some interesting notes. And not from a scientific standpoint or anything like that, but from a cultural one. Every single woman character here is a bimbo or approximates one. Definitely they are all blonde. And every time a woman appears either she'll lust towards a character or will be lusted upon.

No way around it. All in all, it was an ok book to read, even just for historical purposes, but I most probably won't check up anything else in the "Ware" series. Back to William Gibson for me! At least he writes cool and bad ass female characters. Jan 21, Twin Lovers rated it it was amazing. I am a musician and have been working with Transrealism in sound or ways to further the concept. Little did I know that Rudy Rucker originally coined the term.

This is just a great discovery and I look forward to reading other books by this author. The novel feels fresh and contemporary even in Also reminds me of the old computer game "Tass Times in Tone Town".

This book is 'very tass'.. Jan 11, Michael Hanscom rated it liked it Shelves: science-fiction , fiction. A quick, entertaining read, and I liked some of the ideas for evolving AI rather than trying to build it from scratch. May 23, Derek rated it it was ok Shelves: sync , cyberpunk , sf. Really badly dated.

Surely Rucker's Boppers weren't even believable in Dec 15, Andrew rated it liked it Shelves: scifi-fantasy , fiction. My favorite joke was the robot society bus getting more expensive every day as part of natural selection. Jan 30, Charlie rated it it was amazing Shelves: science-fiction , transhumanity , robots , ai , technosomething , cyberpunk. I can't remember if I was the first to read a chapter, or if my husband was, the night I fell in love with Software. Either way, it was my chapter to read.

We already had the lights out, the baby was already asleep in her bassinet. Earlier in the story, Sta-hi Mooney a stoner and one of the protagonists had been kidnapped by a gang called the Little Kidders. They were a mongrel group, but all wore brightly colored shoes.

Sta-hi was trapped with his head sticking out of a hole in a table, listen I can't remember if I was the first to read a chapter, or if my husband was, the night I fell in love with Software. Sta-hi was trapped with his head sticking out of a hole in a table, listening to the gang-members discuss how much they enjoyed eating brains.

It was uncomfortable to read out loud, but I kept going. If I had been reading to myself, maybe it wouldn't have been such a shock. I might have paused and processed what was happening. It might not have affected me so much having the words flow through my own head, but these were flowing out of my mouth. Through me, one of the Little Kidders was saying how much they enjoyed the moment when they scooped out the speech center of their victim.

They explained that, embedded in the Little Kidders was a bopper with the capabilities to digest the brains and "tape" them. In other words, to upload the contents of that brain through the appearance of ingestion. Bopper morality does not have anything to say about cannibalism. Instead, the fact that the brain was being uploaded made the act morally positive, because that person could now be merged into one of the Big Boppers and become closer to The One bopper god.

What struck me so much about that moment was that it was so logical and contrary to my visceral reactions to the content. I had to stop and consider the bopper's position. At that point, it was easy to still come down on Sta-hi's side. There was lack of consent, there was the inevitability that parts would be lost as the human's ingested brain-matter instead of the bopper.

But I had to consider, from the perspective of a machine who sees humans as biological machines, was this act moral for one machine to do to another? Why do I think it's moral if one machine is non-consensually taking apart another and absorbing their programming, but not for people? Do I think that? What if it is consensual? Rucker doesn't attempt to present any of this as an answer, to convince the reader that the boppers are correct or incorrect.

He presents the issue fairly. Is my "soul" my continuity of consciousness? Can it be transferred? If it is transferred and a copy has been made, do I still exist? Am I still me? Is immortality worth trusting an alien being with everything that I am? Every question is left hanging in the air, for the reader to think about rather than decide on.

I am a sucker for transhumanist themes, maybe because I'm both eager and afraid that such technology might happen during my lifetime. I want to be immortal, but I'm afraid that I will only be creating another me, with this one dying anyway. I am curious to see how all of our philosophizing and speculation holds up when we know the answer if such an answer can be known.

Oct 17, David Agranoff rated it it was amazing Shelves: bizarro , cyberpunk , science-fiction-masterpiece. This cyberpunk classic is a must read for Science fiction fans. I am not sure why others read science fiction but I read it because the ability for the stories to expand my thinking. Out of date in some ways Software holds up very well and that might be because Rudy Rucker is a genius, for real a genius.

A mathematician and computer scientist Rucker writes science fiction novels no one else could match. Inventiveness, radical thinking and pretty comical through out. Software is closer to tra This cyberpunk classic is a must read for Science fiction fans. Rucker brings a tongue in cheek sense of humor to his work, while software is not quite as knee slapping as others it is a great work of Sci-fi.

The story of an aging hippie Cobb Anderson a anarchist revolutionary who is dying in Florida, to poor to afford a new heart he is saved by his creations. Boppers are robots, that evolved to have artificial intelligence thanks to upgrades designed by Cobb.

He wanted to create a revolutinary type of robots that resisted being slaves to human. The renegade Boppers live on the moon intend to give Cobb immortality, in the body of a robot.

The questions of what is reality? Rudy Rucker's novel, Software, was published in , two years before the novel that would become the flagship of Cyberpunk Science Fiction, Neuromancer, was published. For this distinction, Software wins the Glenn C. Russell prize. Born in , Rudy Rucker is not only an American science fiction author and among the founders of cyberpunk but also an expert in advanced mathematics and computer science.

A weekly email newsletter for content designers, content strategists and UX writers. The slim volume and direct prose make Software feel slightly and deliciously subversive. Editions for Software: Paperback published in , Paperback published in , Paperback published in , Mas.

On the other hand, the pace remains fast with plenty of action and plot twists.