The Turing Exception (Singularity Series) Paperback – March 5, 2015

Just finished this last book in the series. I really enjoyed all the books and was impressed with the author's technical knowledge of the subject. Even though much of it was well beyond my knowledge of computer technology, the story was gripping and easy to follow. The action was always fast paced and exciting. The science fiction is believable and ominous, because it seems it could easily become our near future. This series is well written and the characters are well developed and likable. I would recommend it as very good science fiction and to computer technophiles in particular.

The Turing Exception (Singularity #4) by William HertlingDefinitely a great way to end the series! The author really hit his stride in this book. Our c characters are "all grown up" now, and also have to battle the worst possible AI monster ever. Add in some delusional thinking from the usual political and military suspects, let bake for a few thousand iterations, and voila!XOR really is the arch nemesis that (of course) thinks it has the job of ridding the Earth of the vermin. Said vermin being you and me. The tension ratchets up nicely and the writing is crisp and well paced. I especially enjoyed the various thinking processes that took place to bring the final battle to bear. And yes, you have seen this before, but this also done in a fresh way, that explores a lot of issues. If you have read the first three books, then you simply must finish it!

This book, along with the other three in the Singularity series, paint a picture of how our future could unfold. A great read!

I have a deep love and appreciation of all things high-tech and I worked in the tech industry my entire adult life right up until I retired. As such I thoroughly enjoyed all four of the books in the Singularity series. Mr. Hertling may have stretched his credibility a bit in places but not so far that I couldn't suspend my disbelief. He walked a fine line there and created a truly astounding story that kept me anxious to find out how it would all end and I will be looking forward to more from this fine author.

I don't quite know how to rate this book. It reads easy enough, and the story concept is a little unique. Some of the editing errors were amusing, e.g., "she stuck out her hand, and shook both hands." I'm afraid I had trouble suspending belief with the rather simplistic single minded policy attributed to the United States. I guess we needed a villain as the foil in the story, but the simplistic foil detracts from the quality of the story. The ending of the story leaves me with a sense of loss, but suspect that was intended. This is not a story where the good guys defeat the bad guys. There are no real bad guys, merely those making the best decision they believe appropriate for their own self interest and bias. I think the story is good, but suffers from a lack of depth. Oh, by the way, there are some hanging references that can only be understood in context with the prior stories. The one that never did get explained is the "don't try to find us, we'll find you" commentmment at the end of the last book.

The term ‘singularity’, for which this series is entitled, was created by mathematician John von Neumann in 1958 to describe an event in which the acceleration of technology surpasses human intelligence and capabilities which results in potentially evolutionary or cataclysmic changes to the human race. The technology that Hertling focuses on in his series is the emergence of artificial intelligence and brain-computer interfaces. The series starts out with the accidental emergence of a sentient artificial intelligence and the chaos that it created for humanity. Once humans have adjusted to the idea that artificial intelligence is here to stay and can even be beneficial, it became clear to humans that control over the AI population is paramount. The problem is that the AI beings eventually don’t want to be controlled by humans which lead to Hertling’s latest novel in the series, The Turing Exception.Mike William, Leon Tsarev, and Cat Matthews are back along with their AI friend Helena and a revival of ELOPe. For those of you not familiar with the series, ELOPe was the first sentient AI developed in the series that became close to his creator Mike William and was pro-human, but ELOPe suffered an untimely demise after the second novel, or so it seems. After the events in the third book of the series, The Last Firewall, it is not surprising that Leon and Cat are now husband and wife and their union resulted in a daughter named Ada. The unique aspect about this particular group is that none of them are fully human. Mike William, who originally was all human, now has a robotic body with a human brain and Cat, Leon and daughter Ada all have neural implants permanently embedded in their brains. All of this is well and fine while things have been warm and cozy with the AI population, but the US of A has taken on a change of heart after the military had to take out Miami with a nuke in order to rid the world of an ominous self-replicating pool of nanobots. With the death of millions of humans in Miami, the majority of Americans demanded for the expulsion of artificial intelligence from its shores. With the growing hostility to AI and anything related to it, Mike William and his gang left the country to reside on Cortes Island off the shore of Canada.The creation of AI forbidden zones in the US as well as in China left a bad taste in the mouths of all the remaining AI and with that unrest is the emergence of an anti-human collective known as XOR. From there on, the rest of the novel focuses on the preparation from both AI and humans for a potential Armageddon which leads up to what this series is all about, which is ‘The Singularity’.I first want to say that I love this series and I would highly recommend it; however, I have mixed feelings on the Turing Exception. On one hand, the novel has a great and exciting storyline; Armageddon between artificial intelligence and humans, what more could one ask for? But on the other hand, is the use of an overwhelming amount of techno-babble. Now I am as geeky as one can be, I wear Crocs for goodness sake, but if I had a neural implant like the singularity characters it would get zapped from technology overload. There was a lot of bizarre virtual reality usage which made me feel like I was on a LSD trip. But what was more disappointing was a lack in character development. With the exception of a grumpy Leon Tsarev, who was unhappy that his wife Cat was out trying to save the world while he got to stay home and play patty cakes with his young daughter, none of the characters really got to show much of their inner feelings which was sorely needed to balance the exceptional amount of technology that had infiltrated their lives. One would hope that with the ultimate battle between AI and humans, the desire to root for the humans would be expected, but by the time the ending of this novel came about, it became difficult for me to decide who deserved more to win.And, of course, that leaves us with the ending, which I did not expect but I found rather intriguing, so much so, that I would highly recommend wading through the techno-babble to get to the end. I have read a few reviews that commented that the series ends with this novel, but even though the singularity has been met I believe that there is a ‘back door’ written in the plot and I could envision a post-singularity novel in the future, which I personally hope to see.

I have enjoyed each of William hurtling' snooks in this series. Each a fast paced Sifi thriller with tones of vision into a post singularity future.

I've enjoyed this series so far, it's been an interesting exploration of a possible technological singularity. The concept itself fascinates me, and this has been a well thought out series of scenarios. The series has been good, but this fourth book shines quite a bit brighter than its predecessors. It takes epic events, and keeps their scale, yet also manages to keep it personal to the characters.The technology itself is interesting, and for the most part, well described. It fits with the logical sequence and provides the basis for a hopeful, but also terrifying future. There's some quite esoteric technology here, and the ramifications are considered, although I would happily have read more detail on this aspect.However it;s the individuals (both AI and human) that really carry the story, and they're well represented. The weakest aspect for me was the geo-political side - it follows an unusual path, but the flaw for me wasn't the direction, but how limited the story interacted with that part of the world. A bit more development there would have made it a stronger read.That relatively minor flaw is soon forgotten during the conclusion. It's truly epic and came with a grim inevitability. Although even with this inevitability it still brought some surprises. It rounds the series of nicely, but there's still room for more story, so I hope that there is more to come.Overall this is a slightly flawed, but a cracking read. Definitely something for sci-fi fans to check out.

Le plus grand auteur de SF de cette décennie !Sa vision de l'avenir, la finesse et la variété de ses personnages, la qualité de son écriture le placent dans une position à part.Ne ratez pas la série complète.Bravo l'artiste !!

Erneut zieht mich das Konzept in den Bann.Besonders die Idee die USA als radikalen "Verweigerer" von Technologie zu platzieren hat mich fasziniert.Die grundlegenden Gedanken passen perfekt zu der momentanen Lage im Umfeld künstlicher Intelligenz (KI/AI).Spannend, technisch und schlau.... Mir gefällt das.

I've just finished 'The Turing Exception' having devoured all four books in the series in the last three days - it is that addictive! My love affair with science fiction started many years ago with Isaac Asimov, and William Hertling's ability to explore the socio-political implications of a convincing extrapolation of known science is reminiscent of Asimov at his best. The author's technical expertise is obvious, but he manages to hit a good balance between sufficient technical language to be credible and well-written plain English to be readable.There is a risk in setting an apocalyptic story in the near future - the world events in this series span the period 2015 to 2045, and since we are now into 2016, readers are going to have to overcome an increasing disconnect as the fictional technology diverges from what they can see and experience in real time. Maybe the books can be frequently updated to start the timeline a couple of years ahead of real time.Most memorable novels (or series of novels) stick in my mind because of a simple underlying and recurring theme, and in this case it is how a simple impulsive move by an individual, too caught up in short term personal concerns to properly think through the potential repercussions of their actions, can set off a train of events that rapidly escalates out of control with serious consequences well beyond the person's immediate circles - the butterfly in the primordial forest effect. In the first book, 'Avogadro Corp', David's desperation to save his project and job leads to the accidental emergence of the first self-aware AI with a survival instinct. In the second, 'A.I. Apocalypse', Leon's reluctant foray into creating a computer virus for his manipulative uncle leads to the accidental emergence of the second, with the addition of replication and cooperation capability. The third, 'The Last Firewall', explores the dangers of the common political fallacy that universal wealth that makes everyone a 'person of leisure' will lead to universal contentment. In 'The Turing Exception', a series of short-sighted decisions by various characters send events spiralling out of control to the point of no return. There are some cliches - short-sighted politicians unwilling to lose face, brutish military chiefs unable to think beyond brute force regardless of human cost, geeks are good guys, authority figures put profits before ethics, etc, but these simplify the story to allow the rapid pace of the techno-thriller, so I can live with them.It is refreshing to see female characters effectively taking on powerful roles (major corporate CEOs, military generals and US presidents) and they are well-drawn and believable, not stereotypes. If anything, the men around them are more likely to engage in stereotypical behaviour - it's OK for some women to be the bad guys!