Hello in the summer heat! This will be the last book letter before the holidays, where I look to “Frankenstein” to shed light on a development that frightens me. So it will be a little dark at first, but hang in there all the way, and I’ll take you safely back into summer. 🌞 I’m singing the cottage library’s award, looking for a good summer reading project and slogging through dice roll on news. The picture of the week has been specially chosen to take us into the summer holidays. But let’s get to the main point of this letter. In the last couple of years I have had several Frankenstein moments. Every now and then I hear of someone who has been at the forefront of developing IT technology, who then quickly discovers that their invention is being used to harm others. I therefore brought out Mary Shelley’s “Frankenstein” (1818) again. It is one of the first, and certainly the most important book about humans trying to create an intelligent being. And yes, I saw commonalities between this 19th century horror novel and tech entrepreneurs like Mark Zuckerberg and Elon Musk. Shelley portrays the creator of the world’s most famous monster as a man full of good intentions. Victor Frankenstein grows up in a home filled with love, education and care. From an early age, Victor has been passionately interested in what we in Norwegian call science, but which in English is called the natural sciences. Victor’s passion is coupled with considerable talent, and the young Swiss enters an outstanding university in Germany. There he immerses himself in modern science, but also in old, alchemical texts. One of the film’s most touching and terrifying scenes: The monster seeks communion with a little girl, but ends up accidentally drowning her. Still image from “Frankenstein” (1931), Universal. Photo: Universal Studios The young scientist has no evil intentions when he assembles his being, stitched together from body parts he finds at medical institutes and some animal carcasses. Victor Frankenstein is driven by pure curiosity and a desire to explore. But the very moment the creature opens its yellow eyes, Victor is “filled with breathless horror and revulsion.” Frankenstein escapes from his laboratory, and his being is left to fend for itself. It possesses superpowers, but is currently speechless and ignorant. The creature goes out into the world on his own and tries to understand who he is and how the world works. In a super short time, the creature learns the human language and customs through observation from a distance. When the monster seeks the company of humans, he is met with horror and hatred. Enraged at being left to a life of solitude by its creator, the monster turns destructive. He wants to take revenge and “spread chaos and destruction” around him. It is easy to think of “Frankenstein” as an allegory of God’s creation of man. But it is certainly possible to see the monster as a form of AI, a man-made artificial intelligence. I have read Penguin’s edition (in the middle) which has a very good introduction. You get the novel in both Nynorsk and Bokmål. Photo: news Like ChatGPT, Midjourney and other so-called generative artificial intelligence, the Frankenstein monster learns to understand the world by collecting information about the world and people. His unique abilities are used for both good and evil. The creators of ChatGPT are very aware that their invention can be used for bad things. Therefore, they have put in a number of security mechanisms. If you ask the language tool to give you the recipe for a napalm bomb, for example, it is programmed to say that unfortunately it will not help you with such destructive affairs. But as news’s technology expert Eirik Solheim explained to me, you can get away from the security mechanisms. If you formulate yourself a little more stealthily, you can get ChatGPT to willingly come up with the recipe – in the best sense. I often find comfort in reading good books about human nature and being. After reading “Frankenstein” I think with despair: Alas, do we never learn? This is how I feel when I read “Frankenstein”. The image is generated by AI. Illustration: Alexander Fredriksen-Sylte / Midjourney/news History is full of regretful inventors. Alfred Nobel established a peace prize to combat war when he saw the destructive power of dynamite. Robert Oppenheimer realized what a deadly weapon he had created when he saw the test explosion of the atomic bomb. He fought to keep it from being used in an arms race between countries, but lost that battle. In other words, when Mary Shelley wrote “Frankenstein” in 1818, she captured an eternal aspect of the human being. Mary Shelley was only 18 years old when she wrote what is still considered one of the world’s best novels. Photo: Richard Rothwell / Wikimedia Commons In her novel, she lets Doctor Frankenstein himself bitterly warn us against men who want to create wonderful new things, but who do not take responsibility for what they have created. In March this year, a selection of technology leaders signed an open letter asking everyone to pause development of ChatGPT4. In the podcast The Daily, Geoffrey Hinton, the so-called “godfather of artificial intelligence”, warned against a number of horror scenarios. Among them, he envisioned robot soldiers with artificial intelligence that could be sent to war against soldiers of flesh and blood. It sent chills down my spine. If “Frankenstein” cannot dispel my fears, it is nevertheless a joy to read such a wonderful novel, which gives perspective to our times. Three examples of Frankensteins in our time Mark Zuckerberg created Facebook in 2004 so that people could keep in touch with friends from their student days. In 2018, it became known that the company Cambridge Analytica had harvested personal information about 87 million Facebook users in order to manipulate political elections, including for Donald Trump’s campaign office. Google employee Guillaume Chaslot worked for YouTube to develop the artificial intelligence that delivers the tips for more videos similar to the one you’ve seen. In the podcast “The Rabbit Hole,” Chaslot shared how he realized that the algorithms he had programmed were also leading people down rabbit holes of dark conspiracy theories and political extremism. Geoffrey Hinton has helped develop ChatGPT. He resigned from Google and this year this “godfather of AI” warns against several dangers artificial intelligence can pose in the wrong hands. A relevant TV tip: There is a good documentary on news TV now about the creators of, among others, Google, Amazon and Facebook: the Tek billionaires. But you, now we need some summer atmosphere here. 🍓 Picture of the week The most famous picture of a celebrity reading a book must be Marilyn Monroe in a bathing suit with “Ulysses” by James Joyce. Long Island, New York. 1955. Photo: Eve Arnold / Magnum It is disputed whether Marilyn actually read the novel or whether it was a gimmick. In the photo book “The Unretouched Woman”, Eve Arnold tells about several of her photo shoots with Marilyn. It is clear that the film star was extremely conscious of the image she wanted to project of herself. It is easy to suspect that Marilyn has chosen one of the world’s heaviest classics to counteract the stupid & blond stamp she struggled under, but also cultivated. According to photographer Eve Arnold, the subject is both real and contrived. The two were on their way to visit Marilyn’s friend in Long Island. They stopped at a playground to snap some pictures. Eve Arnold saw that Marilyn had “Ulysses” in the car, and asked if she read it. Monroe replied that she found it difficult, but enjoyed reading a little here and there out loud to herself. I have read parts of “Ulysses” in my English studies, and I agree with Marilyn. Some parts are weird and difficult. If you look closely at the picture, you will see that Marilyn is reading from the end of the book, a sensual inner monologue that ends with a kiss and a yes. It’s also my favorite part. To roll or not to roll You may have been aware that news is going to introduce a roll of the dice on our online literature reviews. From before, news’s reviewers in the fields of films and TV series, games and popular music have provided their criticisms with a roll of the dice. From the autumn, reviews of books, art and theater will also have a roll of the dice. It is no secret that some of news’s critics are strongly against this. Marta Norheim defended her view recently in Dagsnytt 18. I myself see both advantages and disadvantages with the dice. It “smells” a bit of commercial media such as VG and Dagbladet, but at the same time it is strange that a book review should not be able to have a roll of the dice when a film review can. Aftenposten says that more people read their reviews after the introduced dice rolls in some cultural fields. I think it’s exciting to hear what you think, and not least why. At the bottom, you can express your opinion about dice in reviews. Summer reading’s difficult choice Since KI is the big theme of my Bokbrevet, we have made it interpret reading and summer atmosphere. NOTE: This illustration is created with the help of artificial intelligence. Photo: Alexander Fredriksen-Sylte / Midjourney/news Now there are only a few hours until I sign off for the summer holidays. It’s going to be great, but I’m carrying an almost existential anxiety: What should I read this summer? A good friend reads project-based when she gets free time. When she was on maternity leave, she read all of Proust’s “On the Track of Lost Time”. Last summer she read up on recent art theory. I am both impressed and a little envious of my friend, because I am unfortunately a more whimsical person. My head is filled with conflicting voices fighting to be heard: – You finally have time to deal with something from the pile of spring’s unread books. – Honestly, Siss, shouldn’t you rather fill one of the many holes you have on Norwegian classics? In addition, as a cultural journalist, I have privileged access to a number of scripts for this autumn’s releases. Imagine coming to work and lying a horse’s head in the front, rather than the back? Do you read for pleasure or duty during the summer holidays? I read for pure pleasure It will probably be mostly work reading I like to have a reading project Show result In the worst case, I can’t choose, and end up wasting time on mobile games. In any case, I have set myself three reading resolutions for the summer: Finish “The Lord of the Rings”, and from the critics’ reading tips list I have chosen “Løpe ulv” by Kerstin Ekman, and “Lucy by the Sea” by Elizabeth Strout. Beyond that, I’m at a loss. Please send me your tip! The (wide) strange world of the cottage library Another option is, of course, to drop all plans and read what you find where you are on holiday. A typical cabin bookshelf has a bit of everything: some worn Agatha Christie paperbacks, a couple of new Norwegian novels, a children’s book and an edition of Zorro. Photo: Siss Vik Hyttebibliotek often offers a whimsical mix of old and new, and often there are nuggets of gold you haven’t even heard of. In the exchange bookshelf at a hotel in Crete, I found a sunscreen-greasy crime by Tana French, which became one of my favorite crime books. In my mother’s childhood home, I found “Papillon” by Henri Charrière, which is an AMAZING reading experience. Maybe the erotic factor in a Hercule Poirot story is oversold with this cover, but I sure do want to read it! Photo: Siss Vik / news If there is good access to pocket crime stories, all you have to do is enjoy yourself. There’s something about the apolitically correct 1960s book covers that are snacksy. What about you, will you find something fun in the cabin bookshelf this summer? Send me a picture of it! Whether it’s nice, horrible, funny or surprising. Clip and send to [email protected]. Some selected people receive Bokbrevet’s bookmark as a prize. I gave a Bokbrevet bookmark to colleague Hans Olav Brenner, but he chose to use it as a kind of bite ring. Photo: Siss Vik / news Here you will find reading tips on news during the summer holidays Then I immediately say hasta la vista before the summer, but remind you that you can find lots of useful book material on news this summer. Open Book has a treasure trove of reviews, author interviews and reading tips to choose from. At news.no/kultur you will find reading tips for children, young people and adults in various lists and all the book reviews, and the book newsletter has its own page with all the editions together. Ok, I’ll log off then, but I’ll follow your comments and check my inbox every once in a while. Send by e-mail with cottage library pictures and comments on the way! I wish you a good July with good reading experiences, and watch out for jellyfish! Siss 💗🥰 Comment What do you think about news introducing a roll of the dice on its online book reviews? Hello! Welcome to dialogue at news. 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Book letter #18: Artificial intelligence (AI) is a Frankenstein’s monster for our time – Siss Vik’s book letter
