Joe's Biography
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Free Short Story
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Dark Fantasy
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Morgaine Chronicles
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The Books of Retslu
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Historical Fantasy
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Raven Lenore Psychic Investigator
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If
you like fantasy, dark fantasy, paranormal fiction and/or science fiction,
you're in the right place.
Here you'll find a free short story, a serial, my blog, and excerpts and links to suspenseful paranormal fiction, dark fantasy, fantasy and science fiction e-books.
News and Views:
may, 2012. The flowers are in bloom, and my Retslu
fantasy series has new covers. Since the world is going to end in December
according to the Mayan Calendar folks, you don't have much time left to read my
novels. Hurry to Page Turner Editions,
Amazon, Barnes and Noble, Sony,
Fictionwise
or other online book sellers and download a copy.
This month I
blog about Isaac Asimov's three laws of robotics.
Coming soon to Page Turner Editions
are Book Six of
my Raven Lenore series, The Case of the
Missing Android, and The Further Adventures of
Frankenstein's Monster. Currently
I am working on a new Chronicles of Morgaine the
Demon-Witch series and a secong sequel to The Traveling Vampire and the Farmer's Daughter, and The Traveling Vampire and
Twilight in the Catacombs. My latest novella is The Sleeper, an adult retelling of the Sleeping Beauty legend set
in modern times. If you enjoy
pirates and erotica, read
Pirate Booty, available at Renaissance E-Books. A short story of mine is in this anthology
of naughty pirates.
At the top
of this page is a table of links to my biography, a free short story, a serial,
a gallery of interesting art and photos, my favorite web sites and information
about each of my novels. If you prefer a printed book to an e-book, Dinner With Dracula is available
as a paperback at Amazon and Barnes and Noble. Dinner With
Dracula is the hilarious adventures of Charles Winterbottom,
an
This month's
short story is Shadow
in the Sky. A modern woman is
stalked by a dragon.
The nineteenth episode of Morgaine's Familiar is entitled Raven Lenore. Mephistophile's mistress, Raven Lenore is hired by the FBI to solve a mysterious murder.
May Blog
The Three Laws of Robotics
In Science Fiction, the Three
Laws of Robotics are a set of three rules written by Isaac Asimov, which most
robots that appear in his fiction must obey. Introduced in his 1942 short story
"Runaround," the Laws state the following:
A robot may not harm a human being, or, through
inaction, allow a human being to come to harm.
A robot must obey the orders given to it by human
beings except where such orders would conflict with the First Law.
A robot must protect its own existence, as long as
such protection does not conflict with the First or Second Law.
If we could actually build
robots who are intelligent enough to be self-aware,
would these laws actually make sense. I propose not. Take the first law. In the
first place, how could the robot tell a human being from another robot that
looked like a human being or from a hologram of a human being.
You might say, so what. As long as the robot cannot harm a human being or
anything that resembles a human being, that is all to the good. But what if a humanoid robot or hologram and a real human being are
both in danger. How would the robot know which one to save? As far as
that goes, if two human beings are in danger at the same time, how does a robot
know which one to save. (Note: this exact situation is
shown in the movie I, Robot. In the movie the robot made the wrong
choice.)
For certain uses, a
manufacturer would not want to apply the Laws in that order. For example,
suppose the robots are to be used for military purposes. In this case, the Laws
built into the robot might go something like this:
A
robot must obey the orders given to it by his superior officer.
A
robot must protect its own existence, and those of other soldier robot, except
where such orders conflict with the First Law.
A
robot may only harm those human beings or robots designated as "The Enemy,"
by its superior officer and only if not under a flag of truce, surrendering or
designated as "Prisoners of War."
In my novel, The Isaac
Project, the situation of the military wanting to change the Three Laws
provides part of the conflict in the book.
One error that Isaac Asimov
made was that he assumed that the intelligence of the robot would somehow be in
its electronic circuitry. Actually, we know now that the intelligence of a
robot would more likely be in its software. This changes the situation quite a
bit, since software can have errors in it that are not always detected during
testing. Also, it can be modified. Depending upon how the software is
installed, it might be subjected to viruses, worms, and other sorts of
malicious software tricks by unscrupulous hackers, such as our computers are
now.
If anyone has any comments about my blog or my novels or just to say hello, my E-mail address
is jvadalma at hvc.rr.com.
Remember that
downloading, uploading or copying copyrighted material without permission from
the copyright owner is unlawful and a Federal crime. Always buy your e-books
from a legitimate bookseller. All of the material on this web site is
copyrighted. If there is anything on this web site that you wish to have a copy
of, please ask permission by contacting me at jvadalma
at hvc dot rr dot com.
Joe Vadalma, a proud member of EPIC, the Electronic Publishing Industry Coalition.
After you finish exploring my site, please sign my guest book.
Here is an ad for paperbacks soon to appear from my
publisher, Renaissance E-Books.
