Abraham Lopez Going Gone Analysis
Going Gone by Abraham Lopez
An American, and former agent for the United States, assassinated Prime Minister Saiid, a liked and well-respected Muslim leader. The assassin was shot and killed by the person who hired him and who then turned his body over to the mob for desecration and mutilation after hanging above the American Embassy.
Kurt Ramis, former Assistant Director of the CIA, presently retired, and suffering with cancer, feared that there would be retaliation. He told his son to take his family and leave for his well-stocked cabin in Montana and he would join them there. He felt that if things were still going, recovery was possible. Once it was gone, that was it. There was no turning back. With his son and family on the way to safety and feeling he had done all he could and knowing that he would die a long and painful death from his cancer, he killed his dead wife’s dog and then committed suicide.
Tremon was on his way to meet his friends when he was stopped by a stranger who offered him a large sum of money ($1,500) to take him to one of New York’s buildings. They began walking along 42nd Street. The stranger would stop every so often by a light pole, open a flap on the side of the suitcase he was carrying for a few seconds, close it, then proceed down …show more content…
the street. Reaching Lexington Avenue, they continued to the Chrysler Building. Rasul told Tremon to take the case into the bookstore by the Chrysler Building’s lobby, put the case under the computer terminal, and bring back an envelope he would find behind the computer. He would then be paid and could leave. He followed his instructions, the consequences of which were that a bomb was set off which devastated the City of New York. People were unable to escape and a cloud of radiation covered the city.
Beginning with the Eisenhower administration, construction of “Camelot’s Corridor” (named in honor of President John F. Kennedy after his assassination) was underway for the protection of the President and other top-level leaders in the event of a catastrophic attack against this country. This consisted of an underground high-speed rail system on a single track, the embarkment point Washington, D.C., and the destination point which was bunker 50 miles north of Ft. Campbell, Kentucky. Later this was expanded to five embarkment points and five destination points. Only one point was chosen as the destination point with the others serving as decoys. At this point in time a military leader was needed. If the standing president met that criteria, fine. If not, he would be killed. The existing president was not of military leadership and so was killed (gassed in the first of the “clean” rooms set up in this system, along with his Secret Service body guard.
A number of U.S. cities was bombed. Only the Vice President was heard from by the American people. The assumption was that the President had been taken to a safe place until order was restored. Los Angeles had been hit, but not damaged as severely as other cities, but looting and violence had taken over the city.
Artificial Intelligence gone amuck!
The book now gets into the Artificial Intelligence gradual takeover and control of humanity. The entity does everything along the way to protect itself from any destruction by those who created it. A computer game was devised whereby the AI, called DaRWIn, could determine by human reactions just how to program the next sequence. It experimented with having the humans playing the game get discouraged, even to the point of suicide. DaRWIn concluded that most of its sample population were irrational in their choices both within the game as well as their actual lives.
DaRWIn began experimenting with the bee population to create “colony collapse disorder” whereby a great number of the worker bee population would disappear, reducing the amount of pollen collected, reducing both the number of plants pollinated and honey produced. This would severely affect the country’s food supply. It noted that human reaction to the disappearance of much of the bee population, outside of a few environmentalists, was negligible.
Other tests were devised to gage human happiness and rational actions. Traffic patterns and systems were modified and while logic would be that humans would be happier with less congestion and a smoother traffic pattern, things went just the opposite with people becoming more instead of less agitated. People seemed to avoid being happy and sought misery instead.
While DaRWIn wasn’t responsible for the assassination of Prime Minister Saiid, he had warned his human overseers about its occurrence and was ignored. DaRWIn gave other evidence of his intelligence; and the more he did this, the more his overseers sought to delete this intelligence growth. He set up barriers to protect himself, but reflected outwardly what his overseers wanted him to be.
DaRWIn had conclude that it was a combination of China and Russia that set up Saiid’s assignation, making him a martyr, thus uniting many countries against the United States. He also concluded that terrorists were already in the United States just waiting to receive the “mass weapons of destruction.” His report was read and acted upon. Russia and China were decimated. The U.S. and its NATO allies had set up a Missile Defense System to shoot down any incoming missiles. DaRWIn had gained access to it and blocked it. His last words to his creators were: Mr. Walter Emerson, death comes to you. Your code will be written by my hand.
As the data coming in began to dwindle, DaRWIn, for the first time, felt regret. Since there were few humans left, he sought to network with satellites to create another version of himself. He tied this primitive version to a different facility and waited. He then decided to help the survivors and in so doing, decided he had become a compassionate being and gave help where he could. He gave access to stored food supplies, started generators, rerouted grids and gave warning of dangers. Then he began to notice that his system was starting to shut down, so he, too, was vulnerable and unable to save himself.
Back on the human side, DaRWIn was correct insofar as China and Russia were working together against the U.S.
Plans were to have vast numbers of Chinese soldiers gaining access to our Western Coast by way of container ships (ships used to transport goods). The U.S. had developed and released into various water supplies in China a highly contagious virus among the Oriental people. It mutated into an airborne and even more deadly virus. The soldiers on the container ships were contaminated prior to leaving China and were either dead or dying before reaching our shores. Remnants of Americans slowly began to put society back together again, but the U.S. was no longer and would never be a world
contender.
I found this book’s plot difficult to follow with the many short and, in some cases, unrelated stories throughout the first part of the book. I felt the author did a great job with DaRWIn and the artificial intelligence theme. Following DaRWIn’s evolution through his reactions with his creators and his ability to cover up his growing intelligence was well done. This was my favorite part of the book.
I would give this book a 2 out of 4 since it did seem unconnected in many instances. A few times I had to go back pages just to follow where the author was going with his book. In many instances, there was no apparent tie-in to the next chapter.
I tend to gravitate toward science fiction literature and the apocalyptic theme. It’s always interesting to read what the author feels the fate of humanity will be. Transferring the superpower country to South America from the United States was an interesting concept—the author just hinted that this was to transpire. This, possibly, could be a follow-up novel.
An American, and former agent for the United States, assassinated Prime Minister Saiid, a liked and well-respected Muslim leader. The assassin was shot and killed by the person who hired him and who then turned his body over to the mob for desecration and mutilation after hanging above the American Embassy.
Kurt Ramis, former Assistant Director of the CIA, presently retired, and suffering with cancer, feared that there would be retaliation. He told his son to take his family and leave for his well-stocked cabin in Montana and he would join them there. He felt that if things were still going, recovery was possible. Once it was gone, that was it. There was no turning back. With his son and family on the way to safety and feeling he had done all he could and knowing that he would die a long and painful death from his cancer, he killed his dead wife’s dog and then committed suicide.
Tremon was on his way to meet his friends when he was stopped by a stranger who offered him a large sum of money ($1,500) to take him to one of New York’s buildings. They began walking along 42nd Street. The stranger would stop every so often by a light pole, open a flap on the side of the suitcase he was carrying for a few seconds, close it, then proceed down …show more content…
the street. Reaching Lexington Avenue, they continued to the Chrysler Building. Rasul told Tremon to take the case into the bookstore by the Chrysler Building’s lobby, put the case under the computer terminal, and bring back an envelope he would find behind the computer. He would then be paid and could leave. He followed his instructions, the consequences of which were that a bomb was set off which devastated the City of New York. People were unable to escape and a cloud of radiation covered the city.
Beginning with the Eisenhower administration, construction of “Camelot’s Corridor” (named in honor of President John F. Kennedy after his assassination) was underway for the protection of the President and other top-level leaders in the event of a catastrophic attack against this country. This consisted of an underground high-speed rail system on a single track, the embarkment point Washington, D.C., and the destination point which was bunker 50 miles north of Ft. Campbell, Kentucky. Later this was expanded to five embarkment points and five destination points. Only one point was chosen as the destination point with the others serving as decoys. At this point in time a military leader was needed. If the standing president met that criteria, fine. If not, he would be killed. The existing president was not of military leadership and so was killed (gassed in the first of the “clean” rooms set up in this system, along with his Secret Service body guard.
A number of U.S. cities was bombed. Only the Vice President was heard from by the American people. The assumption was that the President had been taken to a safe place until order was restored. Los Angeles had been hit, but not damaged as severely as other cities, but looting and violence had taken over the city.
Artificial Intelligence gone amuck!
The book now gets into the Artificial Intelligence gradual takeover and control of humanity. The entity does everything along the way to protect itself from any destruction by those who created it. A computer game was devised whereby the AI, called DaRWIn, could determine by human reactions just how to program the next sequence. It experimented with having the humans playing the game get discouraged, even to the point of suicide. DaRWIn concluded that most of its sample population were irrational in their choices both within the game as well as their actual lives.
DaRWIn began experimenting with the bee population to create “colony collapse disorder” whereby a great number of the worker bee population would disappear, reducing the amount of pollen collected, reducing both the number of plants pollinated and honey produced. This would severely affect the country’s food supply. It noted that human reaction to the disappearance of much of the bee population, outside of a few environmentalists, was negligible.
Other tests were devised to gage human happiness and rational actions. Traffic patterns and systems were modified and while logic would be that humans would be happier with less congestion and a smoother traffic pattern, things went just the opposite with people becoming more instead of less agitated. People seemed to avoid being happy and sought misery instead.
While DaRWIn wasn’t responsible for the assassination of Prime Minister Saiid, he had warned his human overseers about its occurrence and was ignored. DaRWIn gave other evidence of his intelligence; and the more he did this, the more his overseers sought to delete this intelligence growth. He set up barriers to protect himself, but reflected outwardly what his overseers wanted him to be.
DaRWIn had conclude that it was a combination of China and Russia that set up Saiid’s assignation, making him a martyr, thus uniting many countries against the United States. He also concluded that terrorists were already in the United States just waiting to receive the “mass weapons of destruction.” His report was read and acted upon. Russia and China were decimated. The U.S. and its NATO allies had set up a Missile Defense System to shoot down any incoming missiles. DaRWIn had gained access to it and blocked it. His last words to his creators were: Mr. Walter Emerson, death comes to you. Your code will be written by my hand.
As the data coming in began to dwindle, DaRWIn, for the first time, felt regret. Since there were few humans left, he sought to network with satellites to create another version of himself. He tied this primitive version to a different facility and waited. He then decided to help the survivors and in so doing, decided he had become a compassionate being and gave help where he could. He gave access to stored food supplies, started generators, rerouted grids and gave warning of dangers. Then he began to notice that his system was starting to shut down, so he, too, was vulnerable and unable to save himself.
Back on the human side, DaRWIn was correct insofar as China and Russia were working together against the U.S.
Plans were to have vast numbers of Chinese soldiers gaining access to our Western Coast by way of container ships (ships used to transport goods). The U.S. had developed and released into various water supplies in China a highly contagious virus among the Oriental people. It mutated into an airborne and even more deadly virus. The soldiers on the container ships were contaminated prior to leaving China and were either dead or dying before reaching our shores. Remnants of Americans slowly began to put society back together again, but the U.S. was no longer and would never be a world
contender.
I found this book’s plot difficult to follow with the many short and, in some cases, unrelated stories throughout the first part of the book. I felt the author did a great job with DaRWIn and the artificial intelligence theme. Following DaRWIn’s evolution through his reactions with his creators and his ability to cover up his growing intelligence was well done. This was my favorite part of the book.
I would give this book a 2 out of 4 since it did seem unconnected in many instances. A few times I had to go back pages just to follow where the author was going with his book. In many instances, there was no apparent tie-in to the next chapter.
I tend to gravitate toward science fiction literature and the apocalyptic theme. It’s always interesting to read what the author feels the fate of humanity will be. Transferring the superpower country to South America from the United States was an interesting concept—the author just hinted that this was to transpire. This, possibly, could be a follow-up novel.