A fascinating look at Artificial Intelligence, from its humble Cold War beginnings to the dazzling future that is just around the corner. When most of us think about Artificial Intelligence, our minds go straight to cyborgs, robots, and sci-fi thrillers where machines take over the world. But the truth is that Artificial Intelligence is already among us. It exists in our smartphones, fitness trackers, and refrigerators that tell us when the milk will expire. In some ways, the future people dreamed of at the World's Fair in the 1960s is already here. We're teaching our machines how to think like humans, and they're learning at an incredible rate. In Thinking Machines, technology journalist Luke Dormehl takes you through the history of AI and how it makes up the foundations of the machines that think for us today. Furthermore, Dormehl speculates on the incredible--and possibly terrifying--future that's much closer than many would imagine. This remarkable book will invite you to marvel at what now seems commonplace and to dream about a future in which the scope of humanity may need to broaden itself to include intelligent machines.

This entertaining short story collection features Professor Augustus S.F.X. Van Dusen, nicknamed "The Thinking Machine"—a brilliant but abrasive scientist who proves time and again that any puzzle can be solved by the application of logic. Could you beat the world chess master in one try if you'd never played or studied the game? Or plot and execute a successful escape from an inescapable prison cell? And could you do it at the turn of the twentieth century, without benefit of modern technology? Sound impossible? Never use that word in the presence of The Thinking Machine—it angers him greatly and does not give him a favorable impression of the user. Professor Augustus S.F.X. Van Dusen knows that both feats are indeed possible, having accomplished them himself. But he also applies his superior intellect and deductive reasoning to more official ends—namely helping the police solve "impossible" crimes. With assistance from reporter Hutchinson Hatch, who is only too happy to suggest potential cases and then write about the outcome, The Thinking Machine proves that no puzzle is unsolvable—not corporate espionage, nor a kidnapped baby, nor a pilfered necklace, And certainly not a "perfect murder."

This irascible genius, this diminutive egghead scientist, known to the world as “The Thinking Machine,” is no less than the newly rediscovered literary link between Sherlock Holmes and Nero Wolfe: Professor Augustus S. F. X. Van Dusen, who—with only the power of ratiocination—unravels problems of outrageous criminous activity in dazzlingly impossible settings. He can escape from the inescapable death-row “Cell 13.” He can fathom why the young woman chopped off her own finger. He can solve the anomaly of the phone that could not speak. These twenty-three Edwardian-era adventures prove (as The Thinking Machine reiterates) that “two and two make four, not sometimes, but all the time.”

America’s smartest sleuth solves his most puzzling cases yet Professor Augustus S. F. X. Van Dusen may look and sound like an egghead scientist—because he is one—but there is no detective in the world villains fear more. With the help of his friend and sidekick, newspaper reporter Hutchison Hatch, the criminologist known as “The Thinking Machine” applies cold, hard logic to the most bizarre of mysteries—and always finds the solution. In this comprehensive collection, Van Dusen investigates the enigmas of “The Midnight Message,” “The Gap in the Trail,” “A Fool of Good Intention,” “The Woman in the Case,” and many others. No matter how twisted the trail of clues—or diabolical the evildoer—the Thinking Machine knows that “two and two make four, not some times, but all the time.” In other words, take heed, crooks—your cleverest schemes are not match for this genius detective. This ebook has been professionally proofread to ensure accuracy and readability on all devices.

Reproduction of the original: The Problem of Cell 13 by Jaques Futrelle