Review: Software

Software by Rudy Rucker

My rating: 4 of 5 stars



Cobb Anderson is the creator of the boppers: anarchic robots that have rebelled against the humans and now live autonomously on the moon. He built a simple directive into their code: each robot or bopper must rebuild bodies for themselves every 10 months. This directive cause rapid evolution among the boppers, the idea was "we couldn't build intelligient robots, but we could cause them to evolve."

At the beginning of the novel Cobb Anderson is retired and living in the "gimme retirement state" of Florida. He is worrying about how he can afford a new artificial heart, when a robot duplicate of himself, built by the boppers, offers him a ticket to the moon and the chance for immortality.

This novel is a classic and a major influence of the early cyberpunks. Although it was written in the 70s it doesn't feel dated, unlike some of the early cyberpunk novels from the 80s. It was a joy to read, and the bopper society, as well as Rucker's vision of Florida and the Gimme State and Baby boomer retirees is hilarious and not to be missed. This is the second time I have read this novel and I liked it even better the on the second reading. Highly recommended.



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