The Two Faces of Tomorrow [Mass Market Paperback]

Jim Hogan is one of the most underrated SF writers that I know of, although I suspect that many people have read and enjoyed his books. His vision of tomorrow's technology and where it might take us is second to none, making some famous authors like Arthur Clarke and Isaac Asimov seem foolishly optimistic in some of their predictions. One reason for this is that Hogan is a qualified engineer with very wide knowledge of the computer industry, which he extrapolates very convincingly. (I think more SF writers fail in their expectations of future computing than in almost any other department - Heinlein, for instance, has recognizably 1950-1970 computers in many of his stories set centuries in the future). Some of Hogan's other books contain similar ideas - notably "Code of the Lifemaker" - and several of his later novels deal with virtual reality.

The core idea of "Two Faces of Tomorrow" is one of the fundamental dilemmas facing humanity today and in the coming years. Namely, if a computer system is not more intelligent than we are, it cannot (in principle) achieve anything we can't. But, if it is more intelligent than we are, how can we trust its recommendations? Let alone its actions if we equip it to control machinery directly? In this book, a team of scientists, with military backup, are charged with running a full-scale experiment to find out whether an executive AI could resist all efforts to shut it down, and if so how. The outcome is very surprising, in both positive and negative ways.

As other reviewers have noted, Hogan does not put much effort into characterization, preferring to linger over engineering details. That's a stylistic choice, however, and a writer cannot do everything in the scope of a normal-length novel. This book should definitely be on your reading list if you're an SF devotee, and I think that all politicians and decision-makers should be aware of its core ideas. One day we are going to have to do something similar, although it may not be quite as dramatic as Hogan's story.

The novel is set in the mid-21st century and follows a team of scientists lead by Dr Raymond Dyer who are attempting to develop a computer programme that is capable of learning, adapting and using something similar to the common sense inherent in humans. When a computer programme manages to almost kill a group of engineers due to its logical handling of a situation, Dr Dyer and his team are brought in to discuss the ramifications. The various discussions and thoughts around the situation leads to the government agreeing to conduct an experiment on a newly constructed space station whereby, the military alongside various scientists will attempt to shut down an Artificial Intelligence that has been coded with a survival instinct. The outcome however, is more that anyone imagined or planned for and therefore things quickly get out of hand.

I have to admit that the core of the story probably doesn't really cover anything new in the genre as it is primary based around the exploits of Artificial Intelligence and what it could do in an attempt to ensure its survival. As most people have probably seen the "Terminator" movies they can probably easily imagine the types of things that would happen in this novel. However, I did think the ending itself was rather satisfying and was actually quite unexpected and different to many of the other man vs. machine type scenarios I have read about or seen.

The main issue with the book that some readers may have is the pacing in the initial portions of the book. Hogan delves quite deeply into some philosophical debates about the nature of technology and its use by humanity. After a while the whole thing did begin to feel like it was dragging on, so that it was affecting the overall forward momentum of the plot. Personally, I found the debate and descriptions used in the initial sections of the novel to be rather interesting so I didn't mind the meandering pace, but I can imagine it is not going to be everyone's cup of tea.

However, once the story moves onto the space station and the face-off between humanity and the computer began, the book really started to pick up the pace. Basically, at this stage, the book becomes more about the action and imagery, than discussion and ideas and I found it to be very entertaining. The book really does cover both thoughtful philosophy and enjoyable adventure in equal doses; it was just a shame that Hogan didn't find a way to mix them up in a manner that ensured the entire plot from start to finish moved forward with purpose.

In regards to the characters, I haven't read any other Hogan novels but I am curious now to know if he has gotten better since writing this novel at their utilisation and development. They just all felt very flat and there were a lot of them that I can't even remember now only a week or so after reading the book. In addition, at several points he seems to fall back on using cliques, this was particularly true in regards to the romantic relationship between Dr Dyer and Laura which felt like the standard, "we act like we don't like each other, but we really do" style of relationship. None of this really affected my enjoyment of the story but I feel the novel could have been even better if the characters had a little bit more development and variety.

Overall, I found the story to be an enjoyable mix of hard science and entertainment which shows that a book doesn't have to sacrifice one element for the other. If you enjoy science fiction, and in particular like to dabble in hard science fiction then you probably won't go wrong in picking this novel up to read.

If I had the money, I'd get this story made into a movie! If you like Sci-Fi, and liked 2001 a lot, you've gotta give this a read. I've read it three times so far, and I'm about to order it so I can read it again (I've never owned it.)