'When HARLIE was One' was nominated for both a Hugo Award in 1973 and
a Nebula Award in 1972, both nominations it lost to Asimov's 'The Gods
Themselves.' HARLIE suffers, like a lot of near future fiction, from
being close to what the future looks like but off enough to almost make
the reader giggle. There are some jarring points early in the novel
with people smoking indoors that really broke the fourth wall for me,
but that's to be expected in a novel written in the seventies. And
Gerrold apparently got a few things right with his legalized marijuana
(hello Colorado and Washington). I don't think this novel lives up to
'The Man who Folded Himself,' Gerrold would write that the next year,
but HARLIE provides some interesting points about artificial
intelligence.
This novel was definately influenced by
both Heinlein's 'The Moon is a Harsh Mistress' and Clarke's '2001:A
Space Odyssey. It even mentions the second one a few times in the book,
always a good sign that an author is willing to acknowledge his
influences. Remember that computers were just becoming a real thing in
1972, but it wouldn't be until 1977 that even the Apple II was
released. All the computers that come to life in these three novels
have some similarities that are a little offputting today, they're all
as big as a house, they all communicate basically through text, and all
have cathode ray tubes or something equally ridiculous involved with
them. Gerrold does his best in HARLIE to make the technology real to
life, and that might be what dates the book the worst.
All
that aside, a little dating is to be expected in any novel written
around this time, Gerrold uses his tale of artificial intelligence to
tackle some problems that the other two do not. Some people might be
put off by the sexual aspect of the novel, or its treatment of God, but
for me they were the things that breathed life into the story. From our
vantage here in 2012 it's exhausting to read another book about an AI
taking over our lives, it's nice to see that even in the seventies
people were looking for a new approach to the sub-genre. Gerrold finds
that new approach through HARLIE and Auberson's discussions on love.
I'm
a sucker for a love story like this one, two older people both afraid
of love, and also the general fear of the novel that HARLIE would be
turned off in the end. I knew going in that HARLIE would survive the
novel, it would be too much like Heinlein's novel to have the computer
shut off in the end. Also I should have figured that Auberson would end
up with Annie, but it's a credit to Gerrold's writing that he kept me
guessing right up until the end. I've read a few complaints about the
sex scenes written in this novel, but my response is you should have
known what you were getting in to when you opened the book, this is the
same writer who wanted to put an AIDs story into Star Trek, as well as
inter-species sex. Not to mention the sex in 'The Man who Folded
Himself.' Graphic sex is almost a staple of sci-fi in the seventies,
and it's definitely part of the New Wave of science fiction coming out
at this time, and a brief glance at Nebula nominees from the 70s will
show books much more interested in sex than this one. What interests me
most about this book is its exploration of love.
I
found the scenes with Auberson and HARLIE discussing the definition of
love very touching and subtly written. Gerrold gives us a little
foreshadowing that the machine might be a little more advanced than the
man here, a little heads up for the ending so it won't come as quite the
shock. I also enjoy how there's never any talk about whether or not
the computer has/can have any emotion, it is immediatelly assumed from
the beginning, ruling out one more sci-fi cliche. And, the discussion
between the two is actually a good one, bringing up valid points about
love, affection, and lust that are still valid today. Just imagine how
shocking it would still be today if someone said that sex had to come
before love. I love how Gerrold just sort of buried that in there.
The
G.O.D. machine is an interesting concept and also provides for
Gerrold's little twist at the end, but other than as a plot device I
really didn't find it that interesting. I should be ecstatic over the
idea of a computer that could solve any problem, and if I were in the
seventies I surely would, but all the talk of printouts in cubic feet
and miles of wire just sort of ruined it for me. Sometimes a writer can
get a little too into the mechanics of an idea and leave the fun of it
behind, and like I said I was falling all over myself for the 'love'
aspect of this novel that I really just wanted to find out how it ended
to make sure they would end up together.
In the end
though this novel is probably most famous for being the first use of the
term 'virus' to denote a computer infection, without Gerrold we might
still be calling it a 'Self Reproducing Automata.' Though in this novel
and Crichton's 'The Terminal Man' the virus is transferred through a
telephone line it is remarkably similar to what we know of today as a
virus on the web. I really like this novel (someday I'm going to review
a novel I don't like, I promise) and it's a good place to get in to the
writing of David Gerrold for those who maybe don't like Star Trek too
much, or aren't prepared for 'The Man who Folded Himself.'
No comments:
Post a Comment