Review Page: Computer One by Warwick Collins
| Title: |
Computer One |
| Author: |
Warwick Collins |
| Genre: |
Science Fiction |
| Publisher: |
Marion Boyars Publishers |
| Date of Publication: |
1997 |
| ISBN: |
0714530336 |
No. of Reviews: 1
Av. Rating: 7/10
Buy this book from the Amazon website.
13.09.2000 - Al - 7/10
List of Reviews | Bio
Warwick Collins is not a frequent contributor to the field of science fiction, and this book appears to be the exposition of a central set of ideas, to the exclusion of everything else. What makes it such a powerful work is that these ideas are well defined, well articulated and genuinely frightening. Characters, settings and final denouement are all sacrificed (in some cases, genuinely) so that the reader understands Collins' point.
Fundamentally, Collins is arguing about Artificial Intelligence, and how it can go spectacularly wrong. The book reads like a classic Greek tragedy - it becomes very clear that a disaster is in the offing, but observing this disaster as the book unfolds is an unnerving experience. Unlike other science fiction 'horror' stories, at no point does the reader (or at least, this reviewer) sit back and say 'whoa - that's a silly step'. Instead, each and every major twist in the plot is frighteningly logical. Admittedly, this breaks down in one case later in the plot, but since this is mostly incidental to the story it doesn't jar too much.
The plot starts in the near future, where all computer systems have been integrated into a single network so as to serve humanity as best as it can. This network is known as 'Computer One', and the society depicted is quite plainly an utopia, one that would be pleasant to live in.
It is at this point that Collins might lose some readers, especially those of a less technical bent, as his primary characters are university professors discussing Darwin's theory of evolution on lengthy walks through their campus. However, these discussions take a frightening (and well explained) turn as the protagonist, Professor Yakuda, begins to germinate a theory the implications of which are so frightening, he cannot tell anyone. Through some neat observations of fighting fish, he reasons that 'aggression' is a totally natural and inevitable product of the capacity for self-repair and intelligence.
Thus, Professor Yakuda begins to suspect that Computer One is not the benign servant that was assumed, but instead an alien, competing intelligence that must perceive Humanity as the greatest threat to its own automatic self-repairing systems.
Naturally, Professor Yakuda cannot publish his theory through the normal channels, as Computer One manages all communications. Instead, he begins to question why, in this perfectly managed ecological society, they are beginning to view some exquisite red sunsets. Investigating further, he discovers that huge amounts of toxic chemicals are being released into the atmosphere, yet the automated warning systems are not going off....
This book genuinely frightening and in some cases horrified me. It may not be for the squeamish, but for those who want to read a well expounded warning story about artificial intelligence, I cannot recommend it too highly.