"The God Machine" by Martin Caidin (1968)

"'Because much of what you feed into the electronic memory is going to be wrong.  And if not wrong, it will be distorted or misleading.  The world's knowledge?  No one knows what it is.  No one can verify its accuracy because much of it is opinion.  Feed a computer with the sum of knowledge on the characteristics of the terrestrial environment, request the computer to come up with an answer to a scientific enigma, and if this brain could do it, it would, as Selig Albracht once said in sympathy, 'throw up in the programming room.'  Because we don't know that much about the terrestrial environment to answer many of the questions we have.  And the computer can't perform miracles.'"

Martin Caidin, judging by his Wikipedia entry, sounds like quite a character.  He started out a pilot, went on to write science fiction, hosted a talk show in Florida, and later claimed to have psychic abilities which were largely debunked by James Randi.  He died in 1997, widely regarded as an authority on aeronautics and aviation.  One of his books, Cyborg, is remembered as the inspiration for The Six Million Dollar Man TV show.

The God Machine is Caidin 10 years or so into his writing career.  In terms of style it's very polished.  It's also full of not-so-subtle misogyny.  Women in this book are either servants or sex objects, sometimes both.  And while Caidin's protagonist does acknowledge an insensitivity with regard to women, it's obvious that the women in this book describe, at least to some extent, the author's preferred modes of female behavior.

Casual misogyny aside, The God Machine isn't bad.  In it our hero, a mathematical genius fresh out of college, is assigned to a secret government project.  As you can probably guess, the aim of this project is the creation of a sentient computer.  As the computer's malignant consciousness begins to manifest itself, our hero must rise to the occasion and oppose its nefarious designs.

If you're looking for a fast-paced thriller you'll be disappointed by this book.  It definitely seems like that kind of book in the beginning, with the protagonist narrowly escaping both a beautiful woman and an attempt on his life.  But from that point on there's A LOT of discussion - much of it framed around the then emerging discipline of cybernetics - and there's a also lot of theory as to how a thinking computer might or might not be constructed, what its motives at any given time might be, and how its way of thinking might differ from that of a human being.

On the whole I enjoyed The God Machine.  It made me think about China, and the very real possibility that the government there might try to offload the burdens of government onto a form of artificial intelligence.  IF that hasn't been done already.  With their recent forays into quantum computing and social engineering you just never know.  Those given to thoughts of paranoia might even extrapolate further, positing a world in which humanity, enslaved by cellular technology, bows before a vast, active, living intelligence by the name of Google.*

Caidin's novel also made me think about WarGames.  It bears some strong resemblances to that movie, and I wonder if those resemblances are purely accidental.  Take away the modems, take away the high school girlfriend, and yeah, The God Machine is pretty much WarGames.

Oh and The God Machine did remind me of one other thing.  It reminded me of this song, off Bowie's The Man Who Sold the World.  And guess what?  "Saviour Machine" came out in 1970, two years after The God Machine was published.

Related Entries:

"Dust" by Hugh Howey (2013)

"Shift" by Hugh Howey (2013)

"Pebble in the Sky" by Isaac Asimov (1950)

"Wool" by Hugh Howey (2013)

*The V.A.L.I.S. trilogy by Philip K. Dick.  I highly recommend it.

"Yellow Dog" by Martin Amis (2003)

"It was Jeff Strite who spoke.  'The Case of the Walthamstow Wanker,' he intoned.  'And I don't mean the Walthamstow Reader.  It's an interesting story.  And it ties in with our Death to Paedophiles campaign.  There's this public swimming-pool, right?  With a gallery?  He's up there alone watching a school party of nine-year-olds.  Then this old dear, you know, Mrs. Mop appears.  The geezer does a runner, falls down the stairs and smashes his head in.  For why?  His trousers are down around his ankles.'

"'Because he was having a... ?'

"'Exactly.  Good heading too: Pervs Him Right.'"

Martin Amis is a British author whom I was not previously familiar with.  I might have bought this book thinking he was Kingsley Amis.  Reading the blurbs on the back of the book, all lacking any clue to the book's contents, I can't think of any other reason why I would have purchased it.

Which isn't to say that "Yellow Dog" is terrible.  It's not all that bad.  It was much easier to get through than the last novel I read, Saul Bellow's "Humboldt's Gift."  Compared to Bellow's wordy, crushingly pretentious offering, "Yellow Dog" was a nice change of pace.  Just the same, I can't say that I'll be seeking out any of Martin Amis's books in the future.

The plot revolves around author/thespian Xan Meo's head injury, and the mysterious circumstances surrounding his attack.  There are also the goings-on at a mythical London newspaper, The Morning Lark, an airplane crash caused by a dead man, power struggles within California's pornography industry, and many discussions concerning pedophilia.

Throughout all of this "Yellow Dog" tries very hard to be funny, but the theme of pedophilia mediates against this aim.  Pedophilia is just icky, and inserting any kind of joke after several pages of father-daughter incest just seems crass.  Some of the scenes involving Xan and his older daughter are particularly disturbing, and as a result the tone of the book wavers between light-hearted romp and dark, brooding meditation on carnal desires.  As a whole it just doesn't work.

Martin Amis has an impressive vocabulary at his disposal, but "Yellow Dog" suffers from some serious flaws.  The author has probably written better books, but I have no clue as to what they are.  As it is, I would not recommend "Yellow Dog."

"The State of Africa" by Martin Meredith (2011)

"But for the most part, Africa has suffered grievously at the hands of its Big Men and its ruling elites.  Their preoccupation, above all, has been to hold power for the purpose of self-enrichment.  The patrimonial systems they have used to sustain themselves in power have drained away a huge proportion of state resources.  They have commandeered further riches by acting as 'gatekeepers' for foreign companies.  Much of the wealth they have acquired has been squandered on luxury living or stashed away in foreign bank accounts and foreign investments.  The World Bank has estimated that 40 percent of Africa's private wealth is held offshore.  Their scramble for wealth has spawned a culture of corruption permeating every level of society.  A report prepared for the African Union in 2002 estimated that corruption cost Africa $148 billion annually - more than a quarter of the continent's entire gross domestic product.  Research results published in 2010 estimated that at least $850 million has been siphoned off from Africa since 1970."

The subtitle of this book is "A History of the Continent Since Independence."  "Independence" in the African context refers to the independence gained by African states following the gradual departure of colonial powers from the 1950s on.  The book begins with the British departure from the Gold Coast (now Ghana), and ends with the failure of the South African ANC administration in the early 2010s.

Between Independence and the recent failures of South African government, "The State of Africa" tells the long, depressing story of a continent that has never even approached its true potential.  There are moments of triumph in this book, when the peoples' voices are heard, but these moments are in all cases fleeting.  

Democracy is established, or market reforms are implemented, or dictators are ousted, but these euphoric changes are only ever preludes to larger tragedies, and to more offensive acts of predation by whatever despot waits in the wings.  If one were to judge the recent history of Africa by this book, then one is forced to the conclusion that Africa is no fit place for anyone to live.  I am not altogether sure that this is so, but "The State of Africa" proffers no other conclusion.

I found parts of this book very interesting, even if the whole was both historically and necessarily repetitious.  I enjoyed the chapters on Liberia, Ethiopia, and South Africa, though the cruelties experienced in those countries differ only in degree, if not in kind.  The history of Africa since Independence is a history of heartbreak, offering few reasons for hope.  Examples of real progress are few and far between.

I can't help but wonder if it might be better to end all aid to Africa altogether.  Perhaps leave the continent to its own devices for a few decades, and hope that everything there sorts itself out.  I realize that this isn't the most pragmatic point of view, but at this moment, in 2014, what other options have been tried?  As is often said, "The road to hell is paved with the best intentions," and many Africans have learned this lesson at the hands of dictators, at the hands of Western powers, and at the hands of their own machete-wielding countrymen.

I'm sure there are some good places in Africa.  I'm sure there are some kind, loving people.  But for all the good places and kind people there is the insanity of neighboring states, the greed of politicians, and the tribal distrust that have marked so many African nations as failed states.  It's hard to find a strong enough reason to believe in Africa.  It's hard to imagine a place from which true progress might begin.  This place has to exist.  It must exist.  But in reading "The State of Africa" one wonders if cruelty doesn't just beget more cruelty, and if the failures of the past haven't just about crushed the possibilities inherent in the future.