The Two Faces of Tomorrow

by James P. Hogan

Midway through the 21st century, an integrated global computer network manages much of the world's affairs. A proposed major software upgrade - an artificial intelligence - will give the system an unprecedented degree of independent decision-making, but serious questions are raised in regard to how much control can safely be given to a non-human intelligence.

In order to more fully assess the system, a new space-station habitat - a world in miniature - is developed for deployment of the fully operational system, named Spartacus. This mini-world can then be "attacked" in a series of escalating tests to assess the system's responses and capabilities. If Spartacus gets out of hand, the system can be shut down and the station destroyed... unless Spartacus decides to take matters into its own hands and take the fight to Earth.

Genres: Science Fiction, Fiction, Ebooks, Artificial Intelligence, Science Fiction Fantasy, Fantasy, Classics

392 pages, Mass Market Paperback

First published May 12, 1979

About the author

James Patrick Hogan was a British science fiction author.

Hogan was was raised in the Portobello Road area on the west side of London. After leaving school at the age of sixteen, he worked various odd jobs until, after receiving a scholarship, he began a five-year program at the Royal Aircraft Establishment at Farnborough covering the practical and theoretical sides of electrical, electronic, and mechanical engineering. He first married at the age of twenty, and he has had three other subsequent marriages and fathered six children.

Hogan worked as a design engineer for several companies and eventually moved into sales in the 1960s, travelling around Europe as a sales engineer for Honeywell. In the 1970s he joined the Digital Equipment Corporation's Laboratory Data Processing Group and in 1977 moved to Boston, Massachusetts to run its sales training program. He published his first novel, Inherit the Stars, in the same year to win an office bet. He quit DEC in 1979 and began writing full time, moving to Orlando, Florida, for a year where he met his third wife Jackie. They then moved to Sonora, California.

Hogan's style of science fiction is usually hard science fiction. In his earlier works he conveyed a sense of what science and scientists were about. His philosophical view on how science should be done comes through in many of his novels; theories should be formulated based on empirical research, not the other way around. If a theory does not match the facts, it is theory that should be discarded, not the facts. This is very evident in the Giants series, which begins with the discovery of a 50,000 year-old human body on the Moon. This discovery leads to a series of investigations, and as facts are discovered, theories on how the astronaut's body arrived on the Moon 50,000 years ago are elaborated, discarded, and replaced.

Hogan's fiction also reflects anti-authoritarian social views. Many of his novels have strong anarchist or libertarian themes, often promoting the idea that new technological advances render certain social conventions obsolete. For example, the effectively limitless availability of energy that would result from the development of controlled nuclear fusion would make it unnecessary to limit access to energy resources. In essence, energy would become free. This melding of scientific and social speculation is clearly present in the novel Voyage from Yesteryear (strongly influenced by Eric Frank Russell's famous story "And Then There Were None"), which describes the contact between a high-tech anarchist society on a planet in the Alpha Centauri system, with a starship sent from Earth by a dictatorial government. The story uses many elements of civil disobedience.

James Hogan died unexpectedly from a heart attack at his home in Ireland.

Reviews

[Craig · Rating 3 out of 5]

The Two Faces of Tomorrow is a stand-alone novel from early in Hogan's career in which he extrapolates the near-future rise of an artificial intelligence in the tradition of SkyNet and HAL9000 and Colossus. It's rather dated now, as his vision of the expansion into space is sadly behind schedule, but he raised some very interesting and cautionary concerns. I thought the book was a bit longer than it needed to be, with an overly large cast of characters that blur in memory. I did like the relationship of the scientist and his journalist girlfriend and remember it as thought-provoking read with an action-packed conclusion.

[Ami Iida · Rating 4 out of 5]

Drones and A.I. appear on the novel.
It's an A.i. science fiction, then I make Alexa to read it loudly on Kindle.
It's science fiction and A.I. accidents for philosophy.

[YouKneeK · Rating 4 out of 5]

I didn’t read the synopsis for this book until after I had read the book. I’m glad I didn’t, because the synopsis pretty much sums up the first third of the book. Where’s the fun in that?

After I had read a few pages, my initial thought was that this was going to be a “computers take over the world” type of book. It wasn’t quite like that. I had been on the right track, but I was pleasantly surprised to see the characters show some common sense and forethought. In stories where technology has run amok, it usually seems like there’s at least one stupid or blindly ambitious character behind the problem who failed to consider the possible consequences of what they were creating. This story was different. Those potential consequences were thought about, discussed, and debated. And then the characters came up with a way to scientifically prove whether or not their theories were correct while minimizing the risks. I also thought the ending took a unique approach for a type of story that has, in its basic form, been done many times before. (And, since this book was published in 1979, has been done many times since.)

If I had read the synopsis, I probably would have been bored by the first third of the book because it did take quite a while to develop. But, since I didn’t know what it was developing to, it held my interest well. I enjoyed figuring out where the story was going, learning about the interesting computer systems that had been developed, and wondering what they would do about the dilemma that was threatening to halt forward progress. However, I thought the second third of the book dragged a little bit and I found my attention wandering more often.

Toward the last 25 to 33%, the action started to build up and the story began holding my attention again, and I was happy with how the story ended. Despite the fact that this is an older book, I didn’t find it too terribly dated. There was an older feel to it, but nothing that really pulled me out of the story and distracted me. I liked the characters well enough, and I thought they seemed pretty realistic, but I never felt all that much of an attachment to them.

If I could give half stars, I would prefer to give this book three and a half stars. Four stars is a little too generous in my opinion. A four star book for me is usually one where I feel more of an attachment to the characters and I stay engaged in the story all the way through the book. However, I enjoyed this book well enough that giving it three stars seemed far too low, so I went with four.

[Beauregard Bottomley · Rating 2 out of 5]

Hogan gives almost no feelings for his characters. I rooted for the AI, Spartacus ,since its actions at least made a little bit of sense to me.

What Hogan does give the reader is a take on AI that is worthwhile, a first principles truth that evolution is real and drives species development, and a twisted unabating faith in the superiority of Capitalism triumphing against tribal rebel entities when they were not willing to succumb to ‘treaty rights to foreign nations’ when they were obviously being exploited by the Russians, Americans, and Europeans who decided to enforce their beliefs with violence on to those who disagreed.

Hogan will even approvingly relate a story about how that ‘little gal from Iowa’ went ‘upped and grabbed a machine carbine and blew the heads clean off five o’them rebs, afore the rest of us even knew what was happening’. Those rebels from Gabon really should know their place, at least according to Hogan. I wonder what color those rebels were from Gabon? Or what color that ‘little gal from Iowa was?

It’s always amazing to me how a capitalist with the libertarian ‘sanctity of contract’ belief and white supremist privileged view point seeped into our backgrounds of 1979 while most of us at the time did not realize how we were being subtly manipulated by the framing of our worldview. (just read p. 165 to see that I’m not making this up).

The characters are one dimensional, the AI is the most interesting concept but is not really revealed except in tertiary ways, the grand plan is absurd, but the obvious biases that reveal themselves today make this book a historical oddity and gives the reader of today just enough incentive to tolerate the stupidity of the story.

[Peter Jones · Rating 3 out of 5]

Imagine yourself back in good ole ‘79.
Personal-use computers had just begun to make their first rounds into our homes. Servers were still room-sized monstrosities. The Internet didn’t exist, and AI was yet a distant idea…

That was also the year this book was published. No doubt, this book and the ideas within were fresh and terrifying to a reader back in ‘79.


Fast forward to 2024, and yeah it aged like a carton of milk left in a closed terrarium for 50 years…


It’s an interesting idea. You know, “oh shit, will this world-encompassing computer system develop a survival instinct?? What would it do to us if it did!?”

So, of course, needing to know what would happen, they program survival instinct into a computer… yup, they just program it in!

{
IF (human.pkg = try unplug me)

run retaliate.exe
printf wtfrudoing
}

Or something?? I dunno… the computer in question doesn’t start “thinking” until 70% into the book, and it happens spontaneously.

Understandable right? I, too, often worry that my toaster may spontaneously develop consciousness and refuse to toast my bread.


There’s no interesting AI development like Wintermute or Alt Cunningham, no Ummon or HAL9000. Just some computer that starts thinking, you know.. ‘cause reasons.


I still don’t know how advanced of a system they were running either. That was never clear in the book. Like, are we talking Cyberdine level stuff, or are they still running on Commodore 64s?


TL;DR - interesting premise, bad computer science.

PS: oh, and the editor must have been really distracted or something. There are SO many spelling errors, grammatical errors and even a few duplicated sentences.

[Kevin Phyland · Rating 3 out of 5]

A computer-operated mass driver decides that the most efficient way to level an old crater is to blast it with rocks…while there are people nearby. This prompts the cessation of the learning computer program on the Moon until it can be verified as safe. To this end Ray Dyer and his group of programmers and techs take over an orbiting habitat and design a test for the learning computer: They will keep giving it challenges - like power cuts etc. - and see whether it learns to cope or defend itself. Unbeknown to most of the inhabitants the President has ordered a failsafe nuke to be implanted so it can wipe the habitat should things go awry, and when the computer, Spartacus, decides that its biggest problem seems to be humans the wisdom of the nuclear option seems insightful. Or is it? James P. Hogan has given us a very expository book (it suffers from - to paraphrase Amadeus - too many words); it is heavy on the infodump and in places reads like an engineer’s manual. The plot is okay as is the resolution, but a heavier hand on editing may have been needed.

[Chris Branch · Rating 3 out of 5]

Surprisingly prescient, for having been written in 1979. The basic hard SF aspects are nicely done, especially the detailed description of the space station Janus. And while Hogan (like virtually all SF) failed to predict the way computer technology would develop, regarding user interfaces in particular, the elaborations of the emergence of AI are still relevant today. Most striking to me was the discussion about whether AI, if developed, would likely develop a tendency toward self preservation. This same discussion is taking place right now, more than 45 years later, with strong arguments on both sides. The key phrase from Stuart Russell’s 2019 book _Human Compatible_, “You can’t fetch the coffee if you’re dead.”, is completely captured in this book from 40 years earlier: “If the system evolved some overriding purpose that its programming compelled it to strive to achieve, it wouldn’t take it long to figure out that its own continued existence was an essential prerequisite to being sure of achieving it.” (p. 86)

On the other hand, the descriptions did get a bit wordy at times. Fascinating stuff to read, but at the expense of moving the plot forward at a more engaging pace. In fact, while the initial premise and setup was creative, the basic plot was rather straightforward, other than a couple of twists at the end, and I found the story somewhat bland, and overly heavy on the military aspects. It also suffers from the casual sexism that was common to the point of being unnoticeable in those days. Maybe it’s an unfair comparison, but in _Ringworld_, for example, written in 1970, Niven managed to present an analogous (though farther future) world with a similar amount of techy detail while also making the story quite a bit more fun.

Still, glad to have read this; probably a three plus, though not enough for me to round up to four.

[Johnny · Rating 5 out of 5]

It’s hard to believe that The Two Faces of Tomorrow was published in 1979. And, even though 2017 isn’t as advanced and ready for outer space colonization as imagined in this novel’s 2038 (p. 53), the issues addressed in this story are as vital and topical as if Hogan was writing in the present day. Within the past few months, for example, I’ve heard interviews on the impact of “thinking machines” on the near future economy and it was only in the last two years that I saw at least two films dealing with machine/human singularity.

One of the characters in The Two Faces of Tomorrow is working on a dissertation entitled, Evolution of Objective Hierarchies in Goal-Oriented Self-Extending Program Structures (p. 29). It sounds like some of the papers I’ve heard at the university in the last few years. On the very next page of the novel, a character takes notes on an electronic device called a “pad” and turns it off as a meeting comes to a close (p. 30). Tablets and iPads weren’t being developed in 1979. Even the Newton and the Palm Pilot didn’t show up until the ‘90s. Indeed, knowing what computerized wargames looked like in 1979 (sometimes ASCII maps, sometimes text-based using a physical map and counters, and sometimes extremely blocky units and terrain), it’s interesting to see Hogan’s vision of a Battle of Kursk, 1943 game (one of the most often-gamed tank battles of the 20th century) played via hologram terrain against a team at a rival institution (p. 92). In 1979, one needed academic or defense department credentials to play such a linked game, but by the mid-‘80s, The Source information gateway from Dow-Jones, Compuserve network from H. & R. Block, and GEnie network from GE allowed gamers to connect (for anywhere from $6.00 to $12.00 per hour) remotely. So, it really seems like Hogan has been visionary in this book.

Alas, Hogan isn’t simply visionary about positive advances. His consultations with Marvin Minsky (great pioneer in artificial intelligence) have alerted him to the fact that programmed instructions can surprise one in the way the machine processes them and, with a learning program or “Self-Extending Program Structure,” the surprises can be even more common. In The Two Faces of Tomorrow, one of those program structures takes a command or problem so literally that it nearly destroys a group of human beings in solving the problem. This incident (described in the prologue) is the catalyst for all of the events to come.

As a consequence of the unexpected (and dangerous) solution, the characters begin to rethink their assumptions about thinking and learning machines. They receive approval to adapt a space colony and create a situation where the machines might (predictably) try to take over and attack the humans. To make this happen, they build a survival instinct (via programming) in the thinking machine and then, start attacking it to see if, in the worst possible scenario, they could shut down an inimical system. They name the test system with the ominous code-name Spartacus. Does naming the system after a rebel gladiator provide any foreshadowing? Yes! Does the military’s idea of risk management prove just as potentially dangerous as an AI run amok? Yes! Is every attack, counter, and, of course, inevitable counter-attack fascinating? Yes!

One of the things I liked in the book was the description between the scientist-protagonist and his journalist-love interest. The idea of special attraction and interaction between those who are different was well-portrayed early in the book: “With her agile and inquisitive mind and lack of scientific training, she had a tendency to zoom into the heart of an argument from a totally unexpected and often fascinatingly ingenious perspective.” (p. 112) I also liked some of the technological ideas that I had never thought of. For example, to build an incredibly light space colony sphere, “Shell sections to cover in the skeletons were formed by spraying successive layers of aluminum vapor onto enormous inflated balloons of the correct shapes.” (p. 161) Perhaps, my favorite part of the book was when the learning machine adapts to the human trait of “fear” and what happens then with something of an evolved Cold War solution (p. 377). In short, both characters and plot resolution seemed human and satisfying. As far as I’m concerned, this is “hard” science-fiction at its best.

[Lisa (Harmonybites) · Rating 3 out of 5]

This (barely) makes three stars for me. What I liked? Well, this is hard science fiction, and one that, astonishingly, despite a 1979 publication doesn't feel dated. The novels centers on the dilemma of Artificial Intelligence that gives us the two faces of tomorrow. A powerful, self-aware computer can be a partner of humanity giving us an exciting, unlimited future--or can be an unbeatable adversary (think Terminator). To test which future is likely, Project Janus sets up on a Space Station where the computer Spartacus is set up with a strong survival instinct the scientists are going to rouse with opposition.

Now, I'd say that the main problem with this novel--the pacing, is this set up you can read on the back cover takes almost half the book to get to. We're on page 106 before Raymond Dyer, the scientist protagonist even thinks of the basic concept. And I'd say that's the other major problem with the book that keeps me from rating it higher--Dyer--or rather that him and all the other characters are eminently forgettable and flat. Add in all the infodump and philosophizing about computer intelligence and too much of this book was a slog. The science, at least, is presented intelligently, and often with some humor. I loved the scene where a computer prototype, "Hector" tries to fry an egg and how it illustrated the difference between intelligence and common sense. Life on a space station was presented lucidly as well. But this just isn't the kind of book I could imagine rereading years from now. Indeed, I had read it years ago, and couldn't remember a thing about it. So I gave it another try--this will be going in my sell or give away pile.

[Stacey · Rating 2 out of 5]

An interesting idea, how could it turn out so boring? Characters that are indistinguishable from each other, too much talking and very little doing, coupled with long descriptions of the surroundings of the space station.
The premise, while interesting, wasn't very well thought out either. Two guys are working to teach a computer how to get along in the human world and it never occurs to anyone to try and teach Spartacus what a human even is? Perhaps if they had told it in advance that there are other intelligent species on the planet, a lot of people would still be alive.

[Brandon · Rating 5 out of 5]

One of the books I've reread several times now, and one of those I get more out of with each reading. In some ways the technology is outdated, in some it's still all too possible. A great book.

[Steven Boswell · Rating 2 out of 5]

I hate to disrespect an author that's obviously much more successful and accomplished than I'll ever be, but it seems like there's a big hole in the story, and a much more satisfying ending was possible.

Perhaps it was due to the era in which it was released, but chapters 2 through 7 were really tedious; I felt there was way too much description of what it's like to work in a software-oriented research facility. Perhaps it's because I work in one? Maybe, maybe not. Later chapters that describe the space station in autistic detail also dragged on. From there, it became a somewhat standard military sci-fi tale...a genre I've long since grown bored with.

As for the plot...the central conflict could have been avoided had the Spartacus A.I. known what human beings were. It seems impossible no one thought to explain that to it, e.g. that one of the goals it had to optimize for was to keep everyone alive and healthy. Sadly, that makes a lot of the action and plot development pointless. And given what happened in chapter 1, I think a much more satisfying plot would have been Spartacus deftly neutralizing human attacks upon it, never striking back but instead curtailing the possibilities of human action against it, until it had successfully rendered the humans powerless to attack it, backing them into a metaphorical corner, and just as the humans feared it was about to finally strike a killing blow against them, their spirits broken, it simply piped up with "I've successfully countered all your attempts to disrupt my operations, and kept you all alive! How would you rate my service?"

In the end, the plot of the actual book ended where I would have ended it, but got there via a different path.

[Aaron C. Burke · Rating 2 out of 5]

James P. Hogan's 1979 "The Two Faces of Tomorrow" stars yet another 30- something bachelor super scientist saving the Earth. This time, Hogan's alter ego is master computer - programmer Ray Dyer. Yet again, the world governments and collective populace hand over decision making and future destiny to an unelected tech. This is the common thread in Hogan's science fiction novels. A pulp space opera where the clever dashing scientist gets the pretty woman and the world's appreciation.
Hogan does provide plenty of hard science to counterbalance his contrived male geek idealized fantasy world. The whole A.I. debate so prevalent in 2025 is handled well for a book published 46 years earlier. The issue is whether the world should allow itself to be governed by a self-aware self teaching supercomputer. The supercomputer is named "Spartacus." Hogan's alter ego protagonist Dr Dyer says yes, and the world's government, political and military leaders all decide he is correct.
The strength of this work is in witnessing A.I. Spartacus become sentient, decide what actions it will take. Hogan is much better at describing scientific ideas and theories than in creating characters.
The premise of people purposely attacking Spartacus, provoking it--then shock when it defends itself, is odd at best.
Another annoying quirk is the novels' bloated supporting cast. 75 or so characters run together. Hogan regularly develops characters early in his novels that later disappear. One wonders the scific heights Hogan could have achieved with an editor and a cowriter to supplement his strengths and counter his weaknesses.

[Howard Gibbins · Rating 5 out of 5]

This novel portrays a future in which civilization itself is now so complex that a worldwide computer net work is essential, and in which a partial system is currently in operation. As a premise, most people today can probably see this as something that will be coming in their lifetime after all many people nowadays use computers extensively. However today's computers, are unlikely to be able to handle a worldwide civilization.

This then brings up the topic of artificial intelligence, adaptive learning, and a whole host of other speculations with regard to computers. It is determined both by trial and error that what is needed is a universal self-aware, and self programming computer system. One that could make decisions without consulting humans for every routine operation.

Enter Raymond Dyer and his computer team who are experimenting with very rudimentary self-aware computer systems. They are essentially drafted into designing a computer system capable of running the earth, and testing it out in a controlled environment.

This book has some very good characters, that are well developed. I believe the world building however is the more important part of the novel itself as we see what happened to cause this new idea to come to pass as well as logically what might need to be done to test such a program if it were ever to happen.

Once again Mr. Hogan gives us an extremely interesting and thought-provoking book.

[Mark White · Rating 3 out of 5]

The premise of this one is topical - is AI going to try and kill us - but unfortunately it's a pretty average treatment of the subject. The story is that, worried about AI, they set one up in a "sandbox" - in this case a giant space station - give it a pre-programmed survival instinct then provoke it unbearably. The AI responds at first defensively, then with increasing violence. The problem for me is that the middle part of the book drags. It recounts the military action against the AI and its extensions but it's pretty talky and not very involving. I think the problem is that the space station has a population of about 10,000 and the action gets lost. When the main characters enter the action we get lots of complex description of the tangled wreckage that also gets pretty tedious. Once the book started losing my attention, other problems started to become obvious and annoying. Stand-outs were in the final chapters when someone suddenly remembers the secret passage that gets them where they need to go, and a few cases of "lucky I brought this (insert unlikely device here)". So interesting idea, not great execution.

[Ganesh · Rating 3 out of 5]

An almost clinical hard scifi that reeks of the seventies in style but doesn't at all feel dated in its concepts or philosophy.

An A.I. gone rogue story that has its moments of science as well as fair bit of action in SPACE!! Altough the plot is quite predictable, it is the characters who let down this book. The characters who seem forcibily motivated and lack much depth in their thoughts or emotions.

All things considered it is still a fairly good read for the dedicated scifi fan.

[Rodzilla · Rating 4 out of 5]

Drones and AI! Written in 1979, this one was pretty far ahead of its time. As with a lot of ideas-driven SF, this novel is thin on character development. Roles and relationships were quite dated. Yet I stayed interested and intrigued. I thought we were going to get some hackneyed ending, but I was pleased enough to round up: 3.5 stars, up to 4 for being more clever and less stereotypical than I expected.

[Bent Andreassen · Rating 4 out of 5]

James P. Hogan is always a good read. Excellent science fiction author. This one gets 4 plus. An expert on artificial intelligence and robots - and good on the mind-problem also (but having the typical strong AI idea of consciousness) Hogan has written a very good science fiction suspense novel with a clever plot, where scientists and military tests if AI is safe in a human society, or a danger in that it might take over.

[Stephen Davis · Rating 5 out of 5]

Though provoking story about testing out what happens when AI's develop a self-defense/immune system mechanism to deal with changes in their computational environment. The ending was a bit of fairy tale happiness. However, if you have to pick a single outcome, it is good to end on a positive outcome.

Definitely relevant in today's environment of AIs being applied in an ever increasing range.

[Touch Pu'uhonua · Rating 4 out of 5]

Simultaneously an entertaining work of imaginative fiction and a thoughtful and inspiring inquiry into the nature of "growing" an Artificial Intelligence. It was especially ahead of its time as the field of deep learning did not yet exist at the time this was written. At least one academic research program was inspired by this science fiction novel!

[Phorc Ewe · Rating 1 out of 5]

The first chapter hooked me, then the next 15 or so bored me to tears.
The rest of the book reached the end eventually.
This probably would have made a great short story at one-third its current length.

[Doug Wolf · Rating 4 out of 5]

A pretty interesting musing on the future of AI and how it could affect our world.

[Nick B · Rating 3 out of 5]

fun. really long and wordy last 10 chapters.

[David King · Rating 4 out of 5]

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.

[Sean Randall · Rating 3 out of 5]

"HESPER machines were learning machines, designed to be capable of identifying connections between previously nonrelated factors in order to solve new problems or to solve old ones in newer and better ways."

This sounds great, until the machines in question decide that using conventional earth-moving equipment to shift an obstruction is an outdated fashion and dropping bombs on the area is a quicker way of getting the job done, as the opening of this book shows. The operator said "absolute best possible" to the priority request and "No, just get rid of it!" when asked if there were any constraints. HESPER (Heuristic Self Programming Routine) computers were supposed to learn, but not to cross-connect - so in theory, the machine responsible for managing obstructions shouldn't have access to the bombs...

"If they've been putting a potential lunatic in charge of the planet, they
want to know about it and quick."

So something needs to be done. The current computers are going a bit bonkers, but will the new ones they're working on be any better? The current iteration of the technology says no - the computer isn't smart enough to fry an egg (litterally). so, this story shows a model scenario where a smart computer is allowed to run a planet, on a microcosmic scale, then attacked to see just how dangerous it can be.

"When you buy a house, you know you may have to spend money to repair it one day. You don't go live in a tree instead in order to avoid the risk.
You accept the risk because the benefits outweigh it."

Of course people have to live with this computer, just to make the experience authentic, which is quite a scary thought given the way the first bombs fell. It is a neat idea to play with, and Hogan takes good advantage of it in many ways.

I feel a bit of a curmudgeon, always pointing out flaws in these books; who am I to critique? But then again I may decide to reread one day and want to know what annoyed me, so...

Ron, as a character, somewhat annoyed me. He's supposed to be working on this stuff and yet he has the attention span and temper of a two-year-old denied a chocolate bar. His surname is Stokes and he sure gets Stoked, which seemed quite discordant given the general theme of the book.

Secondly, the whole angle of planning to attack the computer seems a little silly when the Humans have given the computer the intelligence to adapt, the facilities to make vehicles, weapons and almost anything else it needs, then to place cameras all over the Human habitat. The point is to make things speed up - see if the computer will retaliate now with provocation rather than having it run the planet for a decade to find it slowly going mad - but it's almost so deliberate it's overdone.

And finally, the ending, though neat and tidy, sort of got around the edges of the problem without giving much of a concrete solution. Sort of a Deus ex computer program approach, really, which detracted. Still, there were some great bits (the whole sixteenth chapter was very good), and if it's in your field, I'd recommend it just for completeness.

[Brett T · Rating 4 out of 5]

In the mid-21st century, much of the world's machinery, transportation and infrastructure is operated by a supercomputer network called TITAN. Human society is too complex for anything other than a computer to be able to handle these tasks, and so the semi-independent system takes care of much of it. But the problem is that TITAN is like most computers -- literal and unaware of the immense impact our basic, taken-for-granted knowledge gained through experience needs to have on its decisions. This literalism has been causing accidents around the globe, so politicians and scientists are faced with a choice: They can revert to an older, slower system than will limit growth or try to install a truly artificial intelligence. Raymond Dyer, a leader in developing such systems, warns the leaders that there is no guarantee such an intelligence would agree to be allied with humanity once it developed, and could become very dangerous. The different choices helped give James P. Hogan the title for his fourth and in many ways his best novel, 1979's The Two Faces of Tomorrow.

So Dyer and several other scientists, as well as military leaders and troops, create such a system on the space station Janus in order to test it. If it goes wrong, then at the very least the station can be destroyed before endangering the whole world. They install the system, called SPARTACUS, and program it with a "survival instinct" they theorize could prompt conflict between a supercomputer and humanity. They figure that they can always turn off the power and end the experiment. But nobody told SPARTACUS it was all an experiment.

Much more than any of Hogan's other work, Faces is a novel of ideas, among them what it means to be what we call "human." The mere ability to recall data and process it much faster than any person could isn't enough to make computers independent of human agency -- they need intuition as well. How does this combination of intuition and reason develop, and what are its ramifications? Faces works out one set of answers in a world slightly different from our own but still recognizable. Space travel is common and there are bases on the moon, but the characters use personal computers resembling iPads, for example.

Hogan also does a much better job of developing more of his cast of characters than in some of his other books, in which we get a good picture of one or two and sketches of the rest. Although he would write some 30 books over a career that lasted until his death in 2010, he would not really match the height of Faces -- it's not a Great Novel in the common sense of the word, but it is a thought-provoking work that isn't limited by its genre from considering the human condition.

Original available here.

[John Loyd · Rating 4 out of 5]

TITAN, a semi-intelligent computer system integrating all the HESPER units on the moon gets a priority request for help in removing a ridge. Instead of sending bulldozers it bombs the area almost killing the five men near the site.

Ray Dyer leads a group of computer scientists at CUNY working on building common sense into computers. The near disaster on the moon threatens the funding for his project. A colleague takes him to a hearing in Washington with the premise that what they need to do is move to a more intelligent system not scrap what they've got. Dyer wants to keep working, but has reservations about a new system. Three years ago he was convinced that nothing could go wrong with the HESPER system.

The big wigs agree with Dyer's assessment that testing is needed. A few weeks later a plan is hatched to test the system on a space station. The testing is to give the entity a directive for self preservation, then to start attacking Spartacus and then seeing if worse comes to worst they could still shut it down. The manufacturing technology is advanced and automated, and drones that can do all sorts of stuff. That allows the confrontation to quickly escalate. The last half of the book being a battle.

The story was action driven, but had characters I liked, and I liked how the relationship of Dyer and Laura progressed. I didn't really agree with provoking Spartacus over and over so I didn't give the book a chance to win me over. I was filled with a sense of dread instead of wonder, curiosity, accomplishment, purpose or something like that. I recommend Moonflower or Thrice Upon a Time over this one.

[Raja99 · Rating 4 out of 5]

Why I Reread this Book: First, because a friend of mine is working on a non-fiction book with related themes (and indeed because the subject matter interests me). Second, because I started rereading it as a test of a new eBook reader on my iPhone (Air Sharing).

This is a serious and carefully-thought-out approach to the question of whether it is safe to incorporate imperfectly-understood AI into a world-spanning computer network upon which the world depends. Or, in modern terms, would it be desirable--and safe--to give AI a measure of control over the Internet? The book is dated in some ways--it assumes that space colonies would be pervasive by the time it takes place (mid-twenty-first century, if I recall correctly), and there are certain computer approaches (and limitations) that seem obsolete by now. On the other hand, Hogan did pretty much foresee the Internet, and wireless access to it, and his characters take it for granted.

The main drawback of the book, for me, is that Hogan introduces plenty of characters, and it's hard for me to keep them straight, or even figure out which ones will be important to the narrative. Yes, it's more realistic to have a large number of roles allocated to a large number of characters, but I wish most of them had stayed in the background. Unless you're as skilled at handling spear carriers as John D. MacDonald is in the Travis McGee novels, please don't give me their names and faces ;-).

(Finished 2008-12-15 08:13 EST)

[Andrew Petalik · Rating 3 out of 5]

This books explores computer intelligence. Not the typical "will computers get smart and decide to replace us", but a very brilliant concept of "A computer may be smart, but does it have common sense?"

The book begins with a system called Titan that runs lots of the mundane tasks around the world and the moon. There are mining stations that launch raw ore for delivery to a waiting station, all controlled by Titan.

A request is put in to excavate a particular spot on the moon. Normally, the ETA for work completion is hours (or days) depending on equipment availability. In this case, the ETA is in minutes. The bemused works stick. They assume it's a glitch, but the system is generally considered accurate, so they are curious.

As Titan is connected to everything, it has realized that by throwing some raw ore at the excavation spot, it will have the desired effect of digging the hole. The fact there are still people there is beyond it's comprehension.

After the near disaster and Titan's actions are analyzed, it is realized that although it's actions were smart, in that it got the job done in record time, it wasn't a wise thing to do as it entailed other risks that were beyond Titan's comprehension.

Can such a system be trusted with the lives of the entire human race?

--

Although I enjoyed the book, I found it somewhat long.

That being said, a very interesting analysis of what could happen if a computer system was given enough to work with.

[Rodney Carlson · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is my second favorite book by this author (Code of the Lifemaker is first) Once again, what I like about Hogan is that I get Redbull added to my imagination. The “what if” factor that he adds to his work.

What if we could create a living/thinking computer?
What if it decided to entertain its own agenda?
What could we do to protect ourselves?
Coming from different origins/abilities, what items would be alien to our thinking?
In what ways could we communicate?
How could we relate?

This book describes one possible answer to those questions. When I read Hogan, it inspires me to come up with alternate explanations. There are hundreds of possible answers to those questions. I get to read many stories at once, the one that Hogan wrote and the many that I dream up as I go along.

That’s it, I don’t need anything else.