Thursday, May 20, 1999
Title: Hard Questions
Author: Ian Watson
Publisher: Gollancz
Following on from reading a couple of short stories by Ian Watson that were decent, I finally got round to picking up one of his novels. Whether Hard Questions is representative of his books I do not know - but I am rather disappointed to find that it does not live up to the quality or originality of his short work.
Hard Questions features two British professors in America for the Hard Questions Conference - covering intelligence, thought, machine intelligence, and reality - with the idea that a machine might become self aware. Just such a machine is being built, with Claire planning to visit the factory to see it for herself. But thanks to some unfortunate publicity she becomes the target of Russian spies intent on industrial espionage, and a psychotic cult leader determined to share his vision. With a super computer that will be able to discern all the possibilities, the requisite parts of a great story are in place.
Unfortunately the professors, Claire and Jack do not make for a compelling pair of heroes - though they are human enough. Instead of high tech and espionage being central, too much time is spent on the cult leader - a character and scenario which works as background detail but is tedious as the foreground.
Through kidnappings, blackmailing and hostage situations we finally achieve a super computer which can effect reality. Which is some of my favourite territory - probabilities, possibilities and permutations. Unfortunately for Watson, I have read it all before - harder and more convincing, full of striking convolutions. This reduces Hard Questions to a painfully slow read - the rare example of a book that I nearly did not finish.
RVWR: PTR
May 1999
