It’s interesting reading a classic science fiction story like this one, because it is a look into the time and how technology was viewed when it was published. It stuck out the absolute lack of capitalism until the introduction of the society that builds planets for the ultra-wealthy – I was actually kind of astounded. A lot of modern science fiction revolves around monopolistic industry in space, and the ways in which technology is newly exploited in under policed areas of the universe (thinking of the Illuminae Files, which features another mentally unstable and unreliable AI as well, and that I highly recommend listening to the full-cast audiobook).
I wonder if the recovering economy in Europe, and the growth of technology meant that depictions of the antagonists were different than I am used to reading modern sci-fi. Though there are themes of apathy throughout the novel, in deference to entire planets being wiped out and people dying and the galactic government all being puppets, there was very little in the way of a traditional sci-fi with how the individuals all responded to the technology that was being presented.
“The president in particular is very much a figurehead – he weilds no real power whatsoever. He is apprently chosen by the government, but the qualities he is required to display are not those of leadership but those of finely judged outrage.” The Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy, page 57
I think the most jarring aspect of the AI presented in the book would be Marvin, the depressed, paranoid and suicidal robot that assists the characters – albeit reluctantly – on the ship of improbability, the Heart of Gold. The robot is melancholic, hates everything, and causes a ship to commit suicide simply by talking to it. It’s an interesting depiction because the robot was specifically built with the intent of having this personality trait, and that there were many types of personalities that robots could be given. Though the book doesn’t talk about it, it does make me think about the ethics of giving something artificial a predetermined personality, especially one so negative (though doing the opposite would bring up concerns as well).
The Heart of Gold’s computer also has a personality, though it more lines up with what we might encounter today – a computer that is incredibly eager to please, to the point of annoyance of one of the characters, much as most AI we see today is programmed to help, even if we haven’t opted in to the process.
“’Hi there!’ [the ship’s computer] said brightly… ‘Oh God,’ said Zaphod. He hadn’t worked with this computer for long but had already learned to loathe it.” The Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy, page 131.
The, in my opinion, more important AI that is explored in the book is the computer Deep Thought, which is tasked with mice (an alien species) to answer the big questions of the universe that almost all alien life forms ask: “the Answer… [to] Life… The Universe… Everything!” (Adams 25). The computer acknowledges that it is tricky, and that it will take 7.5 million years to accomplish the equation. Once the answer is given, Deep Thought then goes on to explain that the only one who can actually answer the question is the next greatest supercomputer that will be built at his instruction. The importance of Deep Thought’s answer to the question of the universe couldn’t be overstated – the mice waited millions of years to get a pretty unsatisfactory answer, then built the Earth as a further experiment for determining what the purpose of the universe was – meaning that the final form of AI, according to Deep Thought, was actually the planet Earth. It was an interesting take on what an AI is, and if all AI is can be whittled down to an input-output machine, that has multiple processes done at once and can answer complex problems, then why isn’t the Earth a simulated computer problem? It was an interesting concept, at the very least, and I greatly enjoyed rereading this book.
Works Cited
- Adams, Douglas. The Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy: The Illustrated Edition. E-book ed., Random House, 2021.
