Thanks for an insightful review and a hearty dose of honest self-examination. The latter made me think about how I’ve become more critical of others as I’ve aged and less patient. I recall one piece of advice an older friend gave me years ago: wear life like a loose shirt. That doesn’t make sense to some people, but it always has to me.
YES! Sin, like yeast, spreads through the entire loaf. While I have yet to find any 'intelligence' in artificial intelligence (there's only programming) I suspect that even our programming will not be able to be separated from our human nature.
I read The Invisible Man too many years ago to recall details, but the message I grasped, one reinforced by a single viewing of the 1933 film, was: any great technological or scientific development that appears to be an advance also leads to unseen evils. This essay broadened my perspective that perhaps the story's message is, more accurately: those unseen evils are more likely incurred by those who forget the value of humanity in the pursuit of the development.
Eloquently put, Holly. Your point about the evils being unseen is apt: we think we can protect ourselves by trying to see things coming ("if only we took a minute to THINK about the negative possibilities of AI!"), but some outcomes may be impossible to predict. Instead, perhaps the way of wisdom is to keep humanity's value in the center of our thinking. A compass, not a map, as they say.
What about extending this to keeping nature's value at the centre of our thinking, rather than humanities value, given that we are part of nature, not separate from it?
As Christopher Hitchens says in Letters to a Young Contrarian, “No one can be entirely sure that any solution he proposes will not contain its own woes and pains....”
I recently read John Wyndham's The Day of the Triffids, which has much the same message of unintended consequences as The Invisible Man, but also hints that it was the blind acceptance of the good without bothering to look for the evils that led to the apocalyptic scenario. Those two books would make an interesting double read.
The law of unintended consequences was and is a mainstay of most of the gaming I have worked on, inspired by stories like that of how the internal combustion engine was seen by some as a godsend for cities choked with animal waste from the many horses they relied upon for transportation,
Such a good book. Much more captivating than the latest adaptation on to the silver screen that I got about halfway through and lost the desire to finish.
This was a wonderful review, thank you. It's a great reminder that we cannot hand off responsibility (or blame) for what happens with scientific and technological developments, as if they simply had a life of their own. It all comes back to us: our character, our values, our decisions. And I confess that I also saw myself in some of what you were channeling from the book.
When I was young, I read a bunch of Wells--maybe I should revisit The Invisible Man!
Wells knew there was an active audience for speculative fiction, and his late 19th and early 20th century books gave future authors in the genre one of their most potent road maps.
I went through a few of Wells's science fiction books not long back and found The Invisible Man the hardest to get on with. Partly because the main character is so unsympathetic, but also because I just found suspension of disbelief much harder than with The War of The Worlds or The Time Machine.
Thanks for an insightful review and a hearty dose of honest self-examination. The latter made me think about how I’ve become more critical of others as I’ve aged and less patient. I recall one piece of advice an older friend gave me years ago: wear life like a loose shirt. That doesn’t make sense to some people, but it always has to me.
That's a good image - gives yourself and others room to move around.
The invisible man reflects the fallen nature of mankind, which is one reason that we might not want AI to replicate humans TOO closely…
YES! Sin, like yeast, spreads through the entire loaf. While I have yet to find any 'intelligence' in artificial intelligence (there's only programming) I suspect that even our programming will not be able to be separated from our human nature.
I read The Invisible Man too many years ago to recall details, but the message I grasped, one reinforced by a single viewing of the 1933 film, was: any great technological or scientific development that appears to be an advance also leads to unseen evils. This essay broadened my perspective that perhaps the story's message is, more accurately: those unseen evils are more likely incurred by those who forget the value of humanity in the pursuit of the development.
Eloquently put, Holly. Your point about the evils being unseen is apt: we think we can protect ourselves by trying to see things coming ("if only we took a minute to THINK about the negative possibilities of AI!"), but some outcomes may be impossible to predict. Instead, perhaps the way of wisdom is to keep humanity's value in the center of our thinking. A compass, not a map, as they say.
What about extending this to keeping nature's value at the centre of our thinking, rather than humanities value, given that we are part of nature, not separate from it?
As Christopher Hitchens says in Letters to a Young Contrarian, “No one can be entirely sure that any solution he proposes will not contain its own woes and pains....”
I recently read John Wyndham's The Day of the Triffids, which has much the same message of unintended consequences as The Invisible Man, but also hints that it was the blind acceptance of the good without bothering to look for the evils that led to the apocalyptic scenario. Those two books would make an interesting double read.
Yes, they would! Wyndham is a lot of fun to read.
The law of unintended consequences was and is a mainstay of most of the gaming I have worked on, inspired by stories like that of how the internal combustion engine was seen by some as a godsend for cities choked with animal waste from the many horses they relied upon for transportation,
Such a good book. Much more captivating than the latest adaptation on to the silver screen that I got about halfway through and lost the desire to finish.
This was a wonderful review, thank you. It's a great reminder that we cannot hand off responsibility (or blame) for what happens with scientific and technological developments, as if they simply had a life of their own. It all comes back to us: our character, our values, our decisions. And I confess that I also saw myself in some of what you were channeling from the book.
When I was young, I read a bunch of Wells--maybe I should revisit The Invisible Man!
I'm reminded of the old Peanuts cartoon where one of the characters (Lucy, perhaps?) says, "I love humanity! It's people I can't stand!"
Exactly! Great memory - hats off to Schulz for packing the entire idea into only eight words.
LOL, yes.
If Wells could see AI now....
Yes, that would be fun to see what he would do with that.
I just got Invisible Man from my library. Also watched an episode of Black Mirror, LOVED it. Will try The Boys too.
Wells knew there was an active audience for speculative fiction, and his late 19th and early 20th century books gave future authors in the genre one of their most potent road maps.
Interesting stuff.
I went through a few of Wells's science fiction books not long back and found The Invisible Man the hardest to get on with. Partly because the main character is so unsympathetic, but also because I just found suspension of disbelief much harder than with The War of The Worlds or The Time Machine.