The Two Faces of Tomorrow [Paperback]

James P. Hogan (Author)

Product Details

• Paperback
• Publisher: New York: Ballantine Books, 1984 (1984)
• ASIN: B000LVN91A
• Average Customer Review: 3.9 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (14 customer reviews)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

12 of 14 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Most influential AI SF, January 9, 2000

By 

Chris McKinstry (South America) - See all my reviews

This review is from: The Two Faces of Tomorrow (Mass Market Paperback)

This is book ignited my interest in AI. I recently bought a used copy, signed by Hogan. Looking at it again, Hogan is a much weaker writer than I had remembered, but his vision was dead on. Clarke's HAL is completely unrealistic in comparision to Hogan's Hector and Sparticus.

5 of 5 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Superb ideas, but comes alive only in action sequences, February 17, 2007

By 

T. D. Welsh (Basingstoke, Hampshire UK) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: The Two Faces Of Tomorrow (Paperback)

Jim Hogan is one of the most underrated SF writers that I know of, although I suspect that many people have read and enjoyed his books. His vision of tomorrow's technology and where it might take us is second to none, making some famous authors like Arthur Clarke and Isaac Asimov seem foolishly optimistic in some of their predictions. One reason for this is that Hogan is a qualified engineer with very wide knowledge of the computer industry, which he extrapolates very convincingly. (I think more SF writers fail in their expectations of future computing than in almost any other department - Heinlein, for instance, has recognizably 1950-1970 computers in many of his stories set centuries in the future). Some of Hogan's other books contain similar ideas - notably "Code of the Lifemaker" - and several of his later novels deal with virtual reality.

The core idea of "Two Faces of Tomorrow" is one of the fundamental dilemmas facing humanity today and in the coming years. Namely, if a computer system is not more intelligent than we are, it cannot (in principle) achieve anything we can't. But, if it is more intelligent than we are, how can we trust its recommendations? Let alone its actions if we equip it to control machinery directly? In this book, a team of scientists, with military backup, are charged with running a full-scale experiment to find out whether an executive AI could resist all efforts to shut it down, and if so how. The outcome is very surprising, in both positive and negative ways.

As other reviewers have noted, Hogan does not put much effort into characterization, preferring to linger over engineering details. That's a stylistic choice, however, and a writer cannot do everything in the scope of a normal-length novel. This book should definitely be on your reading list if you're an SF devotee, and I think that all politicians and decision-makers should be aware of its core ideas. One day we are going to have to do something similar, although it may not be quite as dramatic as Hogan's story.

6 of 8 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Fascinating! I loved it., October 20, 1999

By 

"webgeekinc" - See all my reviews

This review is from: The Two Faces of Tomorrow (Mass Market Paperback)

As a computer programmer, I found the premise and the theory fascinating. Once again, another Hogan book that I couldn't put down until I was finished.