Dan Brown (DB).
Other than Digital Fortress and Deception Point, when you plunge into most of his other works, there is a clear set pattern and theme in his writings.
A high-profile person is dead. Someone calls up Robert Langdon (RL). He is taken through the serpentine and numerous streets, roads, districts, and countries along with a blonde or no blonde girl decoding one clue and puzzle after another until RL comes inches close to death but doesn't die. Distraction is thrown on some other person with clever writing. In the end, the antagonist is either apprehended or dead and RL saves the day.
Origin is no different.
It follows the same fate as its predecessors. But, what makes it a compelling read is that not only due to the sheer fusillade of information but also how AI can be notoriously and nefariously used when left unchecked.
I'm not going to deep dive into the story. It's left to your interest.
Here, you will see what's hot and what's rot in his new outing.
DB has brilliantly explored the ethical issues of AI taking full charge of the situation. When RL learns the truth in the fading pages of the novel, he is shell-shocked and stops in his tracks bewildered to completely understand the truth in its entirety.
In this case, Edmond's brainchild thoroughly understands his master's wishes and comes up with an ingenious plan to ensure that his creator gets what he wanted. In the real world, the elephantine problem arises if the AI overrides their inventor's commands and performs things on its own with their superior abilities and skills.
Even imagining it is a catastrophic scenario when the AIs become sentient beings or those machines which go outside the purview of human interference.
To put things into perspective, Westworld Season 1 Episode 10. If you haven't watched this episode, then you will have no idea as to what I'm talking here.
But, for those who have witnessed the carnage that the robots had unleashed on humankind in the season finale, this is where eminent personalities like Elon Musk is at the forefront and vociferously banging their fists on their table to regulate the rules so that such future situations doesn't spiral out of control and the fire is within our firm grip.
IMHO, I am also with Elon Musk on this one as blind optimism towards unknown futuristic technologies could make us literally blind one day due to the advanced and sophisticated thinking capabilities endowed within their systems. By saying this, I'm not a Luddite. All I'm advocating is that prevention is better than cure. Then, there is no use in crying once the milk is spilled.
This wafer-thin line between ethicality and unethicality is superbly captured and beautifully written by DB in Origin. In fact, he also gives a free advertisement and indirectly gives a wonderful product recommendation to Tesla!
The inherent issues arise within the framework of the story. Before the cat was out of the bag, there were 2 instances where Edmond hermetically secures himself from any data leak and his AI uses another voice to divert the troops from the building. When you put two and two together, it doesn't take an Einstein or Newton to figure out who is the real bad guy in the narration.
Also, DB explicitly cites that physics is responsible for the creation of our life on Earth. But, when you look at it from all angles, the process is not only restricted to physics alone but also the right chemistry, biology, and geography that are essentially needed for any life to sustain on any Planet.
In all, Origin is a completely satisfying read especially when you visualize Christian Bale donning the role of the pioneer Edmond Kirsch if at all the book is made into a movie. Considering the mind-blowing transformation that he has achieved for his upcoming film, it will be highly unlikely that he would get signed into the Origin movie supposing the producers decide to hit the floors in this year.
PS :
Just like how Sir Arthur Conan Doyle bumped off Sherlock and revived him back, it would be good for DB as well to either give RL a fitting farewell or a shocking cliffhanger in his next book as DB has become extremely predictable, repetitive and monotonous in his way of piecing out the breadcrumbs to his readers. Maybe like Robin in Batman or Watson to Sherlock Holmes, RL could also have an assistant or intern to unravel the mystery of history side-by-side!
Tying up this entire blog with one of my favorite hard-hitting messages in the book,
“Which would you choose? A world without religion? Or a world without science?”
My take is that science and religion can be good friends and help out each other.
The rationale behind it is actually pretty simple as - be it science, religion, birds, animals or even us: human beings - we are all products and by-products of thousands of billions of years of evolution in nature by slowly and steadily coming up with solutions to problems to survive, extend our lives and our descendants. So, instead of seeing a strict and severe demarcation between science and religion, it's better that both the streams put one hand over the other and go for a long walk together for humanity's welfare.
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