Ray Nayler
MCD (Farrar,
Strauss, and Giroux), 2022. 452pp.
Nayler, an
author of acclaimed short fiction, delivers a first novel that’s original,
superbly written, and profound, showing extensive research and a fearless
approach to the largest of themes – consciousness, sentience, and life.
We’re in a world
set just far enough in the future for the creation of Evrim, the world’s first and
only sentient android (such creations were immediately outlawed). The world has
been reshaped by wars but remains functional, with greater roles for
international authorities (governmental and corporate) plus a powerful cyber
empire based in Tibet. Transport is largely AI-driven, and advanced drones and
other gadgets are ubiquitous. Nayler chillingly depicts life on an AI-driven fishing
vessel where the crew are slaves, never setting foot ashore and unable to
communicate. On one such ship, fisherman Eiko learns from his Vietnamese friend
Son the legend of a shapeshifting sea monster at the Con Dao Archipelago. This
is where Dr. Ha Nyguen has just been hired to investigate what may be a
sentient octopus species. Nayler's characters talk through the factors that have kept octopi
from having a civilization: short lives, no parent-child bond, and lack of
symbolic communication. The author repeatedly and effectively shows how hard it
may be for humans to understand the thinking of any alien species, as theory
after theory goes bust.
With Ha on
the remote atoll are only Evrim and Altantseteg, the enigmatic guard who
commands an array of automated defenses. Also in the cast are Ha’s long
distance friend Kamran, the cybergenius Rustem, the DIANIMA corporation’s
scientist Arnkatia Minervudotter-Chan, and a mysterious woman hidden by an AI facemask
who ruthlessly manipulates people for DIANIMA’s benefit. Nayler introduces the “point
five,” an AI companion (it and a human together make one point five) sophisticated enough to have discussions and arguments, and
pass almost any Turing test, and we’re not always sure who is actually human. One of Nayler’s fascinating explorations concerns
what tips the scale to sentience: why Evrim is an autonomous intelligent being
and other constructs, cyber or physical, are not. What, he asks, is the ultimate Turing test?
The octopuses
are not what you’d expect. They are trying to understand us, as Ha and Evrim
try to understand them. There are echoes here of other interesting works: Star
Trek TNG (although the gap between android and human is greater than Data showed
us), Alien, and the film A Cold Night’s Death are a few. The various
stories collide, literally, at a point where we find out what’s really happening
on the island, who’s in charge, and key characters’ real motivations, all of
which come as revelations.
This isn’t a
novel you can read casually. Nayler’s prose is inventive and highly effective without
ever becoming flowery. Every paragraph is there for a reason, and the reader
needs to pay attention. The technical and philosophical details are well thought
out and often provocative. Excerpts from the books of Drs. Nyguen and Minervudotter-Chan
give essential insights into the characters’ thinking as well as their world. The
result is a masterpiece of suspenseful and thoughtful storytelling.
My last thought
is that Nayler needs to keep tight control when this book is optioned for a film.
A studio’s first instinct will be to make it a monster movie, which is like
making Moby Dick an Ahab-vs-whale contest while ignoring the many layers
that make the tale profound and unique. I wish him luck.
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