I previously read Owen Stanley\u2019s novel \u201cThe Missionaries.\u201d\u00a0 That was a satire about primitive people running up against the insanity of United Nations social engineering.\u00a0 Because I enjoyed his writing I figured I\u2019d give \u201cThe Promethean\u201d a whirl.\u00a0 This book takes place in the same world as \u201cThe Missionaries\u201d but since the subject involves humanoid robots and human-level artificial intelligence I\u2019ve slightly stretched the definition by including it in science fiction.\u00a0 But it also could be called a social satire or a social comedy.<\/p>\n
The title is an echo of the full title of Mary Shelley’s novel \u201cFrankenstein; or the Modern Prometheus.\u201d\u00a0 In our case Dr. Frankenstein is represented by Harry Hockenheimer, a depressed American billionaire approaching forty and feeling like a failure.\u00a0 The mundane source of his vast wealth left him scientifically unfulfilled.\u00a0 He desired to create a scientific marvel and what he decides on is a robot so advanced in mind and body that it can fool all even the most intelligent audience.<\/p>\n
The story proceeds from his plan to secretly build his man in England to the adventures of his creation, Frank Meadows interacting with modern British society in its various facets, from a small town pub, to appearing on a day time reality television show, to a University faculty dinner, and finally to an invitation at 10 Downing Street.<\/p>\n
Along the way we meet several interesting characters who represent various facets of society and various philosophical bents including the scourge of our age, the Social Justice Warriors.\u00a0 But from my point of view, the most interesting character is a Scotsman academic, Dr. Habakkuk McWrath, Reader in Extreme Celtic Studies.\u00a0 His pugnacious and colorful speech inspires Frank to assert his humanity even in the face of the Three Laws of Robotics.<\/p>\n
And the book concludes at its absurd climax.\u00a0 And what is the lesson of this social satire?\u00a0 I really don\u2019t know.\u00a0 Perhaps it is just that humanity has reached a point where a rational appraisal of modern life can no longer find a reason to continue.\u00a0 The absurdity of what we do and why we do it has finally reached a point where scrapping the whole enterprise and starting over is the best way forward.\u00a0 But that is just my guess.\u00a0 Let\u2019s just say it is a tale questioning the definition of intelligent life.\u00a0 It\u2019s a moderate length story, about 170 pages and moves right along.\u00a0 I liked it but I will caution that it is a mild tale and cannot be mistaken for an adventure story.\u00a0 More of a droll cautionary tale of the world we now inhabit.<\/p>\n
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I previously read Owen Stanley\u2019s novel \u201cThe Missionaries.\u201d\u00a0 That was a satire about primitive people running up against the insanity of United Nations social engineering.\u00a0<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_mi_skip_tracking":false,"_exactmetrics_sitenote_active":false,"_exactmetrics_sitenote_note":"","_exactmetrics_sitenote_category":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[241,237,4,242],"tags":[68,98,168,781,44,265],"class_list":["post-2276","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-book-reviews","category-reviews","category-sff","category-sff-book-reviews","tag-book-review","tag-castalia-house","tag-humor","tag-owen-stanley","tag-sci-fi","tag-science-fiction"],"yoast_head":"\n