I first read The Hitchhiker's Guide To the Galaxy, by Douglas Adams, when I was in my early teens. I can't tell you how many times I've read or listened to it since, but I know that it has to be far and away the book I've read the most. A short passage hit my brain so hard that I read it aloud amongst family and friends at an event my mom called "Sacred Circle," in which everyone shared something important or meaningful to them. Later, the same passage inspired my first tattoo. This oh so meaningful passage? The creation and death of a sperm whale, with a moment-to-moment cataloguing of all its thoughts. Sounds profound, right?
It occurred to me recently that, though I've shared my love of this book in many audiences and many formats over the years, I've never really gone in depth as to why. So, for this month's installment of "good things I think you should know about," I'm writing a book report that I hope would be good enough to pass my 8th grade Language Arts class. Here goes.
On its face, The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy is about a guy who almost simultaneously has to come to grips with humanity not being alone in the universe and then come to grips with being the only human left in the universe. Things that, were any of us really faced with them, we likely could not comprehend the cognitive, emotional, and physical ramifications. So Adams largely skips over this and gets on with the story.
What follows instead are themes that I'm pleased to report still resonate today. This most prominently includes how power is amassed, deployed, and distracted from, and how people can and should and do behave when they are outsmarted by technology. In fact, the things I appreciated the most in my recent re-read of this book were not the fanciful things Adams invented, but the fact that he could imagine and deploy things like e-books and AI powered robots and shipboard computers that could respond in real time. All that, and he managed to capture some of the conflict that comes when sentient beings interact with these super smart, non-organic sources of information and knowledge. The fact that I'm reading a science fiction comedy book first published in 1979 and applying "lessons" to my frustration with AI in real time is a testament to Adams's creativity. Or maybe to the power of very heavy drinking. Either way.
A central (a term I must use loosely) theme of this book is the quest for the answer to the ultimate question of life, the universe, and everything. Right now, you either know the book and know the answer, or you don't know the book and you are deeply curious. So I'm not going to tell you. But the conflict set up here is essentially between organic life forms and computers. Computers are deployed to give a definitive answer, while philosophers and free thinkers come in to protest that if the answer is known, they'll have nothing to do. They demand "rigidly defined areas of doubt and uncertainty!" To me, this maps on to a lot of the fears that many people (myself included) currently feel about AI and how it is not only being used, but is being thrust on us at every turn. In particular, the notion that AI is replacing human thought begins to bring into question what we're actually for. If a computer can do it better, faster, and cheaper, what's to be left for us? The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy answers that question quite ably, with the Earth being destroyed entirely within the first 30 pages or so. I'm afraid we're going to be left to our own devices on this one.
A brief aside on this sperm whale mini-story. The first time I read these few paragraphs, I remember laughing out loud in my room. It was absurd, creative, and above all else, hilarious. It was one of the first times, if not the very first, that the written word had brought out such a strong feeling. Over years of reading and re-reading, I found the passage to be deeper and more impactful than I first realized. In a few short paragraphs, Adams managed to convey a philosophy of life that I find extremely helpful. Be curious. Ask probing questions. Be optimistic and hopeful. Thrash your tail around and have a good time. Life ends when it ends, and you may not get a warning. Make the best of it.
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