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Affable Reviews
May. 3rd, 2015 10:34 amHey,
So a classic definition of science fiction is to imagine or extrapolate some technology and then write stories around what happens when people/society mess with it. In that vein The Affinities by Robert Charles Wilson really fits the bill.
Every day we see increasing use of algorithms to help define and categorize people. Demographics has been around for years but now it's harnessed to big data to help make better predictions about people's personalities and behavior. We're also using it to help find people we get along with. I'm primarily thinking about OKCupid here. It's a bit pop-quizzy but a lot of people find their matching algorithms helpful if not perfect.
The Affinities turns this up to 11. In the near future, a company called InterAlia develops a battery of tests that gauge your personality. If the test finds conclusive results, it places you in one of 22 Affinities. The people you meet in your Affinity aren't just like you but they are people who you are much more likely to click with.
Adam Fisk is studying to be a graphic designer. Following his artistic muse he fled his fairly strict family in upstate New York, but he hasn't been able to land a job and the funding for his schooling has dried up. On a whim, he takes the Affinity test and gets placed in the Tau group -- one of the largest of the Affinity groups. He goes to the local Tau chapter and finds an intentional family that provides the support and resources to get back on track.
Adam winds up working with Damain, a sort of unofficial Tau leader who is advocating for greater autonomy for the Affinities and more access to InterAlia's proprietary algorithms. But as they get closer, they brush up against other Affinities and the scientist who developed the algorithms winds up dead.
The blurb there may make it sound more action-adventure/thriller than it really is. The book is fairly understated and it builds up a series of small scenes that happen over several years worth of time. It's a much more character focused kind of deal.
So on the one hand, it doesn't take a rocket scientist to realize that like-minded people would band together and become hostile towards other bands of like-minded people. On the other hand, the idea that there is a magical way to find other people who share your outlook and who can work together to effectively improve everyone's situation is an incredibly attractive prospect (see Big Data and OKC above). I don't think the book bothers too much about finding solutions to the first statement but it is an interesting read on the second.
later
Tom
So a classic definition of science fiction is to imagine or extrapolate some technology and then write stories around what happens when people/society mess with it. In that vein The Affinities by Robert Charles Wilson really fits the bill.
Every day we see increasing use of algorithms to help define and categorize people. Demographics has been around for years but now it's harnessed to big data to help make better predictions about people's personalities and behavior. We're also using it to help find people we get along with. I'm primarily thinking about OKCupid here. It's a bit pop-quizzy but a lot of people find their matching algorithms helpful if not perfect.
The Affinities turns this up to 11. In the near future, a company called InterAlia develops a battery of tests that gauge your personality. If the test finds conclusive results, it places you in one of 22 Affinities. The people you meet in your Affinity aren't just like you but they are people who you are much more likely to click with.
Adam Fisk is studying to be a graphic designer. Following his artistic muse he fled his fairly strict family in upstate New York, but he hasn't been able to land a job and the funding for his schooling has dried up. On a whim, he takes the Affinity test and gets placed in the Tau group -- one of the largest of the Affinity groups. He goes to the local Tau chapter and finds an intentional family that provides the support and resources to get back on track.
Adam winds up working with Damain, a sort of unofficial Tau leader who is advocating for greater autonomy for the Affinities and more access to InterAlia's proprietary algorithms. But as they get closer, they brush up against other Affinities and the scientist who developed the algorithms winds up dead.
The blurb there may make it sound more action-adventure/thriller than it really is. The book is fairly understated and it builds up a series of small scenes that happen over several years worth of time. It's a much more character focused kind of deal.
So on the one hand, it doesn't take a rocket scientist to realize that like-minded people would band together and become hostile towards other bands of like-minded people. On the other hand, the idea that there is a magical way to find other people who share your outlook and who can work together to effectively improve everyone's situation is an incredibly attractive prospect (see Big Data and OKC above). I don't think the book bothers too much about finding solutions to the first statement but it is an interesting read on the second.
later
Tom
