Machines Like Me by Ian McEwan
Published by Nan A. Talese
Publication date: April 23, 2019
Genres: Book Clubs, Fiction, Literary, Science Fiction
Bookshop, Amazon
It’s 1986 and the first artificial intelligence humans are for sale in London. Only 25 have been made and Charlie Friend decides he has to have one. Why is not quite clear except that he wrote a book about AI and has always been fascinated by Alan Turing and his contributions to the field. It’s much like the rest of his life, flitting from one thing to the next without much thought or effort. He’s tried a number of careers, but none have quite panned out so at 32 he lives in a small apartment and ekes out a living as a day trader. He sells his family home to buy Adam. Charlie and Adam’s relationship and what happens when AI collides with the human mind is at the heart of Ian McEwan’s new novel, Machines Like Me.
Before us sat the ultimate plaything, the dream of ages, the triumph of humanism—or its angel of death.
When Adam arrives, he comes with software forms that need to be filled out to sculpt his personality to his owner’s wishes. Charlie doesn’t want Adam to be either a replica of himself or the exact opposite, so he asks his neighbor Miranda to fill out half of the forms. She’s a good friend, but Charlie hopes for more. Their relationship progresses as does Adam’s role in their ‘family. His start is not an auspicious one. Shortly after being powered up he tells Charlie that Miranda cannot be trusted because she is a “malicious liar”.
What starts as a novel with a science fiction-ish feel (AI exists but we’re not there yet) expands rapidly into a vast array of fields. McEwan enhances the sci-fi feel by mixing up accepted period markers and facts so that even though it is only the 1980s there are already driverless cars, Jimmy Carter is a two-term president, a fictional British Prime Minister is assassinated, and Great Britain wants to leave the EU. With all of this going on, plus Miranda’s backstory, Machines Like Me could turn into sludge but, for the most part, each new element flows easily into the story. Extended sections on the Falklands War is the only area I really struggled with, possibly because I’m not British, but it felt extraneous until this sentence about a new weapon, a guided missile:
This fearsome weapon, once fired from a jet in the general direction of a ship, could recognize its profile and decide mid-flight whether it was hostile or friendly.
This comes to feel like significant foreshadowing in what lies ahead for Charlie and Adam. In the beginning, there is the natural wonder in being presented with a machine that looks like a human but processes the world, theories, history…everything, at rates humans cannot. Within weeks Adam goes from being sluggish to understanding complicated physics theorems and being able to quote any of Shakespeare’s works. What is unexpected is that he falls in love. With Miranda. This despite his initial statement about her and the fact that she is Charlie’s girlfriend.
McEwan is intensely cerebral making Machines Like Me is a very different experience from my recent reading. There isn’t the action of Miracle Creek or the emotion of Normal People. Instead, there is an incisive and swift probing into topics like truth, personal responsibility, and justice. And areas we’ve not yet had to consider, such as if synthetic humans are sentient what rights do they have? Is a lie acceptable if it rectifies a crime? What is the self?
It’s in these questions that McEwan goes deep on the difference between the laser sharpness of a synthetic brain and the even more complex but infinitely less logical human mind. He compounds a feeling of being off-balance by pursuing these weighty questions with characters who shift between relatable and unlikable, making right and wrong harder to identify. The reader is forced to think and more importantly, to question beliefs that may not hold up as we move into an age of technological advances far beyond our imagining.
Laila@BigReadingLife says
Awesome review. I’ve never read McEwan before. Somehow nothing has appealed to me. But this one does sound intriguing.
Catherine says
I think it’s close enough to reality in a lot of ways so it’s even creepier. I hope I’m not still around when AI is a reality in every day life!
Lauren O'Brien says
This cover creeps me out. Probably too much to ever read it, so I’m glad you didn’t out-and-out love it. Lol.
Catherine says
I was going to mention that in the review! It is unsettling.
Madeline says
Thank you for reading and reviewing this! But I haven’t seen much buzz about it so your review gave me more enthusiasm. Although I’m on a pretty long library hold.
I’ve read several Ian McEwan books and enjoy his style. Although I’m not much of a Sci-Fi fan, I’ll give this a try because of the author. (And go-to authors have been my most successful source so far this year.)
Catherine says
My favorite of his was called Saturday. I also really liked The Children’s Act. He always makes me think and challenges my preconceived notions.
The Cue Card says
Nicely reviewed! I’m game for this one. Atonement is still one of my favorite books.
Catherine says
He’s so good at taking issues and pulling them apart until you have to consider things you’ve never thought about before.