Neurogenesis by Helen Collins
reviewed by Joan Gordon of the New York Review of Science Fiction
Helen Collins is the author of Mutagenesis (1993), an sf novel that was well reviewed but not wildly successful in sales. That volume looked at how sexist assumptions might be extended to genetic engineering, creating women who are bred for very limited purposes, much the way we breed cattle or dogs. There was much more to the novel, including some very lively pursuits and rescues, and it deserved it's good reviews much more than its economic woes. Nevertheless, economics rules the publishing industry- it is an industry-and Collins struggled to find a place for her second sf novel, Neurogenesis, which languished in an uncompleted state for many years before finally finding publication throughout the online and on-demand publisher SpeculativeFictionReview. I know all of this because – full disclosure here – Collins was my colleague at Nassau Community College until her retirement, and she showed me the manuscript of Neurogenesis in several of its stages.
Neurogenesis, like its predecessor, is very much concerned with how we define the human and what we do with those definitions. Here the examination is directed more towards varieties of intelligence – human, artificial, animal, or alien – and how they are treated and acknowledged, than toward gender differences, although gender continues to be a concern. Also as in its predecessor, Collins sets up dramatic tensions to propel the plot along. The novel begins “Attempted Murder on a Windy Planet.”
The main character, Gisonne, puts together a space ship crew for a relatively short and mundane mission. The crew selection is based on the principles of group dynamics, as is the culture of the planet itself. While on their journey the crew is to observe the development of the ship’s computer, an artificial mind meant to evolve through its interaction with the crew. But the mundane mission turns into something much longer and more bizarre when the ship’s navigation forces the crew to a farther destination, a world with intelligent, birdlike aliens. Conflicts arise among the crew and between the crew and the aliens, and mysteries develop about how and why the ship was hijacked, and of course, about that murder.
Collins’s exploration of varieties of intelligence is quite original. First, she considers how the different members of a group together form a larger community personality or group-minded based on the individuals who compose the group and environment in which they are placed. Then she draws a parallel with the development of an individual human mind, which is also the sum of a collection of subsets and its environments as well. Since that individual mind “can only be produced through evolution: and is “based on the reality around it, its environment,” the scientist developing the ship’s computer proposes to make an artificial mind that evolves within the “reality around it” (19), as an analogue of the community formed by the principles of group dynamics – what the characters call a “dyne”- onboard the ship. Eventually, Collins links the evolution of the ship’s computer into an artificial intelligence with not only the dyne but also the birdlike aliens they eventually meet by considering how the way in which the computer “sees” the world around it is similar to the way in which a bird sees. These speculations, and the detail with which Collins develops them, make for a fascinating reading, as they compellingly illustrate Prigogine’s view of complexity as order arising out of chaos.
The novel has its problems, and I wonder if a firm editorial hand could have solved them, something that I suspect SpeculativeFictionReview did not offer. The various threads of the narrative feel too loosely woven, so the story of the dyne, the story of the alien encounter, and the political and economic intrigues never form a coherent fabric. Collins has aimed to weave a very complex tapestry in this novel, but the individual threads of the plot, although left without loose ends, still lack the orderly pattern that here speculations on intelligence achieve.
Although the threads of the plot may be somewhat frayed, the weaving of scientific speculation with setting and character is very tight. Indeed, Collins relates the relationships between characters and the landscapes in which they scheme and argue and bond with great liveliness. While it is sometimes difficult to follow the plot, the gossip is always interesting. And the gossip is directly linked to Collins’s scientific speculation. While the post-singularity folks have concentrated on uploading and downloading of intelligence, “the rapture of the nerds” as Ken MacLeod would have it, others are thinking about something less rapturous and more physically rooted. Like Joan Slonczewski and Mary Rosenblum, for instance, Helen Collins speculates on how embodiment and environment shape and develop intelligence, rather than on how we might leave the physical world behind.
- Joan Gordon lives in Commack, New York, and Lublin, Poland
BUY THIS BOOK
back to top
If you liked Helen Collins first SF novel Mutagenesis, you'll love her new e book, NeuroGenesis. Collins deftly weaves multiple threads of ideas into a compelling narrative: the race against time to secure a planet's economic underpinnings, the challenge of a new self-evolving spaceship operating system re- programmed – by whom? – and a quest to communicate with, and survive, an intelligent and ominous human-size avian species called Corvi. The fast pacing, well-limned characters, "new" technologies and strong, complex story line keep the reader fully engrossed.
Gisonne Michaelis, 36th century specialist in groups, organizes and joins the crew for the SPEEDship Procne. At short notice the crew must take on two additional tasks: test the evolution of a new ship's operating system and transport Diana Allain, leader of the Zalterius II (Z2) ruling family, on a mission to Quivera to retain control over a critical material needed for the power source for faster-than–light SPEED travel, and for the very survival of Zalterians. After launch the crew, to its horror, learns that the OS autopilot has been irreversibly reset, in effect sending them on a long trajectory towards lingering death.
In time the OS "evolves" in dangerously unexpected ways and finally re-progams the SPEEDship to land on a planet inhabited by an intelligent and ominous human-size avian species called Corvi. The crew struggles to survive, to learn why and how the Corvi sensed the OS and saved the ship, and to find a link between the race of Corvi and the race of humans. With Corvi help with the Procne's new OS, the team completes the mission to Quivera and returns to Z2 where Gisonne at last discovers who attempted murder by autopilot reset. Collins' description of human behavior in small groups is insightful; the rebalancing of roles under the stress of space travel and" culture shock" is well-imagined. Her descriptions of culture of Corvi mirror their avian physiology and behavior - you'll never look at a bird eyeing a worm in quite the same way. Collins has important things to say - Corvi culture, the evolving SPEEDship OS and human group dynamics redefine for us the nature of "intelligence."
- Dr. Nancy Tooney
In the interest of expanding my reading experience I decided to give science fiction another try. I must admit that I have not explored this genre much and more often ignored it. At
www.SpeculativeFictionReview.com, the opportunity to read the first chapters was a great way to "test drive" an author. What a delight to find Helen Collins and NeuroGenesis! Collins has crafted an imaginative tale and created vivid and intriguing characters - and not weighed down with the often needless complexity and confusion of places and people found in much science fiction. Above all, she is a skilled storyteller with a good story to tell and she tells it in a very entertaining way. I certainly want to read more.
- Sally Gessner - Customer Review
BUY THIS BOOK
back to top
