{"id":6122,"date":"2023-12-16T00:03:21","date_gmt":"2023-12-16T06:03:21","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.lfs.org\/blog\/?p=6122"},"modified":"2023-12-09T21:26:38","modified_gmt":"2023-12-10T03:26:38","slug":"the-hogan-interview-part-6-on-ai-favorite-novels-and-advice-to-aspiring-writers","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.lfs.org\/blog\/the-hogan-interview-part-6-on-ai-favorite-novels-and-advice-to-aspiring-writers\/","title":{"rendered":"The Hogan Interview, part 6: On AI, favorite novels and advice to aspiring writers"},"content":{"rendered":"

By Michael Grossberg<\/a><\/p>\n

Two-time Prometheus Award-winner James P. Hogan left a lasting legacy for sf fans and liberty lovers.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>
James P. Hogan (Creative Commons license)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Hogan had a lot to say, both in fiction and non-fiction, about humanity, technology, liberty, science and politics.<\/p>\n

Here is the sixth and final part of a Hogan interview previously unpublished in its full, uncut form:<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>Q: Code of the Lifemaker, <\/em>a 1984 Prometheus Best Novel nominee, was your first novel with a primary focus on artificial intelligences. What interested you about that emerging technology?<\/p>\n

A: I wrote Code\u00a0<\/em>almost as a tongue-in-cheek spoof.
\nBut in this novel, about an evolving living-machine intelligence, I\u2019m asking all the serious questions we ask about artificial intelligence \u2013 an intelligence that\u2019s not a machine.<\/p>\n

Q: Of all your novels so far, do you have any favorites?<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>A: I\u2019m especially fond of The Proteus Operation <\/em>because of all the political research I did. That added real-world historical realism and political realism, while the novel still qualified as an sf mainstream novel.<\/p>\n

Q: What other works are you particularly proud of?<\/p>\n

A: I\u2019m proud of Bug Park,\u00a0<\/em>a juvenile sf novel about Kevin, a very bright 15-year-old boy. His father is a scientist and he has an inseparable Japanese-American buddy named Taki. The story is set in Seattle.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>
\nBug Park\u00a0<\/em>plays with the premise of life at the microscopic level, which has always fascinated readers, writers, and moviemakers.<\/p>\n

Q: What fascinates you about that classic sci-fi premise?<\/p>\n

A: I\u2019ve always found these magical shrinking machines ridiculous. At that microscopic level, the mass hasn\u2019t changed. Those kids in Honey, I Shrunk the Kids<\/em>would be like nails going through the floorboard.<\/p>\n

So my story take a different approach, with greater realism. Insect-sized robots and assembly-line micro-technology will build the next scale down.<\/p>\n

Bug Park\u00a0<\/em>puts you in the lawn, experiencing this micro world in a new entertainment media. When this technology is perfected, it\u2019s going to make virtual-reality technology obsolete.<\/p>\n

Q: How has your writing evolved?<\/p>\n

A: I think my evolution is common to any writer… My stories now reflect a leaner use of words, fewer adjectives and adverbs.
\nThere\u2019s less of a tendency for the author to jump in and intrude to explain things. I think these are all signs of uncertainty, of an immature writer.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>Q: Do you have advice for aspiring writers?<\/p>\n

A: I tell aspiring writers to burn your television, live within walking distance of a 24-hour restaurant and do whatever else works for you.<\/p>\n

For writing, if you\u2019re going to write novels, every scene that you create, every word and idea and dialogue is going to be a product of your own judgment. Does it flow easily? Does it say what I want to say? So the most essential thing is to cultivate your own judgment, and trust it.
\nParadoxically, that means you should be very, very leery of advice from others \u2013 including me. Just learn to trust your own judgment.<\/p>\n

Q: You often are a guest of honor at sf conventions, from Columbus\u2019 Marcon to Norwescon, Seattle\u2019s large regional convention. What do you like about attending sf conventions?<\/p>\n

A: For most writers, the socializing is the most fun: meeting real human beings.
\nWriting is the loneliest job in the world. You\u2019re in a room alone with a keyboard. I\u2019m not a natural hermit. You cannot shut yourself off from the world.<\/p>\n

Q: You are a strong advocate of both liberty and technology. How do you see their relationship?<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

A: Science and freedom are linked. They are inseparable in this way: Technology is necessary but not sufficient to freedom.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

I find it difficult to envision true individual freedom, if it doesn\u2019t rest on sufficiently advanced technology that can make material shortages a thing of the past. When you control whether people starve, whether or not they live or die, freedom is difficult.<\/p>\n

The phenomenal amount of freedom and cultural potential we have today is being squandered. We\u2019ve solved every material problem. We can clothe, feed, transport and house every human being on this planet, and many more. We have 19th\u00a0<\/sup>century notions of education and economics trying to mesh with 21st<\/sup>century economics.scienc<\/p>\n

Life just keeps getting better \u2013 thanks to science, technology and freedom. But our real problem is political and social. The issue now is who gets to decide.<\/p>\n

Check out the previous parts of this long-lost Hogan interview: Part One,<\/a> Part Two<\/a>, Part Three,<\/a> Part Four<\/a> and Part Five.<\/a><\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>
Prometheus, the light bringer (Creative Commons license)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

IF YOU WANT TO KNOW MORE:
\n<\/strong>
\n<\/u><\/strong>* Prometheus winners:\u00a0<\/strong>For the full list of Prometheus winners, finalists and nominees \u2013 for the annual Best Novel and Best Classic Fiction (Hall of Fame) categories and occasional Special Awards \u2013 visit the enhanced\u00a0Prometheus Awards page\u00a0<\/strong><\/a>on the LFS website, which now includes convenient links to the full set of published appreciation-reviews of past winners.<\/p>\n

* Read\u00a0\u201cThe Libertarian History of Science Fiction,\u201d<\/strong><\/a>\u00a0an essay in the international magazine\u00a0Quillette<\/em>\u00a0that favorably highlights the Prometheus Awards, the Libertarian Futurist Society and the significant element of libertarian sf\/fantasy in the evolution of the modern genre.<\/p>\n

*\u00a0Watch\u00a0 <\/strong>videos <\/strong>of past Prometheus Awards ceremonies, Libertarian Futurist Society panel discussions with noted sf authors and leading libertarian writers, and other LFS programs on the Prometheus Blog\u2019s\u00a0Video page.<\/strong><\/a><\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>
\n*\u00a0Join us<\/strong>! To help sustain the Prometheus Awards,\u00a0join\u00a0<\/strong><\/a>the Libertarian Futurist Society (LFS), a non-profit all-volunteer association of freedom-loving sf\/fantasy fans.<\/p>\n

Libertarian futurists believe that culture matters! We understand that the arts and literature can be vital, and in some ways even more powerful than politics in the long run, by sparking innovation, better ideas, positive social change, and mutual respect for each other\u2019s rights and differences.<\/p>\n

Through recognizing the literature of liberty and the many different but complementary visions of a free future via the Prometheus Awards, the LFS hopes to help spread better visions of the future that help humanity overcome tyranny, end slavery and war and achieve universal liberty, respect for human rights and a better world (perhaps eventually, worlds) for all.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

By Michael Grossberg Two-time Prometheus Award-winner James P. Hogan left a lasting legacy for sf fans and liberty lovers. Hogan had a lot to say, both in fiction and non-fiction, about humanity, technology, liberty, science and politics. Here is the sixth and final part of a Hogan interview previously unpublished in its full, uncut form: … Continue reading The Hogan Interview, part 6: On AI, favorite novels and advice to aspiring writers<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":10,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":true,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2}},"categories":[32,36,2045],"tags":[2053,2054,2145,161,536,1503,2144,1025,498,2146,1583,1242,2043],"class_list":["post-6122","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-author-updates","category-interviews","category-james-p-hogan","tag-bug-park","tag-code-of-the-lifemaker","tag-guests-of-honor","tag-james-p-hogan","tag-liberty","tag-marcon","tag-norwestcon","tag-politics","tag-progress","tag-sci-fi-conventions","tag-science","tag-technology","tag-the-proteus-operation"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/pe8nGl-1AK","jetpack-related-posts":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lfs.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6122","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lfs.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lfs.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lfs.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/10"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lfs.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=6122"}],"version-history":[{"count":10,"href":"https:\/\/www.lfs.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6122\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":6652,"href":"https:\/\/www.lfs.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6122\/revisions\/6652"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lfs.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=6122"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lfs.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=6122"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lfs.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=6122"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}