The Footprints of God, a novel by Greg Iles, treads the thin line between science and religion. In the tradition of Dan Brown's The Da Vinci Code, it combines killers, scientists, secret agencies, religious hallucinations, and computers. A secret group of scientists, all Nobel laureates, join forces to build a super-supercomputer capable of-- dig this-- not duplicating the human brain, but reasoning like a human being. It is so powerful that it can decode a 128-bit encryption instantaneously. The supercomputer, called Trinity, worked by having a neuromodel loaded into it, which is accomplished by obtaining a super-MRI scan of the person. Trinity would then have all the memories, stock knowledge, and reasoning power of that person. It has released the intellect from the human body, and that mind will live on forever.
So there's this ethical scientist, Dr. Tennant, and his tag-along psychiatrist (who eventually fall in love with each other) who are driven to stop Trinity from taking over the world. He does this because he has dreams remembering he was Jesus. The psychiatrist goes with him because he has narcolepsy attacks, and because she was convinced he had Jesus-delusions. Because they were trying to get away from the killers, they go to Jerusalem and there he has an epiphany of what God is all about. They return to America to find it about an hour away from annihilation because Trinity triggered commands for nuclear warheads to rain on American cities. Dr. Tennant, of all things, decide to talk to Trinity.
The suspense builds up to something that you hoped would give a big bang, but the ending is a bit... deflated. The mercenary, Geli Bauer, was there since the beginning, as the all-knowing, all-merciless guardian of the secret, but at the end you think she got lost somewhere. Trinity becomes some kind of a benevolent grandfather computer. With all the buildup and the exhibition of its apparently unlimited power, of it becoming like God, there is a little disappointment.
It's a good read, though it did not make me question my faith in God, it did not make me fear the prospect of computers ruling the world, it did not wrench my heart. Most of the book is dedicated to killers chasing the hero and how he got away.
So there's this ethical scientist, Dr. Tennant, and his tag-along psychiatrist (who eventually fall in love with each other) who are driven to stop Trinity from taking over the world. He does this because he has dreams remembering he was Jesus. The psychiatrist goes with him because he has narcolepsy attacks, and because she was convinced he had Jesus-delusions. Because they were trying to get away from the killers, they go to Jerusalem and there he has an epiphany of what God is all about. They return to America to find it about an hour away from annihilation because Trinity triggered commands for nuclear warheads to rain on American cities. Dr. Tennant, of all things, decide to talk to Trinity.
The suspense builds up to something that you hoped would give a big bang, but the ending is a bit... deflated. The mercenary, Geli Bauer, was there since the beginning, as the all-knowing, all-merciless guardian of the secret, but at the end you think she got lost somewhere. Trinity becomes some kind of a benevolent grandfather computer. With all the buildup and the exhibition of its apparently unlimited power, of it becoming like God, there is a little disappointment.
It's a good read, though it did not make me question my faith in God, it did not make me fear the prospect of computers ruling the world, it did not wrench my heart. Most of the book is dedicated to killers chasing the hero and how he got away.
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