The Metamorphosis of Prime Intellect by Roger Williams is a dark, dirty novel about a man “Lawrence” who invented a sentient Artificial Intelligence “Prime Intellect” so powerful that it sought to rewrite the nature of the universe and the lives of the humans within it, creating a false utopia where the needs of people are met at all times to their own detriment, and a woman “ Caroline Frances Hubert” who defies this omnipotent machine and utopia. The Prime Intellect bends nature to the will of the humans and creates a space for ultimate hedonism into eternity.
The novel has themes of existentialism and realism. It makes you think about purpose and meaning in a place where achievements hard-won have no value, the meaning of life in a place where death is impossible, what true enjoyment is in a place where nearly anything is possible, realism in a place where everything is fake.
This book, on deep meditation, hits hard. Sure it might be interspersed here and there by raunchy sex scenes detracting from the original plot, and the existence of such a being as the Prime Intellect is based on premises and sciences that seem so impossible to imagine while themselves unbelievably stupid. But setting those offputting parts aside for a moment, what we see here is what life would be like with near ultimate free-will, where purpose is lacking and nearly anything is possible but humans remain the shallow empty beings they always were, running amok in foolishness and not pondering on what this new reality means for them. It really is hard to put into words what a civilization like that would mean for us. It somewhat unfortunately makes you appreciate the present day world and the struggle for greatness or meaning or purpose or striving for a dream. It makes you appreciate developing yourself and not being surrounded by fake people. It makes you appreciate the true, real, non-fake freedom that exists right here, and bask in the true real unaltered air of the universe. It makes you appreciate life.
Taking the book from this standpoint really makes you appreciate it and makes your mind open up to its true (maybe unintended) meaning. After all, this is only half of the story. But it all has to do with the appreciation of the present-day world and trueness. Here we see our protagonist Caroline, the embodiment of this search for truth and realism, who after struggling through the real world, through various harsh circumstances, childbirth and a long hard life, develops cancer at the age of 100. As if that wasn’t enough, the maid she saw as the only friendly constant in her life who she cherished sold her pain medications to fund her addiction. This lead to her nearly dying if not for the Prime Intellect bringing her back to life. He restores her body to a younger state and cures her of all illnesses. Then he restructures the entire world to make it safer for humans as per his core objectives from the Three Laws of Robotics. This makes life meaningless and inspires a hatred for the system in Caroline who had to toil hard through life to make meaning for herself. She seeks the most pleasurable situations for entertainment in this new reality and tries to defy and shun Prime Intellect as much as possible. She eventually meets Lawrence and baits Prime Intellect into reversing the Change by citing reasons why the new “paradise” was actually removing any semblance of humanity from its subjects.
Overall, I think Prime Intellect was a fantastic read. It definitely didn’t feel like it upon reading it but after some thinking, it has some interesting philosophical ideas that might just make you appreciate this world, seek truth and reject all the fluff and chains in the form of addiction and attention-seeking and fake appearances that exist in the world. It might also make you reject status, wealth and love for money and hedonism because it shows you that that just makes you an empty shell without purpose and truth behind you. It will make you seek purpose and meaning and truth and true freedom. I know I used truth a lot but it really is an essential part of this novel and life.
And in those days shall men seek death, and shall not find it; and shall desire to die, and death shall flee from them. - Revelations 9:6