I found it overall fairly good but as far as intelligence went, almost hopelessly outdated, both in its ideas about what increased intelligence would look like and its effects on society—when was the last time you saw an elevator operator? (Especially the obsession with new natural languages as a feature of greater intelligence; but see my review of Malinovsky for more discussion of that: https://www.goodreads.com/review/show/985511206 ) A few bits made me face-fault too—like how he took a perfectly good solution to the Fermi Paradox and then casually screwed it up by mentioning other starfaring civilizations.
What did you think of Brain Wave? It’s one of the most vivid descriptions of intelligence increase in sf.
I found it overall fairly good but as far as intelligence went, almost hopelessly outdated, both in its ideas about what increased intelligence would look like and its effects on society—when was the last time you saw an elevator operator? (Especially the obsession with new natural languages as a feature of greater intelligence; but see my review of Malinovsky for more discussion of that: https://www.goodreads.com/review/show/985511206 ) A few bits made me face-fault too—like how he took a perfectly good solution to the Fermi Paradox and then casually screwed it up by mentioning other starfaring civilizations.