The Hub

I really enjoyed Look to Windward. Banks created a nuanced, intricate plot that I'm definitely going to be reading again. There are so many things to talk about, too, Thursday's going to be fun.

But what I really want to talk about is the Hub. The Hub fascinates me - not just because he's an interesting character, but because he's a character at all. The Hub is basically a hyper-advanced super computer (Culture : humans :: the Hub : Mike), yet besides controlling the weather and Orbital-wide life support systems and transport systems and advising Masaq' citizens on everything ever ("His name is Bob" "Here's how to get to Sesame Street" "No, you can't eat that"), he has a personality. He chats to people at parties through his avatar, but he's not just a social lubricant who's really good at setting people up; he's a friendly face for everyone, someone familiar and enjoyable to talk to.

It's easy to see how a world with a Hub could be such a relaxed, happy place. No one is ever alone with the Hub around; no one ever has to look stupid with the Hub whispering in their ear; no one has to worry, because the Hub takes care of everything. But the Hub's not just a maintenance system, he's a friend - I wonder how many people in our society who go endure turbulent friendships and flawed relationships and end up feeling hopelessly and utterly alone would secede from the world if given a Hub-like figure: someone with infinite patience and time to listen and discuss.

So the Hub is very much a kind of person - definitely not a human, but a person, a Mind. But is he a God? He mentions once that Minds are "close to gods, and on the far side". And, indeed, the Hub's intimate involvement with and protection of each one of the billions of inhabitants of Masaq' is godlike; at any given moment he's likely to have a trillion processes running at once, but he also has emotions - he feels love and duty towards the Masaq'ians.

But I don't think the Hub is a god. Perhaps he's right, and he is something beyond godliness, but he displays a typical human characteristic: the recognition of one's needs as the most important thing in one's world, and which may be pushed aside or dealt with in favor of assisting others, but which in the end control you. In the end, the Hub has protected and nurtured the inhabitants of the Masaq' Orbital for eight hundred years, but he recognizes that his grief for his twin will never dissipate. He is close enough to human to empathize with Quilan's loss of his mate, close enough to commit a suicide that will benefit only himself. It's in that moment that I find the Hub to be the most likable and even perfect.