The avatar Book

A couple of hundred thousand years ago Homo neanderthalensis was the top primate on Earth. Individuals of this species were aware of various close relatives of their own genus (Homo), though we can't know how they conceived of their kinship. But most likely they were aware of their own superiority in cleverness and resourcefulness. Probably, too, they had vague ideas that other creatures superior to themselves could well exist, though they'd never encountered any.

Eventually, over 50,000 years ago, Neanderthals finally encountered a more advanced form of Homo - H. sapiens. Individuals of the latter species undoubtedly regarded the Neanderthals in much the same way as the latter had regarded their forebears. It's unclear how often encounters between the two Homo species occurred, but it was often enough that some interbreeding transpired.

H. sapiens individuals, likewise, also had intimations that creatures more advanced than themselves could, and probably did, exist. When H. sapiens evolved language, they called such beings "gods" (in their own primitive tongues). The abilities that such "gods" were believed to possess were considered magical, which is always how technology seems to those who haven't understood it. Thus religion originated. Up until fairly recently - as the recognition arose that other planets than Earth existed and could harbor "intelligent" life - religion retained this primitive form.

But now the expectation of "intelligent" life on other planets is quite widely spread. And H. sapiens individuals that hold this expectation think that among these alien life forms there surely must exist a few more advanced than what exists on Earth. This is one modern form of religion. It might even be true. After all, this is basically what H. neanderthalensis eventually learned in its own times.

That much pretty much sums up the main theme of Poul Anderson's novel, The Avatar, although Anderson (if he were still alive) might not fully agree with this take. If one enjoys this kind of speculation, the book can certainly be recommended. There's a multitude like it, of course, but it's probably one of the better ones.

Obviously, this theme represents a large percentage of the "space opera" sort of science fiction, up to and including the latest iterations of Star Trek and Star Wars. There's just one problem, summed up in Enrico Fermi's question: "Where are they?" Although serious attempts to detect "extraterrestrial intelligence" have been under way for only 50 years or so, the results so far have been exactly nothing. If interstellar travel is possible at all (and it seems to be), nevertheless no evidence of it has been found. Maybe H. sapiens really is the ne plus ultra of the whole universe. But that too seems unlikely. After all, the suspicions among H. neanderthalensis of the existence of more advanced species eventually proved true.

Science fiction has recently taken another tack on the same general theme. Perhaps the theorized superior beings will be the direct descendants of H. sapiens - in the very near future, maybe just a couple of decades. This notion includes ideas like "transhumanism" and "The Singularity". It could happen almost without warning. But, so far, it's still speculation, much like every other religion to date.

I'll conclude with a few remarks about The Avatar itself. For one thing, I found the language to be a bit too flowery and overwritten. Anderson was a masterful writer, but one perhaps a bit too enamored of his own prose. His work has several similarities with Robert Heinlein's, and that's not entirely a good thing. The political views of both, unfortunately, were a puerile libertarianism. They both wrote a lot of space opera, which was the dominant theme of their times. And they both included lots of sex in their works - nothing wrong with that, of course. In neither case is the sex very graphic. It would be more interesting, in fact, if it were described as lyrically as Anderson was clearly capable of. Still and all, both Anderson and Heinlein were clearly masters of their genre.

Looking back at this review, I should admit it's not very fair to the book. I should have said more about it. Although it's far from the best of Anderson's work (see below), and much farther compared to the best SF in general, it does offer enough of interest to motivate a reader to finish it. The basic idea is that conclusive evidence of advanced extraterrestrial life has been discovered, yet the political "authorities" go to extreme length to conceal this. Countless SF stories, to say nothing of UFO/ancient astronaut/etc. conspiracy theories are based on this premise. The question is: why would the "authorities" do this? Because they're afraid it would threaten their grip on power? Because it would cause panic in the population? Because their general policy is always to keep the rabble ignorant "for their own protection"? It seems that credible answers to this question are seldom found anywhere. This book is no exception. One would like to see a story where an answer forms a major element of the plot. Here's one possibility that anyone who has the energy to tackle this might consider. Imagine a protagonist who has the courage and determination to find an answer. She (or he) undertakes a perilous quest to solve this puzzle. And in the course of that, she discovers that the truth is even more momentous than the "authorities" imagine. Not only are their concerns ill-founded, but the effect is to thwart humanity (or its descendants) from comprehending some stupendous Truth?

For what it's worth, I enjoyed two of Anderson's late novels more: The Merman's Children and The Boat of a Million Years. The themes of both are more historical than space opera, and the plots were more interesting. The plot of The Avatar, to me, seemed rather simplistic, and tended to drag much of the time, being overshadowed by the colorful language and the polyamorous couplings among the characters.