The Diagnosis by Alan Lightman is one of the best novels about information and philosophy I have read. The hero, who works for a company that just processes information (without apparently contributing anything – just quantity), begins to go numb in a way reminiscent of Socrates after he swallows the hemlock. Woven into the novel are the e-mail exchanges of the hero with his son who is taking a course online and a Socratic dialogue. The book is a “diagnosis” of a culture that has confused quantity of information processed with wisdom. It is Plato’s story of writing in the Phaedrus in novel form.
For an interview with the author see, identity theory | the narrative thread – alan lightman.
After The Diagnosis I was disappointed in Reunion which is about a middle-aged prof who goes back to a school reunion and remembers his first love. Sappy stuff that shows that Lightman, while good at philosophy, is terrible at love and women.
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