The Truth Machine

In the future, according to author James L. Halperin, world crime can be wiped out by a 100% accurate lie detector. Citizens of the world are required to pass lie detector tests in order to gain a driver's license, have children, move to a different state, get hired, and so on. However, the very inventor of this amazing lie detector has committed a horrible crime, and must hide his criminal secret from the world. (And to say anything more on the matter would be a plot spoiler.)

It's a good, thought-provoking premise. Unfortunately, the characters are poorly developed, and there are so many plot-holes that I was unable to suspend my disbelief. Good beginning, good ending. Really, really slow middle.

Call me a pessimist, but I find it show more extremely hard to believe that Earth will have a functional World Government within the next fifty years, or many of the other things that Halperin predicts. Can you see 60% of the current American public voting for "the Swift And Sure Anti-Crime Bill," which guarantees immediate execution for any person who commits three felonies? Too many innocents would be killed in the pre-Truth Machine era. I doubt many people would support this unless criminals could be detected with absolute 100% certainty.

As for the Truth Machine itself...there was not enough evidence in the book to support this foolproof machine. People would come up with a way to fool it. That's what hackers are best at. Humanity consists largely of innovators; we improve upon other people's ideas and inventions. Some desperate people would start training themselves to believe their own lies as truth, thereby tricking the machines. Programmers would tamper with the machines and then sell their results to rich criminals. And computers have a looooooong way to go before they reach a level even close to flawless operation...if they ever will.

Even if you are willing to suspend your disbelief to the heights which this book demands, there isn't much to like. It's philosophy with a thin veneer of plot thrown over it.

Review originally published on my website. show less

To all intents and purposes it's more a thought experiment than a novel. The characterisation is perfunctory, the plot episodic and the central idea of an infallible lie detector inadequately explored.
I found a number of its base assumptions to be problematic - private finance and big business are central to any positive
developments in society;
killing criminals is OK;
and crucially, that a Truth Machine is a good idea in the first place, and would be accepted unquestioningly by a quiescent populace.
It felt like the author only looked at the "technical fix" side of the story and didn't even consider the political and social consequences of all these assumptions.

A great book! More near future than science fiction, it concerns a man who, when affected by a terrible crime, decides to make it his life's work to create a completely foolproof lie detector. The rest of the book explores the impact on his life and on society. What happens when it becomes normal for people to be expected to tell the truth - all the time? Very well done.

(Alistair) I'm not so sure whether The Truth Machine fully counts as "fiction" in the generally accepted sense.

The author's site describes it thus: "An international best-selling "futurism fiction" novel, The Truth Machine imagines a world logically extended from 1995 through the next half-century in which a foolproof lie detector is unleashed upon civilation, changing every aspect of human existence on earth and upending the life of its own creator."

Well, that does about sum up the essentials of the plot. And as futurism, it takes an interesting premise, and does deliver some interesting thoughts about the consequences of such a truth-detection machine being developed, in fields ranging from criminal justice through business show more negotiations, diplomacy, and mental health, and its utility in a world in which the capacity of individuals is always on the rise. For that matter, the chapter-heading speculations about other, simultaneous, world events in the period in which each chapter are set, although some of them are now dated by actual history, are rather interesting in their own right. I would have personally preferred a little more background on the reasoning behind some of the consequences he derives, such as the disclosures of minima and maxima in business negotiations, but that's a minor point. So if you're looking for an interesting piece of future speculation, you'll find that here.

As fiction, however, The Truth Machine is a rather flawed book. It is very clearly written as a vehicle for Mr. Halperin's futurism - I don't think we need a much clearer indication than the 10-page appendix of statistical tables, full texts of referenced speeches, technical descriptions, etc., in the backmatter; and this, unfortunately, takes its toll inasmuch as the character development seems to be backformed from the plot, itself driven by the eponymous device, and, while the characters are often sympathetic, they remain fairly simplistic outside their designated functions. Likewise, Mr. Halperin's prose tends towards a workmanlike style more often seen in non-fiction books.

I enjoyed it and found it interesting, but not so much as fiction, if you see what I mean.

As a side note: much as I would naturally prefer it if you used the Amazon link at right and actually bought a copy if so inclined, thus feeding my book budget, if you would prefer to read the book first, a full downloadable copy is also available (MS Word format), along with a similarly downloadable copy of the author's sequel, The First Immortal, which I have not yet read.
( http://weblog.siliconcerebrate.com/cerebrate/2008/06/the-truth-machine-james-l-h... ) show less

A good science fiction novel about the invention of an infallible truth machine and the resulting societal changes. It is kind of utopian, but a good read. The author has made it available as a free download from http://coins.ha.com/ttm/

What happens if the technoloy to detect a lie is finally perfected? This story describes one man's drive (obsession?) to develop such an technology... and all its consequences.

Do you think you need "The Truth Machine" ?
To know truth does not always make us happy and be relieved.
But,I think "The Truth Machine" need for murder and spy and so on.