  Scott Hutchins  Scott Hutchins  A Working Theory of Love: A
Novel   You teach Creative Writing at Stanford University. Could
you be part of an artificial intelligence program which would
teach machines how to write a real novel?  An intriguing
suggestion! Then I would just relax in the mornings, go for a
jog, and come back in to see the novel finished. But would I
then need an AI program to read all those novels?  There
probably are some functions of novel writing that might be
automatized. I certainly spell-check my novel (though I disagree
with 70% of the “corrections”). But to know what appeals to the
reader, what seduces her attention—this is exactly what
computers at this moment can’t know.  Neill Bassett is the son
of a man who killed himself. His company is called “Amiante
Systems”. Where do these choices come from?  They are separate
choices. Dr. Bassett’s suicide casts a pall over Neill’s
life—it’s an event that unsettles him emotionally but also
metaphysically. I’ve known suicide to do just that,