Literary Olives and the Distortions of the Moment in Richard Powers's Galatea 2.2

The Spiders are unsure how to approach Richard Powers's Galatea 2.2, a novel which they find eerily predictive of the methods used to build contemporary AI programs like ChatGPT. Does the contemporary relevance of its scientific principles cause us to overrate its thematic depth, or to look in the wrong places for meaning? And can Chris and Hans forgive Powers's unique brand of ornate prose?