Spoilers within, because there are points I want to keep track of.
The premise of this book: a top-of-her-class researcher is hired to a company post-graduation to help with the development of an AI application meant to resolve the idea of “loneliness.”
In the end, the project more or less fails. If technology drove up the instances of loneliness in our world, will more technology fix it?
The central character we’re flowing around is the future manifestation of the “iPad kid.” Great with tech, great with data, but has no idea how to engage with anyone outside of the scope of whatever data-driven project they are working on. She is set in contrast to her roommate – someone who is framed more as an “influencer” type. Personable, loads of friends, connected.
On the surface this is the story of a robotic iPad kid who learns to feel love. (Which I feel is a throwaway joke to an old Simpson’s episode? I’ll need to research this further). More over, it ties into the Techocalypse ideas I spend far too much time pursuing. Tech promised something of the future! But now, we have it doing the thing we’ve always done (ahem, capitalism) but at an exponential rate.
Of course, in my time assisting in the research and rewriting of Surfing Rouge Waves I know that the future – as wildly astronomical the changes will be – is ultimately going to be for the better. That is, if we can survive how tech companies are finding the laziest way to use it to exploit more value out of the common fellow.
The interesting crux of this book is how it frames the future of the loneliness problem – something already cited as a major problem by the US Surgeon General. Solving the problem by refusing to cite it as a problem. The near-future culture this book takes place in has eradicated the very word “loneliness” from the dictionary. After all, you can’t fix a problem you can’t name, and you can’t have a problem without being able to name it, right? Of course, this doesn’t work the way they expect it to. Decades on and the world is rife with loneliness, but no one knows what to call the feeling or how to share/ express it (as though sharing and expressing true feeling was something made possible through tech mediums).
A quick book, I ate it up in an afternoon. Easy, fun, fast, if you’re into that sort of thing. Also, links on this page are likely some kind of affiliate nonsense and I’ll get a kickback if you buy something. Which is nice, but you can also get books for free from your local library.