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Feed
The trouble is, all the citizens of this future state are connected to the global network with a direct neural link, called the Feed. The Feed connects its users directly to all others, allowing instant access to information and communication.
Like today's Net, however, the flow of information has grown disturbingly two-way: the Feed is owned by corporations, and their agenda to increase consumerism has led to such privacy-stripping "innovations" as predictive marketing (getting "bannered" by merely looking at purchaseable items) and constant interruptions (such as chats being broken by Google AdSense-inspired ads).
Even more sinister, those same corporations bought out the government's role in education, and so Titus and his friends attend School(TM) -- where literacy is not on the curriculum. Instead, students learn how to make purchase decisions and better use their Feed.
Titus' new girlfriend, however, is representative of a growing counter-culture. Violet's education is strictly home-based, and her objections to the mainstream grow increasingly strident, even as she becomes a victim of it. It is perhaps no coincidence that her lack of affluence in this society is tied to her resistance against it.
The citizens of this future America, weaned on the Feed, are shockingly illiterate. Their language is largely incoherent, riddled with "like"s and "thing"s. Poor verbal composition is combined with an almost complete lack of vocabulary, so characters are often caught referring to objects as "thing... uh..." -- pause while they look up the term through their Feed -- "table."
We often attribute poor language skills to teenagers, but the author's willingness to show adults with the same deficiencies is telling. Even the President of the United States appears unfocused and uneducated.
Not surprisingly, the inhabitants of this world are incredibly self-absorbed. Titus repeatedly demonstrates a callous disregard for the feelings of his dying girlfriend, although he has the good grace to feel guilty buying a sweater while she confesses her fear of death. It's a culture where citizens are trained to value only what's shiny and new, and to dispose of the old and used. How any relationship can survive in that environment is a mystery only philosophers and Slashdot commentators might dare address.
The author's handling of the characters is both realistic and sensitive. I found myself shaking my head at Titus and his friends, but my disgust was accompanied by a sympathy; like a baby raised by wolves, his behaviour is completely understood, if not acceptable.
In fact, the picture drawn of this future is all too clear, and the author's skill at connecting the dots between today and that time make for some serious introspection. After all, today's Internet is an obvious precursor of the Feed, and as commercial life makes ever-greater demands of our attention online, where does it end?
The gear that makes this future possible is incredibly empowering. It connects all people together, literally, to the sum total of all human knowledge, while providing a complete, instant telecommunications network. But corporate interest is clearly the villain here, with all technology perverted to consumerist ends, ripping away privacy, individual expression and true liberty. In the right hands, the Feed would be more powerful than the agricultural, industrial and communications revolutions put together; instead, the Feed is leading its users to an apocalypse, as the author strongly hints at the end of the novel.
Most savage of all, the citizens of this future America don't see the apocalypse coming. As they increasingly turn a blind eye to how their goods are manufactured and delivered (sound familiar?), they ignore the radiation-induced skin lesions that everyone has, the fact that couples can't reproduce without a "conceptionarium", the glowing green clouds, the dead seas, the ash falling from the sky. In their dome habitats, life goes on, in the malls and upcars and fake lawns underneath the Clouds(TM) -- while the other nations of the Earth vow to obliterate America's corporations by any means necessary.
It's a hell on Earth, but a hell that seems destined to come to a crashing halt. Like the best in science fiction, this novel shows us the worst-case scenario, so we can thoughtfully avoid it.
You can purchase Feed from bn.com. Slashdot welcomes readers' book reviews. To see your own review here, carefully read the book review guidelines, then visit the submission page.
"Even the President of the United States appears unfocused and uneducated..."
Sounds a little familiar.
This book sounds totally unrealistic: "Even the President of the United States appears unfocused and uneducated."
This would never happen in real life, you know.
is NOT a porno.
Sorry!
Set in a dystopian future America...
/snark
In SciFi is there any other kind? I'm still waiting for Manhattan to be turned into a maximum security prison. They're about 7 years behind schedule.
Judging by the moderation and post quality, the average age of a slashdot poster is probably 15, while the editors seem to average around 12 judging on spelling, grammar and attention span.
At least they wont attempt to hack into a Gibson Supercomputer with Apple Notebooks. OR WILL THEY!
Poor boy. Female engineers become attractive to male geeks at puberty, and remain so until 20 minutes after death. Longer on warm days.
And as an engineer, she's probably way too smart to hang out with a boy named Titus.
We often attribute poor language skills to teenagers, but the author's willingness to show adults with the same deficiencies is telling. Even the President of the United States appears unfocused and uneducated.
You really posted this whole story just to say that, didn't you? ;)
3004-07-30: I got promoted at my job. I love my job.
3004-07-31: Little Jimmy got a gold star in hyper-space art today. I love little Jimmy.
3004-08-01: My wife told me today that she loves her job at the nano-tech factory. Isn't that keen.
You get the idea.
(I suppose one could argue that it is possible to write a good story set in a better-than-average future, but I can't think of any.)
Even the President of the United States appears unfocused and uneducated.
When will the rip offs of George W.Bush end?!!
I bet you're the kinda guy who's watching a movie and asks people, "What's going to happen next?"
No, I'm the guy who yells from the back row, "WHAT THE HELL KIND OF ENDING WAS THAT?!" An appropriate platitude for drivel like this book.
Javascript + Nintendo DSi = DSiCade
Mmm, sweet, sweet domed-city dystopia. Kickin' it 01d 5k001, Logan's Run-style! Awww, yeahhh.
Yeah. Terribly unfocused. Those hostages, stuck in Iran... it's good that we had the moral clarity of Reagan, who, you know, sent the Iranians arms in exchange for hostages. And look, our current chimp^Hpresident has the same kind of moral clarity! Sweet!
One of the core points of good literature is the struggle of human-kind to improve himself. How does this novel meet that goal if the author provides no solution to averting this future?
Sounds like this stupid play I once read. This guy gets told by the ghost of his father about the guy who killed him, so then he makes some pretty speeches and then everyone starts dying: his girlfriend, her father, a couple of flunkies, his mother, his stepfather, the guy himself, and a few others. What was that dren called? "Hamlet" or something goofy like that.
Ooh, a sarcasm detector. Oh, that's a real useful invention.