I’ve been fascinated with human level machine intelligence for quite some time. I’ve read many books on the subject from various experts whose opinions range from it’s the end of days, to the dawn of a new day. We don’t yet have the answer to the question, “Will artificial general intelligence be good or bad for humanity?” because it doesn’t exist yet. And most experts agree, while it’s an important discussion, we are decades away from anything that would remotely resemble AGI, let alone a singularity.

It’s because of this I’m always excited to read a well conceived sci-fi book that deals with these issues, and why I was particularly excited to read Machinehood by author S.B. Divya, herself an electrical engineer who has worked in pattern recognition and machine intelligence. So, when I read the short summary, which states that Machinehood is a “science fiction thriller about artificial intelligence, sentience, and labor rights in a near future dominated by the gig economy.” I was in right away. And having previously read Runtime, I knew S.B. had the ability to combine tech heavy composition with a compelling narrative, in other words, my confidence was high.

The first thing you’ll pick up on, almost right away, is that this is not a light read, it’s wordy, it’s dense, and it doesn’t hold back on the techno-bibble-babble. But, if you remain committed, your brain will adjust, and you’ll be fine the rest of the way. It’s no different than any speculative or fantasy story that has created a unique culture or language. Once you learn it, you’re good.

This techno-thriller is full of espionage, mystery, and action, has a substantial list of mostly well thought out characters, and challenges us with enough emotional weight to keep you invested. All these parameters converge to present the reader with one critical question.

You see, S.B. does a smart thing in this book, in a not so furtive way, she populates the story with easy to point out suppositions that all help bring the big question into focus. An example, the essential question this book is asking comes courtesy of Oscar “Papa” Ramirez who offers this to Welga, “Pretty soon the bots are gonna complain, too, right?”

Is there a more majestically simple yet profoundly complicated question to be asked in this day and age? Isn’t that the question of our time? What will happen to the world, to the universe, when the first AI expresses anything, even if it’s a complaint, and it’s revealed to the public? Call it the singularity, call it whatever you want, we, as a species will be forever changed at that point.

The bottom line is this, if Artificial Intelligence, in the general sense that it exists and philosophical debates are still essential reading, then this book is absolutely for you. And what’s great is that I use the term “fiction” here very loosely, as a very large chunk of the tech in this story is either already in use, or highly plausibly in use by someone, somewhere. You know, the shadow governments?

Like I said, S.B. definitely finds that sweet spot of technological bibble-babble and enthralling entertainment. And Machinehood, in spite of itself sometimes and its own cautionary tale aesthetic, actually ends on a note of optimism, something we should never get enough of.

This is a shortened version of a long review, click the link below for the full review.