He She and It

I think that this book takes our discussion of Mike and the morality of an artificial intelligence (intentional or otherwise) to a whole new level, but I have to admit what stood out to me most about this book was the environment in which it was set. To me it read like sci-fi meets some combination of An Inconvenient Truth and Silent Spring. The idea of only vultures, rats, snakes, insects and rabbits being left see med to me like a far more plausible and disturbing possibility than that of artificial intelligence and giant corporations replacing nation states. I thought the image of the skeletons of songbirds being sold in the glop as relics of days long gone was one of the most disturbing images of the entire book. While I realize this was not intended to be the focus of the book, the setting of the book (especially in sci-fi) is what makes the premise possible. Also the image of Malkah as a college student in Prague in 2008, and only 9 years later the world being nearly destroyed by a war starting in Israel was very disturbing to read about. In spite of the fact that this book was written 17 years ago it still seems plausible, not in the abstract but on the time line it sets, with a few possible exceptions of course. Still, I think that this was far more connected to our reality than anything we have read yet, and I found it making me consider the present far more than anything we have read yet.