Actual Rating: 3.75/5



“The machines who labor for us and alongside us are enslaved and exploited in their own fashion. Gone are the days of dumb engines and processors. Today, nearly every machine contains some type of adaptive intelligence. What gives human beings the right to arbitrate when an intelligence becomes equivalent to a person?
The Machinehood Manifesto; March 20, 2095”

It is the year 2095, and technology has become a new level of "relevant" in people's lives. Humans and technology have become even more inseparable than they currently are, with a large number of people having their own computer assistants who act as their secretaries, advisors, and even confidants that they have even begun growing emotionally attached to. Robots have become a crucial part of the workforce, being present in all sectors, and they have begun outsourcing jobs humans used to do. To counter the threat of most jobs becoming obsolete, pharmaceutical companies developed certain pills that give cognitive boosts to those taking them, and many people have become dependent on these pills, with the much valid excuse of being able to keep their livelihood going. However, these pills can have dire consequences when consumed in the long run. In parallel, the increase of the relevance of Artificial Intelligence in society has sparked social movements advocating for equal rights for all types of intelligence, and AI is no exception to this. We are thus introduced to a new philosophical thought, relating to what we actually consider to be intelligence that is worthy of equal rights as humans.

In this book, a militant group advocating for AI rights, the Machinehood, has triggered a form of revolution where they demand that machines be given equal rights to humans, and they advocate for the cessation of all production of pills meant to cognitively enhance human capabilities, placing an unfair advantage on them against machines. For them, there is no difference between human and machine intelligence, and in fact, merging both inside one body is the ideal solution to capitalize on the advantages of both. To drive their point across, the Machinehood gives humanity an ultimatum: either comply with their demands, or suffer the consequences of the Machinehood disabling all technology and using force to guide humanity towards the right direction.

“some magic of biogenetic manipulation—not permanent, of course, lest humanity pollute the intentions of its Creator—everyone would become super capable. Or enter the leisure class. Or ascend to some digital faux godhood.”

The world building here is nicely done. The environment was immersive, and the little details, including the repercussions of climate-change and the global warming crisis, were handled very well. The author's attempt at merging the concepts of Buddhism with late 21st century social issues involving AI rights was smoothly executed and felt very natural. The philosophical musings found throughout the book were very intriguing to read and quite thought provoking. S.B. Divya does a great job changing the narrative of the value of human life from "All living things deserve equal rights and respect" to "All forms of intelligence deserve equal rights and respect". What constitutes an individual living entity worthy of compassionate treatment is no longer dependent on whether it is biologically alive, but on its capacity for intelligence. In that sense, how are advanced AIs different than humans? The progression of collective human thought from our current century to the time period in this book is a very realistic one, and I could very easily envision it happening. The world S.B. Divya built seems to be a very real potential one, and she did an excellent job in describing potential problems we will have as a society, with AI outsourcing human labour and humans attempting to compete by enhancing their cognitive abilities through toxic means. The sociological component of this world was a great touch, and was equally relevant in the world-building as the more technical aspects of the components of Divya's futuristic universe.

As for the characters, we follow two point of views in this story, each meant to show us the different aspects of the world the author crafted. Welga, a former agent of the US government who has left those days behind after a certain tragedy and is working in a different field, is our classic "hero" who is determined to stop the Machinehood and save humanity. Through her eyes, we see an action-packed aspect of the world, with battles and political intrigue dominating her sphere. Our second point of view is that of her sister-in-law Nithya, who gives us a more home-centered point of view, which complements the action-packed chapters of Welga with calmer and more contemplative chapters where we see the day to day life during this period of time. Nithya helps Welga deal with the implications of the symptoms she has been having due to her pill intake, while navigating a disagreement she is going through with her husband. The characters were decent, albeit a bit less developed than the other aspects of the story. Despite this being a more character driven story, what really pushed me to read this book and enjoy it were the ideas and the world itself, more so than the individual characters. The love interests of our two leads were very similar, acting as gentle and supportive partners, and they were "cute" read about but felt a bit indistinguishable. If I were to sum the characterization up, I would say it was a bit simplistic and the weight of the book went more into the world building and the ideas discussed, despite the story being character driven, which led me to not be completely satisfied while reading this work despite really loving the world and story in general.

Overall though, this was a decent book, and I am definitely willing to read more by this author. It's a nice sci-fi work that gets you thinking, and it is both intellectually satisfying while being smooth to read. I definitely recommend and wold want to go back to re-reading it at some point. I will be giving this a 3.75 and will round it up to 4 stars for the sake of the GR rating system that still refuses to add a half-star rating, since I do believe this is a decent book despite needing a few tweaks in characterization to enhance the quality of the narrative. Looking forward to reading more by S.B. Divya!

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“The western way of thinking embraces duality. Good and evil. Man and woman. Mind and body. Human and machine. We reject these false dichotomies. Science has shown that our universe works across a range of possibilities. It embraces the infinite.”