「经济学人」Hum

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Speculative fiction A gripping new novel about AI captures what it means to be human “Hum” evokes a techno-dystopia that feels eerily realistic Hum. By Helen Phillips. Marysue Rucci Books; 272 pages; $27.99. Atlantic Books; £16.99 The most unnerving dystopian fiction is set in a future that feels imminent. In the unnamed but New York-like city of “Hum” the water tastes like chemicals, and the air feels hot and eye-stingingly polluted, made worse by the smoke billowing from distant fires. Digital devices are distractingly ubiquitous; they include bracelets that track the whereabouts of children and life-size “wooms” for personalised virtual-reality experiences. Many recently employed people are out of work, displaced by a new class of intelligent robots called “hums”. This sounds bleak—and plausibly so. But Helen Phillips, an American novelist, understands that the most powerful stories of possible AI futures, from Philip K. Dick’s “Do Androids Dream of Electric S ………………………………