We Are Dreams in the Eternal Machine

From the award-winning author of Cures for Hunger and Into the Sun, a haunting novel exploring artificial intelligence and the meaning of human existence.

Charged initially with a single task--＂to never harm humans and to protect them＂--an experimental AI project overrides its programming and determines that the best way to accomplish its purpose is to isolate all of the Earth’s remaining seven billion human beings in controlled environments. And to present them with vivid, tactile, imagined worlds--some realistic, others entirely fantastical--in which all desires are fulfilled.

With the help of the Machine, a memorable cast of characters unpack deeply traumatic memories of the past--one rife with violence after a military coup and second civil war in America. Michael, the entrepreneur who designed the original AI, grapples with the impact of his research. Ava, a painter and Michael’s long-ago lover, creates stunning simulated worlds that meld the human with the technological. Their daughter Jae tries to solve the mysteries of her parentage while reliving the harsh reality of life for young women with big ambitions. Haunted by life in the repressive Confederacy, where he was forced to scavenge scrap metal and deal drugs to survive, Simon remembers past loves and losses, guided by the literature he has always turned to in moments of crisis. Raised by the Machine since infancy, Jonah pieces together information about the violence of the past, intent on revenge against the powerful world leaders who caused his family so much pain. And the elusive Lux, whose brilliant programming helped bring the AI to life, dreams of a future in which science will free humans of their limitations and allow them to be reborn as divine machines.

As these characters and their memories collide and coalesce, this daring speculative novel tackles the most pressing issues of our time. The power and potential of AI and virtual reality. Repressive social orders that drive people to violence. Genetic modification and designer babies. Gender roles and class divisions. Addiction and drug crisis. The value of free information and speech. The existence of souls. What it means to be happy. What it means, ultimately, to be human.

Gorgeously written, bold and unforgettable, this is speculative fiction at its finest.

Deni Ellis Béchard is the author of eight previous books of fiction and nonfiction, including Vandal Love, winner of the 2007 Commonwealth Writers Prize, and Into the Sun, winner of the 2016 Midwest Book Award for Literary Fiction and selected by CBC/Radio-Canada as one of the most important books to be read by Canada’s political leadership. His work has received the Nautilus Book Award for Investigative Journalism and has been featured in Best Canadian Essays. He has reported from India, Cuba, Colombia, Iraq, the Democratic Republic of Congo, and Afghanistan, and his writing has been published in dozens of newspapers and magazines, including Salon, the Los Angeles Times, the Paris Review, Pacific Standard, and Foreign Policy.