These days, when I read tech news, I feel impressed, excited, and most of all, terrified. We are moving so fast, with so many pitfalls. Self-driving cars that crash, Bitcoin scams that drain retirement savings, deepfake videos that can change election results, algorithms that redirect children to step-by-step instructions for self-harm.
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It’s sometimes difficult to know how to talk about the risks of technologies that seemed implausible about five minutes ago. Enter tech thrillers, which uncover the ethical layers of our relationship with technology, entertaining us while forcing us to confront the consequences of constant innovation.
The term “thriller” is notoriously vague. Some people think a thriller has to have spies or shootouts. Others expect a cat and mouse marital marriage. To me, a thriller is simply a fast-paced, exciting novel (a subjective assessment, of course), with a dark tone and life-or-death consequences. In tech thrillers, this darkness originates in the ever-increasing tensions between technology and human nature.
These novels generally involve a speculative element, exaggerating existing technology to highlight its dangers. Robots become fully sentient. Virtual reality becomes completely immersive. Devices begin to actively monitor humans. Lately, these fictional scenarios tend to focus on artificial intelligence, which is not surprising given the increasingly urgent public debates about AI.
When reading these novels, it can sometimes be difficult to tell where real technology ends and speculative technology begins. As artificial intelligence and biotechnology evolve by the minute, some readers may misidentify some very real threats as imaginary.
That’s the challenge and risk of writing about technology. In the years it takes to write a book (or even in the twelve months it takes to get from revisions to shelves), the world can evolve to the point of making the novel’s content obsolete—or all too real. Some deepfake horrors that I added to my latest novel, Advantageous positionseemed speculative when I started writing it, and are now part of reality.
Colin Winnette, whose recent novel Users offers a damning look at a virtual reality company in the near future, had a similar experience: “I wrote what I thought was sort of an exaggeration of reality, and then in the course of publishing the book, the reality quickly caught up with this exaggeration. and everything in the book suddenly seemed more possible in a way I hadn’t really anticipated. It was quite exciting, but also terrifying.
The best tech thrillers accept this risk. The books on this list live on the cutting edge, using the vast possibilities of fiction to imagine what comes next, for technology and for the people who use it. In a world where technology companies pursue innovation for innovation’s sake, these novels redirect our attention to the human element, trying to anticipate the potential social costs of these advances. And they do it in a way that keeps you in suspense the whole time.
Michael Crichton, Prey
We can’t talk about techno-thrillers without talking about Michael Crichton, and it’s almost impossible to choose the best novel from his famous work. But although Crichton is probably best known for his treatment of biological technology in The Andromeda strain And Jurassic Park (which I will always have a soft spot for, having spent most of my childhood exhausting VHS tapes of the film adaptations), the book that best captures the potential horror inherent in artificial intelligence is his 2002 novel. Preyin which scientists develop a type of nanobots that become sentient and deadly, capable of infesting and devouring humans. As killer swarms begin to infect the scientists who created them, a computer programmer must act quickly to destroy the swarms before they kill his loved ones. A section in which nanobots create perfect replicas of characters resonates with contemporary conversations about deepfakes, and the novel as a whole speaks to growing fears about the autonomy of artificial intelligence.
Samantha Schweblin, Little eyes
Have you ever had a conversation with a friend about an ocean-themed costume party, then received an Instagram ad for shark suits a few hours later? Have you ever wondered how much our devices actually influence our lives? If so, you might sympathize with the characters in Samanta Schweblin’s film. Little eyestranslated into English by Megan McDowell. In Schweblin’s imagined universe, the world has become enchanted by kentukis, an electronic pet equipped with a camera that allows people thousands of miles away to observe your every move. Through short, globe-spanning chapters, Schweblin traces the allure and danger of these Tamagotchis on steroids, exploring how far people will go in search of connection. The structure of the novel is more fragmented and experimental than that of a typical thriller, but the disturbing tone and pervasive violence can rival even the darkest detective fiction.
Sierra Greer, Annie Bot
Sierra Greer took the book world by storm last spring with Annie Bota novel told by a sex robot who gains sentience at the behest of its owner, then begins to dream of a life beyond himself. This novel is a clever twist on the classic domestic thriller, using the intimate environment of a home to address broader societal conversations about freedom and artificial intelligence. After all, “sex and lies” takes on a whole new meaning when a party was invented for sex and taught only to lie. Greer executes the concept wonderfully: Annie’s voice is the perfect blend of robotic and human. I loved seeing Annie gradually become independent, learning to fend for herself and protect others, even as her upset owner becomes more and more violent and vengeful. In most of the other novels on this list, technological developments are a source of danger. In Annie Botthe technology itself is the protagonist. This reversal creates a psychological thrill ride that also delivers a powerful commentary on power, identity and humanity.
Ken Liu, The hidden girl and other stories
I learned about Ken Liu’s work from one of my students, Luis Ferrer, who wrote his senior thesis on Liu this fall. This collection brings together eighteen stories and an extract from a novel, some of which take place in fantasy worlds or distant futures. But the collection also features other stories that speak to more specific current fears. There is a series of several linked stories starting with “The Gods Shall Not Be Chained” – the series that Luis focused on and which also inspired the TV series. Pantheon— takes place in a world where it has become possible to upload people’s brains onto computers, transforming them into digital consciousnesses and effectively allowing their minds to “live” forever. In another story, “Byzantine Empathy,” cryptocurrency-savvy nonprofits begin turning real atrocities into violent VR experiences to get users to donate.
The story that hit a little too close to home for me was “Real Artists,” in which an aspiring filmmaker learns that the films she loves are secretly made by artificial intelligence. An advanced algorithm called “Big Semi” tracks audience responses in real time and creates countless story iterations until it hits the “exact emotional curve guaranteed to make them laugh and cry in all the right places” – then uses this information to make “perfect films”. .” When Big Semi’s film studio offers the protagonist a job, she discovers that in this world (as in ours), AI’s success depends on harnessing human creative expertise.
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