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After On

Silicon Valley

Rob Reid

$34.99

Paperback

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English
Del Rey
15 June 2018
"A Bonfire of the Vanities for Silicon Valley, this is a thought-provoking satire of the tech world--and the world of the 21st century--from a true Silicon Valley insider.

The definitive novel of today's Silicon Valley, After On flash-captures our cultural and technological moment with up-to-the-instant savvy. Matters of privacy and government intrusion, post-Tinder romance, nihilistic terrorism, artificial consciousness, synthetic biology, and much more are tackled with authority and brash playfulness by New York Times bestselling author Rob Reid.

Meet Phluttr-a diabolically addictive new social network and a villainess, heroine, enemy, and/or bestie to millions. Phluttr has ingested every fact and message ever sent to, from, and about her innumerable users. Her capabilities astound her makers-and they don't even know the tenth of it.

But what's the purpose of this stunning creation? Is it a front for something even darker and more powerful than the NSA? A bid to create a trillion-dollar market by becoming ""The UberX of Sex""? Or a reckless experiment that could spawn the digital equivalent of a middle-school mean girl with enough charisma, dirt, and cunning to bend the entire planet to her will?

Phluttr has it in her to become the greatest gossip, flirt, or matchmaker in history. Or she could cure cancer, bring back Seinfeld, then start a nuclear war. Whatever she does, it's not up to us. But a motley band of Silicon Valley entrepreneurs, venture capitalists, and engineers might be able to influence her.

After On achieves the literary singularity-fusing speculative satire and astonishing reality into a sharp-witted, ferociously believable, IMAX-wide view of our digital age.

Praise for After On

""Rob Reid's mind is like no other known thing in the universe, and this book is a truly spectacular way to discover it.""-Chris Anderson, head of TED

""An extended philosophy seminar run by a dozen insane Cold War heads-of-station, three millennial COOs and that guy you went to college with who always had the best weed but never did his laundry.""-NPR

""An epic cyberthriller peppered with pop-culture references, metadata, and Silicon Valley in-jokes.""-Kirkus Reviews

""It's rare to find a book that combines laugh-out-loud humor and cutting-edge science with profound philosophical speculation. This is that book.""-Analog

"" Rob Reid

writes in a humorous and sarcastic style while unveiling a terrifying and frightening scenario that seems all too real.""-Associated Press"

By:  
Imprint:   Del Rey
Country of Publication:   United States
Dimensions:   Height: 208mm,  Width: 140mm,  Spine: 30mm
Weight:   454g
ISBN:   9781524798079
ISBN 10:   152479807X
Pages:   576
Publication Date:  
Audience:   General/trade ,  ELT Advanced
Format:   Paperback
Publisher's Status:   Active

Reviews for After On (Silicon Valley)

An extended philosophy seminar run by a dozen insane Cold War heads-of-station, three millennial COOs and that guy you went to college with who always had the best weed but never did his laundry. --NPR An epic cyberthriller peppered with pop-culture references, metadata, and Silicon Valley in-jokes. --Kirkus Reviews It's rare to find a book that combines laugh-out-loud humor and cutting-edge science with profound philosophical speculation. This is that book. --Analog [Rob Reid] writes in a humorous and sarcastic style while unveiling a terrifying and frightening scenario that seems all too real. --Associated Press Enter a near-future Silicon Valley that is hilariously, creepily, mind-bogglingly fantastic, yet at the same time all too believable. It might turn out this way. No, really, it might! Along with After On's diabolically ingenious plot, there are crazy-plausible web startups, delicious parodies of social media, and a surprisingly convincing theory of human consciousness. --Chris Anderson, head of TED Reading After On is like attending a master class in nearly every major issue haunting not only the tech industry but society itself. Only the professor is also a stand-up comic with a perfect ear for the foibles of Silicon Valley's most sacred cows. Part AI thriller, part arch social commentary, and part rollicking farce, After On will leave you smarter about just about everything the human species needs to work on if we're going to outlive our own creations--and our obsessions with them. --John Battelle, co-founder, NewCo, Federated Media, and Wired The future is already here--it's just for those who read Reid! --Steve Jurvetson, venture capitalist, Draper Fisher Jurvetson Rob Reid doesn't write science fiction; he writes future history. After On is the best account I've read of how superintelligence will arrive and what it will mean for all of us. Hilarious, frightening, believable, and marvelously constructed--After On has it all. --Hugh Howey, New York Times bestselling author of Wool After On is smart, hilarious, and properly cynical about our connected world. The story unfolds in surprising and fiendish ways, and while you're laughing you'll learn enough to confound a wily MBA, manipulate a board of directors, and maybe even outfox a superintelligence. --Ken Fisher, founder and editor in chief, Ars Technica Topics like AI, neuroscience, quantum computing, and gene splicing are usually both a blessing and a curse: incredibly fascinating material explained super-boringly. After On manages to be an exception to the rule, weaving all of those topics into a funny, delightful story that's full of surprises. --Tim Urban, creator, Wait But Why Rips the lid off Silicon Valley! And what lies beneath. --Stewart Brand, creator, Whole Earth Catalog [Reid] writes in a humorous and sarcastic style while unveiling a terrifying and frightening scenario that seems all too real. --The Associated Press [After On is] like an extended philosophy seminar run by a dozen insane Cold War heads-of-station, three millennial COOs and that guy you went to college with who always had the best weed but never did his laundry. -- NPR An epic cyberthriller peppered with pop-culture references, metadata, and Silicon Valley in-jokes. --Kirkus Reviews It's rare to find a book that combines laugh-out-loud humor and cutting-edge science with profound philosophical speculation. This is that book. --Analog Enter a near-future Silicon Valley that is hilariously, creepily, mind-bogglingly fantastic, yet at the same time all too believable. It might turn out this way. No, really, it might! Along with After On's diabolically ingenious plot, there are crazy-plausible web startups, delicious parodies of social media, and a surprisingly convincing theory of human consciousness. --Chris Anderson, head of TED Reading After On is like attending a master class in nearly every major issue haunting not only the tech industry but society itself. Only the professor is also a stand-up comic with a perfect ear for the foibles of Silicon Valley's most sacred cows. Part AI thriller, part arch social commentary, and part rollicking farce, After On will leave you smarter about just about everything the human species needs to work on if we're going to outlive our own creations--and our obsessions with them. --John Battelle, co-founder, NewCo, Federated Media, and Wired The future is already here--it's just for those who read Reid! --Steve Jurvetson, venture capitalist, Draper Fisher Jurvetson Rob Reid doesn't write science fiction; he writes future history. After On is the best account I've read of how superintelligence will arrive and what it will mean for all of us. Hilarious, frightening, believable, and marvelously constructed--After On has it all. --Hugh Howey, New York Times bestselling author of Wool After On is smart, hilarious, and properly cynical about our connected world. The story unfolds in surprising and fiendish ways, and while you're laughing you'll learn enough to confound a wily MBA, manipulate a board of directors, and maybe even outfox a superintelligence. --Ken Fisher, founder and editor in chief, Ars Technica Topics like AI, neuroscience, quantum computing, and gene splicing are usually both a blessing and a curse: incredibly fascinating material explained super-boringly. After On manages to be an exception to the rule, weaving all of those topics into a funny, delightful story that's full of surprises. --Tim Urban, creator, Wait But Why Rips the lid off Silicon Valley! And what lies beneath. --Stewart Brand, creator, Whole Earth Catalog


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