The definitive novel of todayâs 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 Phluttrâa 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 makersâand they donât even know the tenth of it.
But whatâs 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 âThe UberX of Sexâ? 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, itâs 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 singularityâfusing speculative satire and astonishing reality into a sharp-witted, ferociously believable, IMAX-wide view of our digital age.
Narrated by Sean Kenin and January LaVoy, with: Felicia Day: NETGRRRL.COM Patrick Rothfuss: Special Field Operative Brock Hogan John Hodgman: Charles Henry Higgensworth III Tom Merritt: voice of TheNew York Times Jesse Cox: Whistle Blowings Blog Leo Laporte: voice of the San Francisco Chronicle
Advance praise for After On
âEnter 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 Onâs diabolically ingenious plot, there are crazy-plausible web startups, delicious parodies of social media, and a surprisingly convincing theory of human consciousness.ââChris Anderson, head of TED
âReading 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 Valleyâs 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 weâre going to outlive our own creationsâand our obsessions with them.ââJohn Battelle, co-founder, NewCo, Federated Media, and Wired
âThe future is already hereâitâs just for those who read Reid!ââSteve Jurvetson, venture capitalist, Draper Fisher Jurvetson
âRob Reid doesnât write science fiction; he writes future history. After On is the best account Iâve read of how superintelligence will arrive and what it will mean for all of us. Hilarious, frightening, believable, and marvelously constructedâAfter On has it all.ââHugh Howey, New York Times bestselling author of Wool
After On: A Novel of Silicon Valley (Unabridged) - Rob Reid
The definitive novel of todayâs 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 Phluttrâa 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 makersâand they donât even know the tenth of it.
But whatâs 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 âThe UberX of Sexâ? 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, itâs 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 singularityâfusing speculative satire and astonishing reality into a sharp-witted, ferociously believable, IMAX-wide view of our digital age.
Narrated by Sean Kenin and January LaVoy, with: Felicia Day: NETGRRRL.COM Patrick Rothfuss: Special Field Operative Brock Hogan John Hodgman: Charles Henry Higgensworth III Tom Merritt: voice of TheNew York Times Jesse Cox: Whistle Blowings Blog Leo Laporte: voice of the San Francisco Chronicle
Advance praise for After On
âEnter 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 Onâs diabolically ingenious plot, there are crazy-plausible web startups, delicious parodies of social media, and a surprisingly convincing theory of human consciousness.ââChris Anderson, head of TED
âReading 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 Valleyâs 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 weâre going to outlive our own creationsâand our obsessions with them.ââJohn Battelle, co-founder, NewCo, Federated Media, and Wired
âThe future is already hereâitâs just for those who read Reid!ââSteve Jurvetson, venture capitalist, Draper Fisher Jurvetson
âRob Reid doesnât write science fiction; he writes future history. After On is the best account Iâve read of how superintelligence will arrive and what it will mean for all of us. Hilarious, frightening, believable, and marvelously constructedâAfter On has it all.ââHugh Howey, New York Times bestselling author of Wool