Persistence of Vision

Jane can't have secrets. As the leading online influencer, each fraction of her life is streamed for all to watch. Social media hears what she mumbles as she sleeps; sees her recoil in unexplained fear of deep water; leers over the sponsor's logo tattooed between her shoulders. Everyone watches everyone, downvoting undesirables, exposing seditious thoughts, while endless advertising distracts them from the dust storms of their dying world. Private police watch over them with surveillance so complete that they can predict crimes before they occur.

But Jane recalls a different world, where her thoughts could be private and choices could be her own. She plans to wield her influence to make this the future. On the largest marketing holiday of the year, she'll strike. All she needs is to keep her plans secret.

Persistence of Vision is speculative fiction about how social media, big data, and artificial intelligence affect our relationships with one another and with ourselves. Its central question is whether we can still make our own choices when we can no longer keep our lives private, or our thoughts secret.

Dettagli