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Fiction with a technology theme

34 replies

barchestergirl · 11/11/2013 20:21

I'm teaching a course about the impacts of technology on society, which is based around films and books. I need to find fiction with an interesting take on this - it doesn't need to be sci-fi, as long some there is some interesting technology angle - stuff like what it means to be human (can robots feel?), what is the impact of the ability to monitor us all online - anything, really. I'd love a range of periods (e.g., Victorian (or earlier) take on the growing impact of technology right up to modern) and especially a variety of format - some poetry or plays would be great, as well as short stories and novels.

If anyone has any ideas of stuff to get the next generation thinking, let me know!

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blackandwhiteandredallover · 23/11/2013 17:57

The Circle by Dave Eggers- I'm reading it at the moment it's kind of like a 1984 for the modern generation, about an all-poweful company called The Circle, which is like google/facebook/twitter/amazon etc combined. It's fascinating!

iseenodust · 18/11/2013 11:01

What about that Sandra Bullock film where all trace of her identity went? You didn't say it had to be quality Wink.

iseenodust · 18/11/2013 10:58

Prey by Micheal Crichton in which microbots go rogue. See the Amazon reviews.

HowardTJMoon · 16/11/2013 15:36

The Difference Engine by William Gibson and Bruce Sterling is an alternate history novel based on the idea "What would the Victorian era be like if Babbage had succeeded in building his mechanical computer?"

Charles Stross' Halting State and its sequel Rule 34 are near-future novels where the technology is not that far advanced from what we have today. They explore the social issues and new crimes that may result from that advance.

Sympathywherehaveyougone · 16/11/2013 14:28

Super Sad True Love Story would be ideal for this. Set in the nearish future it has quite a realistic portrayal of how things could be with tech, surveillance etc. Don't be put off by the title.

KatyMac · 16/11/2013 13:35

Anne McCaffrey wrote a Short Story (Dull Drums?) about society & the impact of computers I think it was in 'Get off the Unicorn' a collection of her stories

Weegiemum · 16/11/2013 13:30

Also The Lathe of Heaven and Threshold by Ursula LeGuin.

Weegiemum · 16/11/2013 13:26

Pretty much everything by william Gibson (especially Neuromancer) and Phillip K Dick.

For film what about Metropolis? 1927 film by Fritz Lang.

Cooroo · 16/11/2013 13:22

I loved Anathem too! Must re-read. Thanks Cote for reminding me.

lemonpoppyseed · 13/11/2013 23:21

The Circle by Dave Eggers
Little Brother by Cory Doctorow

bsc · 13/11/2013 23:06

Thank you! Yes, Neuromancer.

TheSurgeonsMate · 13/11/2013 22:13

The Night Sessions, Ken MacLeod - some robots get religion in a society where religion has been marginalised.

Indith · 13/11/2013 22:01

There are some sort stories you can get on kindle, David wailing is the author. They have Facebook related names, time line, friend request and stuff like that. They are about people getting totally obsessed and bagging everything on their social networking. and social networking knowing everything about us. They are pretty decent little stories.

CoteDAzur · 13/11/2013 21:56

Neuromancer? Yes, it was good. Idoru was I think my favourite book by William Gibson (although I can't remember much about it now).

bsc · 13/11/2013 21:04

I was thinking of older things like Idoru and the famous one which neame excapes me Confused

CoteDAzur · 13/11/2013 20:54

Gibson was great until All Tomorrow's Parties (1999) which was just not very good. His later books got progressively worse, too. Pattern Recognition, for example, was truly awful. I'd say he has gone senile but his tweets on Twitter are great.

Neal Stephenson keeps getting better, though. One of his latest, Anathem, was mind-blowing. His latest Reamde was a disappointment, but I can forgive him that once Wink

bsc · 13/11/2013 20:43

Ha! Cote- Neal Stephenson is also one of my favourite writers (prob 2nd to Murakami)... so how can you like Dune?

Grin

I was going to recommend Gibson, and Vernor Vinge's "Fire Upon the Deep" or Mary Doria Russell's "The Sparrow".

Non-fiction, what about "city of Bits" by William J Mitchell.

If you're happy with more sci-fi recommendations, then also Tad Williams' "Otherland" - over 4 books, but 1 story arc, about a VR world, and much more...

CoteDAzur · 13/11/2013 09:06

Neal Stephenson is one of my favorite writers, ever.

Snow Crash is indeed brilliant. It is in Time magazine's list of 100 Best English-Language Books Of All Time (published since Time debuted in 1923).

lookatmycameltoe · 13/11/2013 05:47

I recently read 'kiss me first' by Lottie Moggach.

NOT great literature I might add but an interesting look on the power of social media, stalking online and modern relationships in the Facebook era.

MrsCakesPremonition · 13/11/2013 02:04

This article is quite interesting about the railways in fiction]] with plenty of ideas for books.

What about Elizabeth Gaskell's novel Cranford about the impact of the arrival of the railway to a small town?

exexpat · 13/11/2013 01:52

Asimov - I Robot
Snow Crash - Neal Stephenson
Lots of things by William Gibson

By technology are you including things like railways and general industrialisation? They are background themes in a lot of 19thC novels.

MrsCakesPremonition · 13/11/2013 01:17

Hitchhikers Guide might be an interesting read because the central piece of technology (the Guide itself) was entirely fictional when the book was written. It is now used by millions of people around the world everyday (aka iPad or tablet). Right down to the handy wipe-clean cover!

Scarlettsstars · 13/11/2013 00:50

I'd recommend Marge Piercys Body of Glass - about cyborgs/ electronic consciousnesses set in a future dominated by corporations. Draws parallels between the plight of Jews living in ghettos in the past and the electronic ghettos of the cyber world. Poems: mum, what about Edwin Muirs The Horses? Post apocalyptic take on the nature and forms of 'technology'

CoteDAzur · 12/11/2013 22:28

Futuristic for the '70s when it was written maybe.

BerstieSpotts · 12/11/2013 22:00

Ah, true, I was just thinking about the fact it had this futuristic technology in it, and Marvin the paranoid android etc? But yes it probably is a bit of a stretch.