Machines Like Me (Hardback)
Ian McEwan (author)Published: 18/04/2019
Hot on the heels of his screen adaptations of On Chesil Beach and The Children Act, McEwan turns his incisive authorial eye to the brave new world of artificial intelligence. Rewinding the clock on an alternative eighties Britain McEwan delivers a spry and accomplished novel, set in a place where the Beatles have reformed, Tony Benn has swept into office and radical technology spawns a new generation of artificial humans. A story ripe with questions about consciousness, inevitability and the nature of desire.
Britain has lost the Falklands war, Margaret Thatcher battles Tony Benn for power and Alan Turing achieves a breakthrough in artificial intelligence. In a world not quite like this one, two lovers will be tested beyond their understanding.
Machines Like Me occurs in an alternative 1980s London. Charlie, drifting through life and dodging full-time employment, is in love with Miranda, a bright student who lives with a terrible secret. When Charlie comes into money, he buys Adam, one of the first batch of synthetic humans. With Miranda’s assistance, he co-designs Adam’s personality.
This near-perfect human is beautiful, strong and clever – a love triangle soon forms. These three beings will confront a profound moral dilemma.
Ian McEwan’s subversive and entertaining new novel poses fundamental questions: what makes us human? Our outward deeds or our inner lives? Could a machine understand the human heart? This provocative and thrilling tale warns of the power to invent things beyond our control.
Publisher: Vintage Publishing
ISBN: 9781787331662
Number of pages: 320
Weight: 622 g
Dimensions: 240 x 162 x 32 mm
MEDIA REVIEWS
'McEwan returns with another ambitious, high-concept work... [exploring] some very timely moral dilemmas.' - Economia, The Pick of 2019 Reads
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“Philosophy of being human....”
Ian McEwan has written an interesting alternative history of Britain in the 80s as a background to this highly intelligent and entertaining novel. Britain has lost the Falklands War, Margaret Thatcher battles Tony... More
“Machines Like Me”
I was expecting more - especially after the amount of promotion it got. I was able to accept the alternate future, but not totally sure it was really necessary. Hard follow some of the dialogue i.e. who was speaking.... More
“A chilling view of a future”
I am still to read this, but heard an adaption on Radio 4. A warning about relying on a relationship with a sophisticated himan like robotic friend.
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