![After On: A Novel of Silicon Valley by [Reid, Rob]](http://web.archive.org./web/20191203110605im_/https://images-na.ssl-images-amazon.com/images/I/41cJYflWIBL._SY346_.jpg)
After writing a book about attending business school, then one about the founders of the Internet, and then a sci-fi comedy; Rob Reid stays true to form by avoiding any form with his new book, After On. Reading a pre-release copy, I had no spoiler effect from book blurbs or reviews so I kept wondering - is it a thriller, a near future sci-fi, or maybe a horror novel? It turns out to be a bit of each, combined to create a great story while raising fundamental, and sometimes frightening, concerns about humanity's technological path. He mixes today’s cutting edge tech with current social, legal and engineering directions and it can be unnerving.
For people in the tech world, characters they know will frequently emerge. Or characters they think they know. Zuba is my favorite, resembling some of the brightest people I’ve ever met. I’m trying to not identify too closely to some of the scum characters, but they are not really farfetched. And Pugwash lives! (Don’t try to parse.)
Finishing the story leaves you second-guessing all kinds of current research and services. Is this site's Terms of Service really acceptable at all? What choice have we? How far lost is our legal system? How irrelevant or just misguided is our government? Should we clamp down on tech now? How could we? How much of a crap shoot is our future really? Not food for thought, more like a banquet.
The idea of a super AI has some very smart people alarmed. Stephen Hawking warned, “The development of full artificial intelligence could spell the end of the human race.” Elon Musk mused that “we are summoning the demon.” Read After On for an alternative scenario.
Disclosure: Rob’s a friend, I read an early copy, and I'm enjoying the final version.
Review
“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
“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
About the Author
Rob Reid founded Listen.com, which built the pioneering online music service Rhapsody, and created the unlimited subscription model since adopted by Apple, Spotify, and many others. He is the author of the New York Times bestseller Year Zero, a work of fiction; Year One, a memoir about student life at Harvard Business School; and Architects of the Web, the first true business history of the Internet. He lives in New York City with his wife, Morgan, and Ashby the Dog.
