In a treeless dystopia run by robots, glimmers of humanity and hope

There’s a doomsday tinge to as we speak’s information that leaves us in a everlasting state of excessive alert. Forest fires rage. Hurricanes hit early and with extra severity. Synthetic intelligence picks up what we’re pondering. It was even lately reported that the results of local weather change are so profound they’re slowing the velocity of the Earth’s rotation, barely growing the size of our days, and probably messing with the pc programs that management GPS navigation and the facility grid. Is it any surprise, then, that up to date fiction is rife with work that imagines what it will be wish to survive the top of the world as we all know it?

In “Hum,” Helen Phillips has written an eerie and electrical novel that blurs the strains between dystopia and actuality. What makes this particularly creepy is how masterfully she faucets the sense we really feel in our personal lives that what was as soon as the stuff of sci-fi has seeped into the on a regular basis. An existential nervousness hangs over her protagonists, which in flip infects the reader. And whereas this isn’t a pleasing sensation, Phillips’ expertise as a stylist and eager observer of human nature preserve us feverishly turning pages. And her sudden humor lightens the temper.

Protagonist Could Webb and her household occupy a treeless, overheated planet that feels post-apocalyptic, but there was no apocalypse — like one thing straight out of Dr. Seuss’ “The Lorax”: What has rendered their city panorama bleak and quasi-inhabitable is a gradual, poisonous combo of worldwide warming, consumption tradition and know-how — although the latter can also be what allows “regular” life. AI-powered robots, often called “hums,” are as quite a few as individuals, filling important jobs and programmed to supply patiently delivered recommendation on any drawback, together with verbal prompts to purchase issues that algorithms counsel will tempt customers.

We encounter our first hum on the primary web page. It’s wielding a surgical instrument that may subtly however completely alter Could’s face so she’s going to now not be identifiable to the gadgets surveilling metropolis dwellers. Could’s sole purpose for opting to be a guinea pig on this startup’s experiment is financial: She’s unemployed (changed by a hum), and going beneath the knife will internet her the equal of 10 months’ wage. Casting apart her personal doubts concerning the operation — and people of her husband, Jem — she hopes the inflow of money will ease the household’s monetary woes and that her look gained’t change so drastically her children will probably be unable to acknowledge her. Within the novel’s opening scene: “The needle inched nearer to her eye, and she or he tried to not flinch. … The hum paused to dip its needle-finger in antiseptic but once more, then re-extended its arm, a meticulous surgeon.” When it’s over, the hum reassures its affected person: “‘Lovely, Could.’ … She sensed that the hum was not declaring her stunning however reasonably was reacting to its personal handiwork.”

Could is mom to 2 younger kids — daughter Lu and son Sy — who haven’t recognized a time when the air was largely breathable or when their wrists weren’t connected 24/7 to “bunnies,” an excessive model of modern-day smartphones. Not carrying them is verboten; with out them, mother and father and native authorities can’t monitor their bodily location and important bodily features. Lu and Sy have fashioned tight bonds with their bunnies and by no means need to half with them. However craving a household trip with out display screen time, Could envisions a bunny-free weekend on the Botanical Gardens, an expensive digital biosphere the place guests can faux they’re in an actual forest. Jem is doubtful each about splurging and parting with their telephones, however as soon as they enter this cool oasis, with its waterfalls and strawberries and starry skies, all doubts dissolve. After just a few days, Could and Jem agree the expertise has revived them. She remarks: “It doesn’t really feel like an phantasm to me.” He replies: “That’s why it’s a very good phantasm.”

However on this alternate but believable universe, being offline is not a good suggestion. Disconnecting out of your system equals dropping your guard, and vigilance is required — a painful lesson Could learns when her children get lost and she or he has no technique to monitor them.

Whereas Phillips is portraying a near-future that many people can simply think about, she can also be excavating the terrors of motherhood, amid its joys, as she did brilliantly in her acclaimed 2019 novel, “The Want.” Dad and mom have at all times feared for his or her kids’s security, however this era of writers is contending with an array of unknowns that elevate the stakes, not the least of which is an epidemic of isolation and loneliness. Could’s household retreats at evening into particular person “wooms,” cocoon-like enclosures that silo them, the place they’ll entry recollections and streaming providers or converse with Siri-like confidants. When Could hungers to unlock her withholding husband’s innermost ideas, she slips into his woom when he’s away to parse his search historical past.

Satirically, the kindest, sanest creatures on this oddly stunning novel are the hums, who aren’t topic to the angst and apprehension people can’t escape. When a hum who involves Could’s rescue visits the Webbs’ condo, the household appears to neglect it isn’t human. Could invitations the hum to dine with them, and the hum agrees.

“‘Come!’ the kids mentioned breathlessly, guiding the hum to the seat on the head of the small eating desk. … ‘We’d like 5 place mats,’ Lu introduced. ‘Really, Lu,’ the hum mentioned, ‘I don’t eat.’ ‘Oh,’ Lu mentioned, ‘okay.’ ‘However if you’d like, I can faux to eat,’ the hum mentioned.”

Phillips has given us lots to chew on, however there’s additionally one thing comforting embedded on this cautionary story: an homage to our adaptability, our capability to like and our willingness, nonetheless reluctantly, to embrace the brand new. Whereas nostalgia isn’t on this author’s arsenal, she is a fierce critic of “progress.” Right here she urges us to not give up our energy to decide on and to withstand, however to be considerate warriors, deciding for ourselves how we’ll dwell on our imperiled planet.

Leigh Haber is a author, editor and publishing strategist. She was director of Oprah’s Guide Membership and books editor for O, the Oprah Journal.