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The Empathy Code #1
The Empathy Code
Should robots make life and death decisions? Teacher and humanitarian, Mishra McKenzie, doesn’t think so.
But the international community is torn as the window to outlaw killer robots closes.Coaxed by her activist friends to help them expose a suspicious robotics project, Mishra doubts whether she can pull it off. Or even if she should try. She believes in human rights for all people, including the target for their actions, Philip Templeton. Philip is a crack coder working for the Australian military. He’s awkward, obsessive and disconcertingly sweet.
Hurt one man or endanger the many? Mishra has to decide what’s right and live with the consequences.
But the international community is torn as the window to outlaw killer robots closes.Coaxed by her activist friends to help them expose a suspicious robotics project, Mishra doubts whether she can pull it off. Or even if she should try. She believes in human rights for all people, including the target for their actions, Philip Templeton. Philip is a crack coder working for the Australian military. He’s awkward, obsessive and disconcertingly sweet.
Hurt one man or endanger the many? Mishra has to decide what’s right and live with the consequences.
390 pages, Kindle Edition
First published August 25, 2018
3 people are currently reading
7 people want to read
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Displaying 1 - 5 of 5 reviews
January 28, 2019
One of my colleagues, who knows how much I read, lent me this book which was written by her friend, who works at Victoria University in Wellington. This is an accomplished work, especially for a first novel, about highly original topics, and is difficult to classify - if pushed I'd call it a plausible literary soft technothriller, but it's a smooth easy read and doesn't overwhelm us with science.
Mishra McKenzie is an academic psychology lecturer at the University of Adelaide in Australia. Her flatmate and friends are involved in an international campaign to ban the development of Lethal Automated Weapons Systems, otherwise known as Killer Robots. When they discover that the university has a department secretly developing robotic bees, ostensibly for plant pollination, but that the Australian Defence Service is involved, they persuade Mishra to get close to one of the lead robotics engineers, Philip, to find out more.
Initially repelled by his abrupt manner and social awkwardness, she finds herself attracted to his thoughtful and intense personality, and struggles with the ethics of betraying one man that she cares for, to potentially prevent thousands being killed if the bee experiment is used for the wrong purpose. Falling hard for Mishra, Philip undergoes an experimental treatment to try and suppress his autism and get closer to her, but his new insights about human emotions make it hard to do the job he loves, without losing the person he is.
This was an elegantly written exploration of the moral questions posed by new technologies, with an intriguingly diverse cast of characters who are pleasantly complex. I was pleased to discover that a sequel is pending, as while to plot is complete on it's own, I always want to know what happened next! I was interested in the Transcranial Magnetic Stimulation therapy, which apparently is a real thing, I just hadn't heard of it. Some of the terminology and slang will be unfamiliar to non-Australasian readers, but hey, that's what Google is for, isn't it? Recommended if you like intelligent techno thrillers with an academic edge. 4.5 rounded up for originality and the stunning cover.
Mishra McKenzie is an academic psychology lecturer at the University of Adelaide in Australia. Her flatmate and friends are involved in an international campaign to ban the development of Lethal Automated Weapons Systems, otherwise known as Killer Robots. When they discover that the university has a department secretly developing robotic bees, ostensibly for plant pollination, but that the Australian Defence Service is involved, they persuade Mishra to get close to one of the lead robotics engineers, Philip, to find out more.
Initially repelled by his abrupt manner and social awkwardness, she finds herself attracted to his thoughtful and intense personality, and struggles with the ethics of betraying one man that she cares for, to potentially prevent thousands being killed if the bee experiment is used for the wrong purpose. Falling hard for Mishra, Philip undergoes an experimental treatment to try and suppress his autism and get closer to her, but his new insights about human emotions make it hard to do the job he loves, without losing the person he is.
This was an elegantly written exploration of the moral questions posed by new technologies, with an intriguingly diverse cast of characters who are pleasantly complex. I was pleased to discover that a sequel is pending, as while to plot is complete on it's own, I always want to know what happened next! I was interested in the Transcranial Magnetic Stimulation therapy, which apparently is a real thing, I just hadn't heard of it. Some of the terminology and slang will be unfamiliar to non-Australasian readers, but hey, that's what Google is for, isn't it? Recommended if you like intelligent techno thrillers with an academic edge. 4.5 rounded up for originality and the stunning cover.
August 26, 2018
Killer autonomous robots. science fiction or science fact? And if you deceive and use someone for your own benefit are you any better than the robots? Especially when the person you're using is on the spectrum and has difficulty interpreting emotions.
The Empathy Code wrestles with these dilemmas and more in a thought provoking and often challenging way. The main protagonist, Mishra, is uneasy about getting close to Philip, the bad guy, the programmer, the enemy. But she's equally uneasy about the prospect of autonomous drones; machines deciding who lives and dies. So she presses on with her assignment, not realising that the closer she gets to Philip the more difficult it will become.
Praat's writing is descriptive and flowing, the characters well rounded and relatable, even the unpleasant ones. The story works well, although there are one or two spots where it felt like there were too many characters or some of the action was a little forced. Overall though this is a great book from a talented writer.
The Empathy Code wrestles with these dilemmas and more in a thought provoking and often challenging way. The main protagonist, Mishra, is uneasy about getting close to Philip, the bad guy, the programmer, the enemy. But she's equally uneasy about the prospect of autonomous drones; machines deciding who lives and dies. So she presses on with her assignment, not realising that the closer she gets to Philip the more difficult it will become.
Praat's writing is descriptive and flowing, the characters well rounded and relatable, even the unpleasant ones. The story works well, although there are one or two spots where it felt like there were too many characters or some of the action was a little forced. Overall though this is a great book from a talented writer.
December 27, 2018
An enjoyable book that is fun, sometimes frivolous, and got me entirely sucked into the cast of characters and its deeper, darker issue around lethal autonomous weapons and got me wanting more. Recommended.
August 28, 2018
Really enjoyed this book, good story and well rounded and plausible characters! Looking forward to the sequel that's apparently already in the making.
January 29, 2019
This is a well written book. I liked how it showed all the sides of the robot debate and how autonomy might not be the best. It was creative and very good.
I received a complimentary copy of the book from the author via Voracious Readers Only.
I received a complimentary copy of the book from the author via Voracious Readers Only.
Displaying 1 - 5 of 5 reviews