Geo asked Eliot Peper:

I've really enjoyed your books so far, and I'm really looking forward to your future work. One aspect I really loved was the idea of the "feed-less bar" where they go to meet and hang out without the constant interruption of the electronic/network interruptions and surveillance. Curious where that idea came from. Also, what do you see gives you hope about the state of technology and its place in the world?

Eliot Peper The idea for Analog emerged from a late-night conversation among friends. We were sharing a bottle of wine and imagining how wonderful it would be to have an off-grid social club where interactions weren't mediated or interrupted by the digital world—an institution that would have particular relevance in the technology-obsessed San Francisco Bay Area, where I happen to live.

None of us got our acts sufficiently together to build the real thing, so I fleshed it out in fiction. In doing so, I realized how useful Analog could be as a literary device: by stripping the feed away from the characters, it illustrates the role it plays in their lives.

People give me hope. Every time someone reacts with patience when a situation might call for anger, every time someone chooses generosity, every time someone takes the long view, these decisions to be better by doing better inspire me to open my heart to the world. Technology is a powerful tool that can be used for good or ill—we've raised billions out of poverty and saved countless lives from preventable disease and we've invented horrific weapons and autocratic panopticons—so ultimately how we choose to use technology will determine the shape of the future we pass down to our children and grandchildren.

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