FATHER OF THE FUTURE

A man living in a future utopia starts to ask philosophical questions that place him in peril in this SF thriller.

Dash’s protagonist, Cassique, is a “Fixer” in 2853. His job is to go back in time to repair history by extracting important figures and replacing them with specially trained agents. Cassique’s entire world is the product of the supercomputer Father, who runs life in the 29th century. Father is responsible for the virtual realities and sex spas where the genetically created people he produces spend their leisure time. But eventually, Cassique begins to wonder if there shouldn’t be more to life. Hoping to pull Cassique out of his funk, Father agrees to let him borrow an Original, one of those historical figures retrieved from the past. Cassique settles on philosopher and computer programmer Beta D, later adding Albert Einstein. These young versions of those legends are appalled by how sanitized life has become in the future and how people are so docile about Father’s rule. And the longer the two luminaries continue to hack into Father’s records, the more they uncover about the terrifying truth behind his maneuvers. The trio must develop a plan to allow the people of Earth to regain their messy humanity while eluding Father’s watchful eye. The most important accomplishment of Dash’s dystopian novel is that it forces readers to ponder what a utopia should be. Father abolished all that was bad about humanity but he also eliminated everything that was good. His creations live in a world that’s all simulations. When workaholic Cassique is forced to take an extended vacation, he starts to question, in the words of Peggy Lee, “Is That All There Is?”: “In many ways he found past societies more interesting and stimulating than his own, though he was careful never to voice those views.” He misses having a sense of family and community. Coming from earlier eras, Beta and Einstein hammer home what Cassique has missed out on as a human. Having gone back in time, Cassique has witnessed some of these developments himself, causing him to question how advanced his society really is. In this riveting, thought-provoking page-turner, the author makes clear why Cassique makes the choices he does.

This timely, gripping tale deftly illustrates the dangers of putting an artificial intelligence in charge.