Operation Bounce House

All New Sonoran colonist Oliver Lewis ever wanted to do is run the family ranch and keep their aging fleet of intelligent agriculture bots ticking. But now the colossal Apex Corporation has been hired to commence an “eviction action” – exterminate all life on New Sonora in preparation for a reboot. And they charge bored Earthers for the opportunity to design their own war machines, remotely pilot them, and make it a game. The game is called Operation Bounce House . . . And New Sonora is it...

My Review

Would you shoot terrorists in a video game?

What about terrorists in real life BUT the player is an armed robot and you can control it using a VR headset?

And what if the terrorists are just people and your government and media and businesses are just pushing a narrative to make money?

Would you still go rampaging?

Dont think you would? Sounds messed up? I don’t know, people are more divided than ever before today, and techno fueled propaganda plays a huge role in that.

This book explores that theme, and presents a pretty stark image of a humanity divided and left morally void.

I really enjoyed the story, it made me think about the role technology should have in a large society, and it made me think about the failure modes we must navigate around as a large society attempting to pursue a liberal (in the sense of the renaissance) agenda in order to keep our freedoms (and respect those of others) and, to a larger extent, our collective soul from transfiguring into something monstrous.

Oh, also, the book explores AI, its dangers, blessings, and quandaries. All things we need to think about as much as possible right now.

Please read or listen to this (the narrators are awesome), its short, fun, thought provoking.