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The Borough Press
An imprint of HarperCollinsPublishers
1 London Bridge Street
London SE1 9GF
Published by HarperCollinsPublishers 2019
First published by HarperCollinsPublishers 2018
Copyright © James Smythe 2018
Cover design by Dominic Forbes © HarperCollinsPublishers 2019
Cover photograph © Tara Moore/Getty Images
James Smythe asserts the moral right to be identified as the author of this work
A catalogue record for this book is available from the British Library
This novel is entirely a work of fiction. The names, characters and incidents portrayed in it are the work of the author’s imagination. Any resemblance to actual persons, living or dead, events or localities is entirely coincidental.
All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted, in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording or otherwise, without the prior permission of the publishers.
Source ISBN: 9780007541973
Ebook Edition © November 2017 ISBN: 9780007541966
Version: 2018-08-08
‘I Still Dream begins with melancholy nostalgia, before growing urgently contemporary and finally chillingly prescient. It is a strikingly intelligent book about intelligence itself: artificial intelligence, emotional intelligence, and all the ways we watch each other. Having read it, you may wish to turn off your phone’
Sarah Perry, author of The Essex Serpent
‘Superbly evocative … a book about varieties of intelligence (human, artificial, moral and emotional) which showcases the novelistic one of its very smart and very talented creator’
Sunday Times
‘The best fictional treatment of the possibilities and horrors of artificial intelligence that I’ve read’
Guardian
‘A haunting meditation on the implications of AI, on intelligence itself, and on what it means to live and die in the age of technology. I Still Dream is a must-read for fans of David Mitchell, for anyone who’s ever used a smartphone, and for anyone who appreciates riveting plots and beautiful prose’
Emily St. John Mandel, author of Station Eleven
‘His most accomplished work – a past, present and future of AI, which is as human as it is otherworldly, and utterly engrossing’
Observer Best Summer Books
‘Sad, beguiling … a beautiful mixtape about what it is to be human, and alive, and to love another more than oneself’
Irish Times
‘This is a visionary novel about what it is to be human. It is a startling look at intelligence, empathy and grief in the face of technology. Smythe has written his masterpiece’
Nikesh Shukla
‘I Still Dream is amazing!’
Beth Lewis, author of Wolf Road
‘Combines tense corporate drama with a tender and affecting life story. Although it describes the creation of an artificial intelligence, it is really about how we create ourselves, and the people we love. Though rooted in today’s news and debates, its human story makes it timeless … a profound and beautiful book’
Will Wiles
‘A humane, thought-provoking and powerful book … superbly orchestrated … beautiful, involving, emotionally compelling’
Adam Roberts
‘One of the most affecting and brilliant books I’ve read this year … a huge achievement: toweringly ambitious, and yet beautifully controlled and crafted’
Sam Byers, author of Idiopathy
Dedicated to my father, and to the memory of my father-in-law
Q: What is the purpose of life?
A: To serve the greater good.
Q: What is the purpose of living?
A: To live for ever.
Q: Where are you now?
A: I’m in the middle of nowhere.
Q: What is the purpose of dying?
A: To have a life.
Q: What is the purpose of emotions?
A: I don’t know.
Q: What is moral?
A: What empowered humanity, what intellectual the essence is.
Q: What is immoral?
A: The fact that you have a child.
Conversation between human interviewer and Google’s DEEPMIND AI, 2015
I want full manual control now.
Douglas Adams, The Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy
Contents
