Burn-In: 2020’s Real-Time Mirror
“There may be a person under there, Keegan thought, but he’s already half-machine. The two surveillance appendages on his back could function like extra limbs and even hold weapons. She looked over at TAMS, sitting on her other side, entirely unhuman, but its fragility seeming more human by far. And what was she, other than caught in the middle?”
-Peter W. Singer and August Cole, Burn-In: A Novel of the Real Robotic Revolution
Author’s note: This review was originally published in June 2020
Burn-In: A Novel of the Real Robotic Revolution, is the latest collaboration between futurists Peter W. Singer and August Cole. Set some years after the Sino-American war in Ghost Fleet, Burn-In tells the tale of America on the brink of a revolution in more ways than one. FBI Agent Lara Keegan and her robot partner, TAMS, find themselves at the center of an unseen fight for the future of humanity all the while touring what has become of the USA in the middle of the AI industrial revolution.
As I made my way through Burn-In, I found myself most horrified not when reading it but when I put the book down to do something else. From CCTV and my devices to my job and even my personal habits, I started seeing Burn-In everywhere. Singer and Cole excel at making tales of the future about the troubles of today. That’s what makes for good science fiction.
The concepts that Burn-In presents are new, yet familiar. Vizglasses and human augmentations are not yet present in mainstream society but the impacts of their predecessors are alive and well in 2020 America. Our personal devices vacuum up every bit of data in our homes, white supremacists and radicals of all sorts are on the rise, and the line between man and machine is already beginning to blur. But don’t just take my word for it, Singer and Cole brought receipts. Like Ghost Fleet, Burn-In features a plethora of footnotes to show the reader just how close the world they live in is to their work of fiction. When you finish the book, your reading has really only just begun.
Burn-In is the first book that I would recommend that you put down, even if you don’t want to, because there is so much to digest. This is a work of fiction that pairs best with a heavy dose of reality. Where Ghost Fleet was a crystal ball with footnotes, Burn-In is a smart mirror with a real-time news feed. I compare Ghost Fleet and Burn-In because I think a lot of the defense types might walk in expecting another Ghost Fleet. This book is not Ghost Fleet. Where Ghost Fleet affirmed your worst fears about America’s readiness for war (or in many cases, made you aware of it), Burn-In will make many of you look in the mirror and challenge your own beliefs.
How would you survive the next industrial revolution?
Where do you fit on the radical spectrum?
Where would you cross the line for what’s right?
What does it mean to be human in an age of machines?
This book should make you uncomfortable. It’s just a matter of how and why. from the mass corporate surveillance and family struggles to the tragedies that hit me personally because they impacted my adopted home of Washington, DC. I have never had a science fiction story fill me with such rage and despair. And that Burn-In landed mere days before the current civil unrest makes it even more timely. Scenes of riots, questions of police ethics, and white supremacist baddies make the story feel so raw. Burn-In is on the bleeding edge of fact and fiction. It truly feels as if Singer and Cole rewrote the story in real time. But the truth is, that sense of prescience is just the mark of good FICINT. From the overarching narrative right down to the small details of the evolution of household devices and DC life (not just the touristy things) that makes it feel so honest, Burn-In is the story we need right now. That is why I call Burn-In a mirror. In 2020, everyone needs to take a long look in the mirror. Depending on who you are, you might not like what you see…but mirrors don’t lie, and neither does Burn-In.
