Hate’s Recompense by Joseph Gibson is a warning of what the future of America could look like if we’re not careful.
“It is a warning of how a ruthless president could exploit technology to take over the country and eradicate anyone who opposes him,” says the author. “The book is not about the evils of artificial intelligence; it is about the evils of man using technology to enhance his own power.”
In Gibson’s dystopian, near-future America, Nationalist president Ronald Kahn faces a country on the brink of civil war and has hatched a plot to undermine democracy by executing cyberattacks and anthrax-laced bioterrorism. With the country in an uproar, Kahn can declare a state of emergency in the face of a second lethal attack he’ll blame on Iran. The Nationalist answer is to implement an artificial intelligence program called Sentinel to run the country’s infrastructure, complete with chip implants in all citizens under the guise of security and protection. Resistance leaders decide the only answer is to reprogram Sentinel so that control reverts to an artificial intelligence program called Athena whose goals are benevolent and good.
“My point,” says Gibson, “is that technology can save us in this age of pandemics and resource shortages. Implants could allow us to carry out temperature and EKG checks for monitoring of various diseases, and biorhythm authentication could provide foolproof means for controlling supply and demand of resources. I am proposing a benevolent, AI-based overseer that will be programmed to foster the greater good. Whoever controls this awareness will have the power to control the life and death of everyone in the country. Are we ready for this?”
Gibson goes on to explain, “I have envisioned Athena for many years, but the technology has not been here to make it happen. We now have the technology. It is mind-boggling to comprehend the ability of AI to predict the future. If we can program a machine to predict the future, we can also greatly influence the future.
“This can be a very good thing, if done with the right controls. Relinquishing economic and governmental control to a machine, however, presents a universe of ethical issues, dealing with the greater good versus individual freedom, particularly around the fair distribution of resources.”
Q: Did the subject matter and key themes make this book difficult to write?
A: I have spent years researching the underlying technical foundation of Athena, and it was very difficult to try to make it all believable. The power of machine learning, AI and predictive analysis can give a machine god-like power. My hardest task was to make Athena benevolent. Second, in some of my earlier drafts, I had much more around Athena doing social modeling and population control, but I cut all of that fearing that it would be too much to swallow in the first book. I will get there in the next book. Third, it was hard to try to balance being predictive versus prescriptive. So, I had to rely on action to soften the prescriptive aspects. By the way, this book was written to become a movie.
Q: How do you give readers hope and present solutions to avoid the type of world you write about?
A: Technology provides a way for us to manage society at not only the country level but also at the world level. This is mandatory if we are going to survive. Small government is a thing of the past, as is capitalism. I like to think of the future as a technocratic meritocracy. That means we would all be rewarded or punished for what we provide or take away from the greater good, as established by laws uninfluenced by race, religion, greed, politics or fear. In my book, Athena logically prescribes mercy, forgiveness and love to solve the hatred that almost destroys the country. But with love, also comes justice.
Q: What are some of the most interesting facts about your key main characters
A: My female lead, California Senator Aleja Trujillo, is an ex-SEAL who has a very recalcitrant fifteen-year-old daughter, Maria. When Aleja is infected with anthrax because of the president’s attack on his own country, Maria steps in to protect her mother and becomes a hell-on-wheels.
My male lead, Senator Henry Little Hawk from South Dakota, is a Lakota Sioux and a descendant of Crazy Horse. Henry has a vision from his grandfather of a coming genocide against his people, and he connects with his high school friend, Dr. Jenks Kennard, one of the two architects of Athena, to help him stop the president. Jenks then connects with his co-creator of Athena, Bur McAnter, who has gone to work for the president. The two do not see eye to eye on how to manage Athena.
Q: What kind of reader will be drawn to this book
A: I am hoping to attract anyone who is concerned about our current president. My primary goal is to influence the election. After that, I want to build Athena — and, of course, continue to write!
Hate’s Recompense is now available for purchase. Read our review here and learn more about the author on her BookTrib author profile page.
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About Joseph Gibson:
Joseph Gibson has worked for over twenty-five years in emerging technologies and has led the implementations of some of the world’s largest Search and Knowledge Management systems. He is currently engaged in the fields of machine learning, artificial intelligence and intent-based processing in his role as Knowledge Management Lead for a global high-tech corporation. He incorporates his extensive technical background into his fiction, making his writing current and feasible.
