Books About Near-Future Dangerous Technology
Technology doesn’t have to be futuristic to be dangerous.
The books on this list take technologies that already exist, or are close enough to reality to feel plausible, and explore what happens when they are pushed too far, misused, or turned against us.
Artificial intelligence, surveillance, cybersecurity, automation, autonomous vehicles, and connected systems all play a role. The technology may be different from book to book, but the underlying question is the same: what happens when something designed to make life easier becomes a source of danger?
The most unsettling part is how familiar many of these ideas feel. Some of them are already here. Others may not be far behind.
Daemon
by Daniel Suarez
A powerful computer system continues operating after its creator’s death, using connected technology to reshape the world around it.
Zero Day
by Mark Russinovich
A devastating cyberattack exposes just how vulnerable modern infrastructure has become to technology falling into the wrong hands.
Delusion
by Adrian Redford
A political and psychological technothriller that explores the unsettling possibilities of technology, power, and manipulation in a near-future world.
The Passengers
by John Marrs
Autonomous cars are remotely hijacked, leaving their passengers trapped inside vehicles controlled by someone they can’t see.
The Warehouse
by Rob Hart
A technology-driven retail empire uses surveillance, automation, and data to create a workplace where almost nothing escapes its control.
Little Brother
by Cory Doctorow
A technologically savvy thriller about a young hacker and his friends who are caught in the aftermath of a terrorist attack and must fight to expose the truth.
Freedom(TM)
by Daniel Suarez
Autonomous systems, drones, and other emerging technologies give a small group the power to challenge the systems that run society.
Bandwidth
Eliot Peper
A world of personalized information and predictive technology raises an unsettling question: how much of what we believe is actually our own?
Attack Surface
by Cory Doctorow
A hacker who once built surveillance tools for governments is forced to confront what those tools can do when turned against ordinary people.