In M. T. Anderson's fictional world (set a century or two into the future), everyone is connected by an internet-like web called "the feed". The main difference - "the feed" is an integral part of your body. Imagine having a wikipedia inside your brain. "Telepathic" communication with everyone who is currently online. (the "currently online" part refers to basically everyone who is awake and not heavily "damaged"). People talk less and less, and language begins to degrade. Written word is almost non-existent. Children no longer need to learn (as we know it today) in schools - not even how to read.
It’s more now, it’s not so much about the educational stuff but more regarding the fact that everything that goes on, goes on on the feed. All of the feedcasts and the instant news, that’s on there, so there’s all the entertainment ... like their favorite feedcast, this show called "Oh? Wow! Thing!", which has all these kids like us who do stuff but get all pouty, which is what the girls go crazy for, the poutiness.
But the braggest thing about the feed, the thing that made it really big, is that it knows everything you want and hope for, sometimes before you even know what those things are. It can tell you how to get them, and help you make buying decisions that are hard. Everything we think and feel is taken in by the corporations, mainly by data ones like Feedlink and OnFeed and American Feedware, and they make a special profile, one that’s keyed just to you, and then they give it to their branch companies, or other companies buy them, and they can get to know what it is we need, so all you have to do is want something and there’s a chance it will be yours.
So Anderson introduces this 1984-like dystopia (where corporations are the ones pulling the strings), but the interesting part is there are honest benefits to the system, and it seems to evolve naturally, as a proper form of technological progress. It quickly degenerates to madness, though, in more than one way.
The story focuses on several teenagers and their lives, involving pretty much everything you would expect - school, friendship, peer pressure, romance, ... Their lives seem ominously regular, but for the addition of the omnipresent feed, constantly intruding in what would otherwise be a perfectly natural modern-day story.
It's also interesting to look at Anderson's take on evolution of ecological issues in his world, and the way it affects (or doesn't affect) the general population. Obviously, it is possible to get to factual information, but it becomes insanely difficult in a world full of spamming adverts, especially if the ads are specifically tailored to suit each viewers' needs.
I should also note that Anderson has a particularly subtle sense of humor, and the novel is lined with bright remarks here and there to lighten the mood. This also seems to add to the relatability of the story.
He held out his hand. He said, “It is a fine pleasure to meet you and make your acquaintance.” He had a very slight smile, which didn’t change when he moved his mouth. He spoke with this buzzing, flat kind of voice. He said, “I am filled with astonishment at the regularity of your features and the handsome generosity you have shown my daughter. The two of you are close, which gladdens the heart, as close as twin wings torn off the same butterfly.”
Violet said, “You can see why I don’t take him out in public much.”
“The sarcasm of my daughter notwithstanding, it is nonetheless an occasion of great moment to meet one of her erotic attachments. In the line of things, she has not brought them home, but has chosen instead to conduct her trysts at remote locales, perhaps beach huts or oxygen-rich confabularies.”
“The surprising thing is,” said Violet, “when he flunked out of charm school, it was because he couldn’t learn the minuet.”
At the end, though, let me say I feel that "Feed" will not tell you much you don't already know. It's a good topic for discussion, though, and definitely one we should have more often than we do.
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