Narrarated by: Robertson Dean
Publisher: Penguin Audio
Total Length: 8 Hours, 19 Minutes
Date Released: September 20, 2007
It has been a while since I've enjoyed a recreational novel, or so I thought. (I don't count The Phoenix Project since that more or less is a text book on DevOps, ToC, Lean, and VisibleOps disguised as a novel). But then I saw this quote from the author,
"Fiction can often tell the truth better than nonfiction. And there is a lot of truth that needs to be told."
The Internet links between North America and the rest of the world severed. Research facilities blown up by hackers gaining access to SCADA devices. The heads of DARPA, the National Science Foundation, and the National Institutes of Health blown up by a suicide bomber. The evolution of a new human species... This cloak and dagger story is filled with twists and turns. The FBI, CIA, DHS, NSA and every other government agency is trying to figure out who is behind these attacks, but it is up to a NYPD detective and an analyst with the 'Special Projects Office, Intelligence Analysis Center' to really crack the case. As far fetched or implausible as the plot line seems, Clarke lays out some very clear reasoning for combining these particular elements and other into Breakpoint.
Questions to Ponder
Given the news articles throughout the past year or so, I wasn't surprised by all the references to China hacking into university research centers or SCADA systems. But had I read this book when it came out back in 2007, I probably would have been fairly surprised by and skeptical of all these vulnerabilities gaping holes in the safety of the everyday life that I take for granted as an American.
Throughout the book, Clarke presents several conflicts of ethical debate, the biggest of which is the question of what it means to be "human". Would genetically engineering someone to have several extra chromosomes change whether they were still human?
Clarke makes an interesting reference to Plato's republic, by bringing up the class system of gold men vs bronze men. Are the changes and advances in technology widening the gap between the haves and the have-nots?
For all the advances that we claim technology has made for us, are we really any better off in terms of happiness or quality of life?
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