From award winning tech-journalist and io9 founder Annalee Newitz comes a highly anticipated science fiction debut! Autonomous will pull listeners into a dark and dirty world that feels, at times, a bit too familiar. Earth, 2144. Jack is an anti-patent scientist turned drug pirate, traversing the world in a submarine as a pharmaceutical Robin Hood, fabricating cheap scrips for poor people who can’t otherwise afford them. But her latest drug hack has left a trail of lethal overdoses as people become addicted to their work, doing repetitive tasks until they become unsafe or insane. Hot on her trail, an unlikely pair: Eliasz, a brooding military agent, and his robotic partner, Paladin. As they race to stop information about the sinister origins of Jack’s drug from getting out, they begin to form an uncommonly close bond that neither of them fully understand. And underlying it all is one fundamental question: Is freedom possible in a culture where everything, even people, can be owned?
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The uncertainty, fear, rage, despair, and, ultimately, hope that the robots experience are all perfectly voiced by [Jennifer] Ikeda. A thrilling examination of intellectual property rights and personal identity.
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