Books - Prey

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	Books - Prey

Prey is a novel (ISBN 0066214122) by Michael Crichton first published in hardback edition in November 2002 and as a paperback edition in November 2003 by Harper Collins. Like Jurassic Park, the novel serves as a cautionary tale about developments in science and technology; in this case, nanotechnology.

The book features relatively new advances in the computing/scientific community, such as artificial life, emergence (and by extension, complexity), genetic algorithms, and agent-based computing.

Themes

Prey deals with the threat of intelligent nano-robots escaping from human control and becoming autonomous, self-replicating and dangerous. It loosely deals with the grey goo concept that has been widely explored in science fiction. Many aspects of the story, such as the cloud-like nature of the nanoparticles, their evolution, and even their hiding place all closely follow Stanisław Lem's 1964 novel, The Invincible
.

Another theme is how short-sighted decision-making at the corporate level can lead to disaster when the companies involved control dangerous new technology. Michael Crichton states that the book is about what will happen if suitable controls are not placed on biotechnology before it develops to such an extent that it can threaten the survival of life on Earth.

Plot teaser

High-tech whistle-blower Jack Forman used to specialize in programming computers to solve problems by mimicking the behavior of efficient wild animals--swarming bees or hunting hyena packs, for example. Now he's unemployed and is finally starting to enjoy his new role as stay-at-home dad. All would be domestic bliss if it were not for Jack's suspicions that his wife, who's been behaving strangely and working long hours at the top-secret research labs of Xymos Technology, is having an affair. When he's called in to help with her hush-hush project, it seems like the perfect opportunity to see what his wife's been doing, but Jack quickly finds there's a lot more going on in the lab than an illicit affair. Within hours of his arrival at the remote testing center, Jack discovers his wife's firm has created self-replicating nanotechnology--a literal swarm of microscopic machines. Originally meant to serve as a military eye in the sky, the swarm has now escaped into the environment and is seemingly intent on killing the scientists trapped in the facility.

Detailed synopsis

::Warning: this is a very detailed summary of the story and reading it may hamper your ability to enjoy the original. The book's protagonist and narrator is Jack, an unemployed software programmer who used to work with artificial intelligence. He was fired for attempting to expose an internal scandal in his company. As a result, no other companies would employ him and he is forced to take the role of "househusband" while his wife works as an executive for Xymos, a nanorobotics company. Xymos claims to be on the verge of perfecting a revolutionary new medical imaging technology based on nanotechnology, but Jack is skeptical.

One day, Jack's baby daughter Amanda develops a very strange rash that propagates and becomes very severe. He takes her to the hospital, but the doctors cannot find the cause of the rash. Eventually she is taken to an MRI and, strangely, she is instantly cured. Later, his son's MP3 player is damaged, and Jack is surprised to the see the memory completely disintegrated.

Jack is contacted by his old company (which has become a contractor to Xymos), who offer to rehire him to help deal with an alleged software problem. Jack travels to the remote Xymos manufacturing facility in Nevada. Ricky, the Xymos development leader, shows him around and tells him that the company is under contract from the Department of Defense to create a swarm that acts as a camera for reconnaissance and spying. The swarm is created by genetically modified E. coli bacteria, which create gamma assemblers from raw material which in turn churn out new nanobots. However, the swarm could not work in the wild because they were quickly blown by the light winds, a problem the engineering team could not solve. The Pentagon decided to cancel their contract as a result. Ricky tells Jack building contractors failed to install filters in a vent in the building and the assemblers, bacterias and nanobots were blown into the desert, forming a swarm on its own. They were given solar power and memory. They appear to be self-sufficient, reproducing and evolving rapidly. Most alarmingly, the swarms exhibit rudimentary intelligence and what seems to be predatory behavior, attacking and killing small animals. Jack can not explain this behaviour as Ricky says the code did not include genetic algorithms to allow for evolution.

Here he is joined by members of his old software development team - Mae, Charley, David, Rosie and Bobby. But his attempts to end this threat are hampered by Ricky, the Xymos development team leader, who appears to be more concerned with the profit of the company rather than the safety of the crew.

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Books - Prey

Themes

Plot teaser

Detailed synopsis

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