A Calculated Life, by Anne Charnock

(I know there could be some mistakes in this review. I’m trying to improve my English, thanks)

A Calculated Life (2013) is an interesting novel that shows us the daily life of an artificial person. Narrated in first person, this novel tells the experiences of the protagonist, Jayna, who belongs to a series of artificially created human beings in support of what is known as white collar jobs. In Jayna's case, she works in a data mining agency, with a rate of success above her human companions. So Jayna’s series is an attempt to combine the power of an AI with the qualities of a human being.

The author uses contrast as a method to show us the central theme, which of course is the meaning to be human. The novel shows Jayna’s daily routines and concerns and the coexistence with her peers, both humans and simulants (that is what they are called in this novel). Although it can also be said in reverse, the novel allows us to reflect of what happens when we lose our humanity in a society that makes us part of an economic process in a double way, as alienated workers and at the same time as consumers.

Of course, this is not the first time this issue has been discussed. The comparison with Bladerunner (more the film than Philip K. Dick’s novel) is evident, but it reminds me of a novel whose reading I have to resume some day (sigh here), Nekropolis by Maureen McHugh.

About the near future described by the author, apart from the replicant-style synthetic people, there is nothing really innovative: a future in which we will be ecologically and also economically poorer, at least most of society (if we exclude an elite of the upper class), which it seems that it will be confirmed in the short or medium term. A realistic future, we could say.

The perspective of Jayna, a unique and irreplaceable human being for whom we empathize, makes the reading worthwhile.