Daemon by Daniel Suarez

I just finished Daniel Suarez’s much talked-about Daemon.  (Talked about among the digerati, at least.)  It’s not a literary masterpiece, but it’s a great story and a thought-provoking idea, and I think it will resonate particularly well among the tech-savvy and younger generations.  (There is talk of an upcoming movie, which would be pretty awesome.)

I think Daemon draws so much interest because it’s founded on real technology concepts and things happening in the world right now.  It’s all completely plausible in the first part of the book.  Later on, the author puts things together in ways that are far-fetched, but it’s still not hard to imagine some of these scenarios happening in my lifetime.

In addition to being a good story, it’s also a fascinating look at modern society.  One of the basic premises of Daemon is that corporations have effectively replaced nation states as the ruling class not just in the U.S. but the entire world, and given that corporations are heavily dependent on computer networks and the automated trades of the stock market, the ruling class is ripe for an overthrow by a network of hackers.  Daemon’s plot basically poses a scenario where the disenfranchised are given the power to destroy corporations and the worldwide economy.

In the real world, there’s no doubt in my mind that wealthy corporations run governments, but how would you stop it?  The strong have always and will always find a way to prey on the weak.  Nobody in government is going to stop that, since they are the primary beneficiaries of all the lobbyist money pouring in.  So some sort of citizen revolt could be the only way, and certainly nothing empowers citizens more than the Internet and instant global connectivity.

But is a bloody revolution a viable solution?  What would be the cost of such a revolution?  (In Daemon, the cost is high, in my opinion.)  Does it even matter if corporations run the world?  Would a post-corporate society be any better?  I’m looking forward to seeing what develops in the sequel, Freedom (TM).

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