Written in 1969, Voice Net is a haunting forecast of today's internet-crazed, cell-phone-centered world. It unnervingly foretells the ethical quandaries plaguing today's information society.
Shinichi Hoshi's futuristic story is set in the banally dubbed "Honeydew Condominium," a modern, twelve-story complex just outside the city. It starts at the gift shop on the building's first floor. The lackluster shop owner routinely uses his telephone to do just about everything: from counting cash register receipts to monitoring his vital signs. The story follows the seasons as it climbs floor to floor, watching people's lives change under an increasingly ubiquitous network of machines. But is the computer's all-seeing power antithetical to humanity? The author offers a surprising twist on this longstanding debate.
Translated by Marina Hoshi and Kim Hines
Foreword by Hideaki Sena
Cover illustration by Tayuta Mikage
