About “QualityLand” Book
In the future, everything is routine: work, leisure, and relationships are optimized by algorithms. QualityPartner knows who suits you best. The self-driving car knows where you want to go. And everyone who is a member of TheShop will receive all the goods they want without having to order them. Super practical! No human being has to make hard decisions anymore – because in QualityLand the answer to all questions is one thing: OK.
However, Peter, a machine scrapper, constantly feels that something is not right in his life. If the system is truly so flawless, then why are there drones with a fear of flying, or battle robots with post-traumatic stress disorder? Why do machines keep getting more human, but humans keep getting more machine-like?
A marvelous satire about the future, prospects, and pitfalls of digitization.
Book Information
- Original Title: QualityLand
- Author: Marc-Uwe Kling
- Translator: Seyed Ebrahim Taghavi
- Original Publication Date: 2017
- Translation Publication Date: 2021
- Translated from: German
- Light Version ISBN: 9783986350000
- Dark Version ISBN: 9783986350017
- Audiobook (Light) ISBN: 9783986350031
- Audiobook (Dark) ISBN: 9783986350024
Excerpt from the book
“Well,” says Herbert, “for a human being, an accident is only very rarely connected with a moral decision. Your thought processes are too slow. When an approaching car is racing toward a human being at too high a speed, the human doesn’t think, ‘Oh. There’s a car racing toward me at too high a speed. Now, let’s think: what are my options? I could try to save myself by swerving to the left and ramming into the two cyclists, or I could swerve to the right and break the knees of that businessman on the pavement, or I could brake and collide with the oncoming vehicle. Hmm… What would be the morally correct decision in this situation? What would Kant have said? What would Jesus have done?’ A human wouldn’t think like that. A human would think, ‘Shit! Boom.’”
Difference between Light and Dark version of QualityLand
The difference between the Light version and the Dark version is in the content of news and advertisements that are between the chapters of the story. Looking at the concept of personalized books in the story of QualityLand, this book has been published in two versions: Light (for optimistic people) and Dark (for people with pessimistic and apocalyptic views).
