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About the Book
WHEN AI TRIES TO RUIN YOUR LIFE...
A US shipping giant bets big on data centres and AI, but when an ambitious executive is sent over to the UK to slash the local operations and development workforce, she gets more than she bargained for.
“Absolutely gripping! A must-read” - LOVDEEP PANNU, CTO at Epicenter
“Could not be more of the moment. A proper page turner, part thriller, part whodunnit and a fine dystopian parable.” - CHARLES HUMBLE, Tech consultant & Journalist at Conissaunce
“Vivid world-building and well-rounded characters. I found myself completely hooked.” - RUSSELL MCLEAN, Emmy and BAFTA award-winning Producer of Black Mirror: Bandersnatch
WHEN THE 3 A.M. CALL COMES… DO YOU TAKE IT?
For anyone who’s ever shipped flaky code, knowingly increased technical debt or sat through another pointless stand-up, HUMAN SOFTWAREd is a razor-sharp dystopian thriller that highlights the absurdities and dangers of modern software engineering and our AI-driven future.
HUMAN SOFTWARE is the story of two women battling the pressures of corporate life and expectation, set against the backdrop of a savage downsizing at the major employer of a small UK town. Exploring themes of always-on tech culture, burnout, mental health, globalisation, AI, climate change and the dehumanisation of work.
SOFTWARE RUNS OUR WORLD. IT DOESN’T HAVE TO RULE OUR LIVES
Contemporary and technological, HUMAN SOFTWARE explores how software engineering and IT are fast becoming a blue-collar ghetto in the corporate world. When AI lowers the barrier to entry, those on the front line come under increasing pressure to justify their existence. Beth is an overworked British engineer, and Chrissie is the American executive sent to fire her. They will have to form an unlikely alliance to save more than just their own jobs.
About the Author
Richard has seen the boom and bust of telecoms in the 90s, the dot-com bubble, Internet of Things, Big Data all the way to the current AI hype. His first decade was as a hot-shot corporate coder while also leading a popular open-source music software project. Since then, he’s worked in financial and platform engineering teams for many major brands. He once worked as a tech journalist, used to run a podcast and is active in the Rands Leadership Community. He runs a tech blog, is active on LinkedIn and posts on BlueSky and is also experimenting on Instagram and Facebook.
Originally from the UK, Richard lives with his family near Amsterdam in the Netherlands. Human Software is his debut novel.