Review: Beam Sandwich, or Unexpected Insights
Rating: 5 out of 5
Date: 04 14, 2014
I made a Beam sandwich.First, I read Episode One of The Beam, then I read Plugged, then the rest of Season One. For me, Plugged made the world of The Beam come to life more as I was reading Season One than when I was reading Episode One. Reading Plugged isn't necessary to enjoy The Beam, but I would definitely recommend it before you read Season Two.One of the things I missed in Plugged was a specific evolution of the two political parties of The Beam, but that isn't what this book was about. However, it did bring up a very interesting point that society will (hopefully) face in the near future (and has faced since Henry Ford)- the evolution of robotic and computer controlled labor and production. Historically when people are more expensive to use than machines, industry chooses machines. How can industry survive if people no longer have jobs making a wage to by the thing industry creates? Automation of production an old premise of the genre, but then so is AI. They continue as tropes because the concept evolves and is worth consideration. Platt and Truant have a valid, creative take on these things.This book is interesting in it's proposition to speak to the conditions of a future that doesn't exist, but resonates with today's world: The divide between the connect and the unconnected; the problems of advancing technology eroding identity; the problem of disassociation with real events.And, it's a fun read that stands alone or as a must read for Beam readers.