Every technological innovation both changes its human users and uncovers something new about our nature. In this ingenious novel, Argentinian author Samanta Schweblin conducts an unnerving thought experiment: if an individual could be virtually inserted into the life of a random stranger, anywhere in the world, what effects would that have on them both? And what hidden truths would be revealed?
In her new novel the gadget that’s sweeping the globe is called a kentuki. It’s not much more, says one character, than “a cell phone with legs”, but the camera and speaker are housed within the felt-covered, remotely propelled body of a toy animal – rabbit or panda, dragon or crow, the buyer or “keeper” decides. What the keeper can’t choose is who the “dweller” connecting with the robot and watching online is, while dwellers have no control over where, and with whom, they “wake up”. As with a human life, the stakes are high; there is one connection per kentuki, one mind per body. When the keeper destroys their pet or forgets to charge its batteries, or the dweller disconnects, it’s game over, no replays. If death is what gives life reality, the life of a kentuki is real.
The kentuki can hear and translate speech, but only respond with animal-appropriate squeaks or purrs, so the first issue is always communication: whether dweller and keeper will connect in the wider world.
See the full story here: https://www.theguardian.com/books/2020/apr/25/little-eyes-by-samanta-schweblin-review-timely-visions-of-a-virtual-reality