RUA 17 Book Presentation with Volker Kaminski - Living with AI in 2084

In RUA, a run-down neighborhood, an inequitable struggle for freedom and autonomy begins.

Volker Kaminski reads from his new novel RUA 17 (moderated by Catharine J. Nicely).

In the year 2084, people live with so-called assistants, humanoid robots that perform various functions. They care for, nurture and monitor the elderly, who live separately from the rest of the population in a run-down neighborhood called RUA. The other, younger people in the posh neighborhood on the west side, serve as domestic servants and smart entertainers. A former Latin teacher, a resident of the RUA whom everyone calls Master, grows increasingly suspicious: Why are he and the others gradually losing their memories? Where do the assistants take the very old people they regularly pick up? And where is the roommate who disappeared without a trace one day? Meister investigates and becomes the target of the all-powerful SYSTEM that controls all processes. He receives support from—of all people—his stubborn but curious pupil from the West side and her favorite assistant. An inequitable struggle for freedom and autonomy begins.