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"WASHINGTON (MarketWatch) - Dystopia is here. It's not just the "imagined place" of the dictionary definition or a future state of dystopian novels. It is very real and right now, at least for those of us trying to follow national politics. And it's not just Donald Trump. It's Barack Obama, it's Ted Cruz, it's the New York Times, it's Breitbart News. It is an alternate universe detached from the world we live in but intruding into it in painful and dangerous ways. It is a media narrative of political conspirators colluding with a dictatorial archenemy, of an intemperate and delusional leader overturning the institutions of democracy, of a "deep-state" resistance to constitutional authority. It is a dystopia of rampant hypocrisy, where obstructing legislation, supporting a law-enforcement official who strays beyond the limits of his authority, or boycotting a president's appointments is evil and undemocratic until it's your party that wants to do it."

"We're building an artificial intelligence-powered dystopia, one click at a time, says techno-sociologist Zeynep Tufekci. In an eye-opening talk, she details how the same algorithms companies like Facebook, Google and Amazon use to get you to click on ads are also used to organize your access to political and social information. And the machines aren't even the real threat. What we need to understand is how the powerful might use AI to control us -- and what we can do in response."

"Google, Twitter and Facebook workers who helped make technology so addictive are disconnecting themselves from the internet. Paul Lewis reports on the Silicon Valley refuseniks alarmed by a race for human attention"

"In yet another work of speculative fiction by Margaret Atwood, Oryx and Crake holds its own particular significance. She takes her audience for a rather eye-opening journey deep into the apocalyptic dystopia of a deteriorating humanity. As the tragic chronicle of Snowman, her protagonist's life unfolds, the audience catches a jarring glimpse into his past and is repeatedly presented with a slew of perplexing issues. These fantastical problems presented by Atwood cause a profound speculation for her contemporary reader and perhaps even poses the true question as to whether these seemingly far-fetched predicaments are really so far from the realities of today. In a glorious attempt to awaken a possibly apathetic generation, Atwood's vision outlines the legitimate concerns we may have about the sterility of a much too structured, much too controlled society and how it could be the unintended downfall of our species."

"John Lanchester on how Brave New World and Nineteen Eighty-Four capture the age of Facebook and Trump"

"Young adult fiction is awash in projections of a dystopian future, yet we're still sliding into that future, and young adults are going along with it."

"Back when I was in university, a friend of mine called his parents every single night. That's sweet, you might think. But no, it was a ritualistic, mandatory process that he was required to complete. Before the dawn of the mobile phone, the university send-off would be the start of some semblance of independence for parents' children. That's not so true any more, with our technologically connected world. Arkangel is a Black Mirror episode that conveys the cold, hard reality of helicopter parenting: a term describing over-involved parents that make decisions for their children, solving their problems and shielding them from making mistakes."

"n the terrifying dystopia of 1984, Orwell writes of a world where everything from the past to the future can be rewritten in every form. "If both the past and the external world exist only in the mind, and if the mind itself is controllable - what then?" If your newspapers, television programs, websites, and books can be written and rewritten, who can ascertain the truth? Some of these questions are philosophical, not fully answerable by the greatest thinkers in history. However, they are not entirely without merit. Over the past few years we have seen the evolution of the "post-truth era" wherein people are not only content with being lied to, they expect it. Social media and the democratization of the Internet has played an integral role in the heralding of this new age. According to a recent Pew Research Center study, 68% of Americans check social media for news updates, with one-fifth of them stating they use platforms for this purpose regularly."

"Scientists and businesses working full steam to produce lab-created meat claim it will be healthier than conventional meat and more environmentally friendly. But how much can they improve on old-school pork or beef?"

"'Black Mirror' is a satirical anthology series that examines the dark aspects of modern society, particularly as it relates to our relationship with technology. Each standalone episode presents a picture of a world that's futuristic, yet believable; cool, yet horrifying. Each of these study guides will touch on some of the themes the episode explores."

"Expanded genetic testing of embryos represents a new era of family planning. But how far should the technology go?"

Multimedia package that illustrates how facial recognition software work and could be used.

"The tech giant records people's locations worldwide. Now, investigators are using it to find suspects and witnesses near crimes, running the risk of snaring the innocent."

"In a paper published this week in Aging, Horvath and his colleague Ake T. Lu formally announced a project they've been teasing for a couple months now: a "time to death" clock called DNAm GrimAge that they claim can predict, better than any other tool, when a given person might die. It was announced in tandem with AgeAccelGrim, which provides a countdown to the year you'll develop cancer or coronary heart disease. The research has already captured the attention of the life insurance industry. After all, a solid death date could mean real savings when it comes to pricing policies."

"The Chinese authorities turned to a Massachusetts company and a prominent Yale researcher as they built an enormous system of surveillance and control."

"From turning pigs into organ donors to changing the color of flowers, the future of gene-editing tech is wacky and wonderful"

"Oryx and Crake is speculative fiction at its finest. Part dystopian satire, part post-apocalyptic nightmare, the novel examines the flaws of contemporary society through the lens of an imagined future that could all too easily come to pass. But examines isn't the right word for what Atwood accomplishes here; eviscerates is more fitting. As in The Handmaid's Tale (1985), her classic takedown of totalitarian theocratic misogyny, the author's satiric wit is razor-sharp and unsparing. Oryx and Crake isn't a book for the faint of heart or the easily offended. Potential outrages include a narcissistic, self-pitying protagonist who treats women poorly, unflinching depictions of child pornography and sex slavery, all manner of unfettered consumerist debauchery, and (spoiler alert) the deliberate annihilation of the human race by a brilliant scientist. Oh, and corporations control the world, social and economic inequality are endemic, catastrophic climate change is a given, and science and technology, especially genetic engineering, are exploited purely for profit by said all-powerful corporations without regard for human consequences. If some of these details sound uncomfortably like the present, well, that's the point. Oryx and Crake isn't about the future; it's about the present. The book is about us. Whatever future ultimately comes to pass-dystopian, post-apocalyptic, or otherwise-we are responsible for it. This story is our story. "

"Margaret Atwood's 1985 novel drew on real-life politics but has never been more prescient, writes Jennifer Keishin Armstrong."

"en years ago, Margaret Atwood ended the world, and in rather spectacular fashion. Oryx and Crake was a revelation: a harrowing vision of society gone terribly wrong, and a reminder that Atwood, author of the classic dystopian novel The Handmaid's Tale, is one of the best speculative-fiction writers alive. The first volume in a trilogy, it was followed by The Year of the Flood, which, in a bit of remarkable narrative showing-off, offered a completely different story that unfolded concurrently with Oryx and Crake. With the publication of MaddAddam next week, she concludes her epic account of what happens in the wake of the end, after her "waterless flood" has scrubbed the planet clean, leaving behind only a handful of people - or, at least, only a handful we know of - to survive in a landscape populated by fearsome pigoons (angry pigs genetically altered to grow human organs). The trilogy is one of the most impressive achievements in contemporary literature, and stands as a grand document of humanity's greatest failings but also a moving celebration of our greatest possibilities. They are frank and ugly books but also funny and beautiful. And for all their SF fireworks, all the world-building pyrotechnics, they are quietly realistic stories that recognize that any future the world can hope to have will be one of adaptation and synthesis, of our learning to live better with those around us to make the most of the diminished circumstances in which we're likely to find ourselves."