Science fiction
The Designer
By Paul Haedo
The artificial intelligence Father safeguards human embryos and prepares Takali for settlement. Generations later, Jonathan, a student librarian skeptical of the Church of Father, finds himself drawn into political and religious affairs involving the intelligence behind his civilization.
- Type
- Fiction
- Form
- Novel
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Beyond the book
Why choose this book?
Choose this standalone for a society whose beliefs are connected with the intelligence involved in its origin. Jonathan’s skepticism offers a personal entry into those institutions.
What to expect
The premise moves from Father’s preparation of Takali for settlement to a later generation living with the Church of Father.
Before you begin
Father is an artificial intelligence within the fiction. The existence of similar subjects in other books does not establish common continuity.
Before you begin
No series prerequisite is recorded. Choose by the premise and themes.
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Questions for your reading
What expectations follow from an artificial intelligence being responsible for human settlement?
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Where to read next
- Future's Guardian
A shared reading question connects these books.
- Spliced
A shared reading question connects these books.
- The Communist Republic
A shared reading question connects these books.
Plan your reading
Supplied manuscript: 54,664 extracted words. This describes the supplied text, not a verified count for every retail edition.
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Standalone novel.
Planning estimate: about 4–7 hours at 150–300 words per minute. Poetry, rereading and note-taking can take longer; this is not a retail-edition length claim.
Is this part of a collection?
No series prerequisite is recorded for this work.
Also included in Sci-Fi Novel Mega Pack: 5 Standalone Stories. Check your existing books before choosing a collected edition.
Chapter One — selected excerpt
Author-supplied manuscript; opening selection beginning at paragraph 1. Paragraph numbering follows non-empty body paragraphs in the supplied file. © Paul Haedo. This is a short excerpt, not the complete chapter.
Chapter One
“Jonathan, your enthusiasm for the subject material is contaminating,” hissed the professor, eyeing a half-awake pupil from the corner of his eye.
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Explore its reading themes
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- Created purpose and personal agency
- Fictional beliefs and an author’s beliefs
- Origins and authority in The Designer
- Father
- Takali
- Jonathan
- Church of Father
- The Designer: origins, institutions, and a future in space
- Created to protect: purpose and its interpreters
- Participation and research: reading from inside an unfamiliar society
- Origin stories and institutional claims in fictional worlds
- Protection as a reading question, not an automatic answer
- A reader’s evidence notebook
- Understanding fictional technology through use
- The First Generation in The Designer
Continue exploring
Other paths through the books.
Future's Guardian
A related reading question: Belief, institutions, and imagined societies.
Spliced
A related reading question: Creation, purpose, and artificial intelligence.
The Communist Republic
A related reading question: Belief, institutions, and imagined societies.