A Utopian Dystopia: Freedom versus Security in the Sci-Fi Novel Genesis

Abstract Genesis (2006) is a novel by the New Zealander writer Bernard Beckett. Its plot is placed in the end of the 21st century in an examination room where Anaximander presents the findings of her thesis to The Academy. Anaximander’s topic is the life of Adam Forde, a young man from the upper caste of The Republic, who was sentenced to share his days with Art, an AI android prototype. After a period of coexistence, both rebelled against the Republic. What the reader finds in Anax’s examination is the political and philosophical consequences of that insurrection. Genesis displays the classic tension between freedom versus security present in major works of the 20th century science fiction. From a Marxist perspective, this article aims at presenting Genesis as a novel that echoes two of the main subjects of sci-fi literature – the tension between ‘security’ and ‘freedom’ and the problem of human/artificial conscience – but in a context of post-Cold War Liberal security concerns inhabited with new sets of fears such as global climate change, pandemics, warfare, and the ethical concerns on AI.