There is a lot of talk about artificial intelligence, virtual reality, and robotics and how they will soon change the way we get around, our career opportunities, and our educational experience. However, I never considered how it may play a role in the very basic issues of life. Author Joel Ohman offers a suspenseful tale and poses a moral dilemma in this thrilling dystopian story, Other Bodies, a story about a young woman facing challenges and choices in a world of the near future.

He tells this story of a young girl, alone, trying to make ends meet, betrayed by a man, and unexpectedly pregnant. This is an all too familiar story that women throughout the ages have found themselves in yet in a futuristic setting. Ohman paints a disturbing picture of how virtual reality can take people to adventurous and peaceful places, perhaps to be distanced from the realities of present choices; How robotics and technology can take people out of the medical process and stretch ethical boundaries; And how women will continue to be sold a message of freedom while being diverted from the inevitable consequences. 

Other Bodies is a thoughtful, page-turner that helped me see the discussions we are having, and the bills we are passing today could make possible, or prevent, such a future from happening. I fear such a future is already on its way.