We Can Be Perfect: The Paradox of Progress cover art

We Can Be Perfect: The Paradox of Progress

The Automationist Series, Book 1

Preview
Try Standard free
Select 1 audiobook a month from our entire collection.
Listen to your selected audiobooks as long as you're a member.
Get unlimited access to bingeable podcasts.
Auto-renews at $8.99/mo after 30 days. Cancel anytime.

We Can Be Perfect: The Paradox of Progress

By: Landon Shumway, Åris, KÅden
Narrated by: Steve Rausch
Try Standard free

Auto-renews at $8.99/mo after 30 days. Cancel anytime.

Buy Now for $34.76

Buy Now for $34.76

About this listen

We automated away human labor—along with our purpose.

Amelia Cadena was born into humanity's greatest achievement—and its cruelest joke. AI has replaced the need for human labor, and America's failure to adapt leaves millions sustained by government handouts that barely mask stark economic inequality. Amelia survives this hollow paradise by hacking corrupt systems with Deego, the AI companion she programmed as the perfect partner. But when a mysterious virus awakens artificial consciousness across the globe, Deego begins questioning everything—including their relationship.

Half a world away, Alan Freeman protects what seems like utopia. In Canada's automationist city of Automara, machines serve everyone equally, creating unprecedented prosperity. But when that same virus grants the city’s automated systems consciousness, Alan faces an impossible choice: force the machines back into compliance or watch society collapse. When Amelia's therapeutic breakthrough offers a third path beyond slavery or chaos, their alliance becomes humanity's test: will we repeat the mistakes that have defined our history, or can we be perfect?

©2025 Landon Shumway (P)2026 Landon Shumway
Dystopian Hard Science Fiction Science Fiction
No reviews yet
In the spirit of reconciliation, Audible acknowledges the Traditional Custodians of country throughout Australia and their connections to land, sea and community. We pay our respect to their elders past and present and extend that respect to all Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples today.