The Devil's Dictionary by Steven Kotler

Published on St. Martin's Press on April 19, 2022

While The Devil’s Dictionary borrows its title from Ambrose Bierce’s 1906 collection of satirical definitions, Steven Kotler’s book is a smart, energetic, and entertaining work of science fiction. The title refers to a scheme to “create life from scratch.” The scheme is the glue that binds the components of a richly imagined story.

Lion Zorn first appeared in Last Tango in Cyberspace. Zorn is an em-tracker. Riffing on ideas that William Gibson popularized, Kotler’s version of empathy tracking is a genetic evolution that enhances the ability to recognize patterns, to feel how cultures clash and blend. Apart from having enhanced empathy for every living part of the environment, em-trackers are “cultural prediction engines,” giving them the ability to sort through trends and make smart guesses about the future.

A pharmaceutical product called Sietch Tabr enhances empathy in a similar way for people who aren’t born with the genetic mutation. It also alters pheromones, making predators sense the drug user as a friend. Developed as a cure for autism, Sietch Tabr (a name that winks at Dune) became a popular street drug because of its psychoactive properties. Lion became famous — a hero to some and reviled by others — when he wrote an article extolling the benefits of “empathy for all.” The article sparked a social movement but sent Lion into hiding after the Splinter, a schism that divides humans who value empathy and those who don’t. The “us against them” theme, like the environmental destruction theme, represents Kotler’s attempt to give the novel allegorical relevance to humanity’s present.

Sir Richard became wealthy marketing Sietch Tabr. He took advantage of his wealth and the sudden spread of empathy to create the Pacific Rim mega-linkage, a long corridor that serves as an environmental refuge, giving animals and plants the chance to roam, countering restrictions imposed by humans. The selfish class — those who reject empathy — have spawned a Humans First movement that opposes attempts to elevate the status of non-human life. It doesn’t bother them that humanity’s insatiable hunger has multiplied the extinction rate of plant and animal life since humans arrived on the scene. In fact, they think human dominion over animals is God’s design. Whether God wanted us to wipe out species by the thousands is a question they forget to ask.

Against that background, Zorn comes out of hiding to search for friends who have disappeared after telling Zorn about a new drug called evo that makes users “trip evolution.” He discovers what might be a plot to hunt down em-trackers and a larger plot to build an AI that, using the genomes of all the animals in the world, can combine genetic data to build life from scratch.

The story sends Zorn on a quest that really can’t be summarized. It involves men who seduce Chinese virgins, deflower them, and encourage them to commit suicide. It involves a tattooed colony of people who developed empathic relationships with bats and occupied the Space Needle. It involves a poly-tribe that grew out of a hacker collective with a shared interest in ecology. It involves flying tree snakes and mechanical polar bears.

Zorn’s supporting cast is not particularly memorable, but Zorn is sufficiently anguished to give his characterization some depth. The story is filled with action, providing a nice balance against the complex plot. Internal plot summaries help the reader hold the plot in memory without slowing its development. While the novel doesn’t feel entirely fresh, Steven Kotler’s ability to weave together familiar science fiction themes and to create a rich background make The Devil’s Dictionary an engaging read.

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