Techno-dystopia dystopias

Techno-dystopias locate the threat in the tools. The machine, the network, or the algorithm promises convenience and delivers control, and the characters discover that a system built to serve them answers to someone else. These novels test the line between the technology we use and the technology that uses us.

19 titles in this subgenre, earliest first.

• R.U.R.: Rossum's Universal Robots
  R.U.R.: Rossum's Universal RobotsKarel Čapek · 1920
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  The Caves of SteelIsaac Asimov · 1954
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  The Naked SunIsaac Asimov · 1957
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  Vulcan's HammerPhilip K. Dick · 1960
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  The Penultimate TruthPhilip K. Dick · 1964
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  The Three Stigmata of Palmer EldritchPhilip K. Dick · 1965
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  Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep?Philip K. Dick · 1968
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  Don't Bite the SunTanith Lee · 1976
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  MockingbirdWalter Tevis · 1980
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  Count ZeroWilliam Gibson · 1986
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  Mona Lisa OverdriveWilliam Gibson · 1988
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  Snow CrashNeal Stephenson · 1992
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  Virtual LightWilliam Gibson · 1993
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  VurtJeff Noon · 1993
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  Shade's ChildrenGarth Nix · 1997
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  GenesisBernard Beckett · 2006
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  The Windup GirlPaolo Bacigalupi · 2009
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  Ready Player OneErnest Cline · 2011
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  Ready Player TwoErnest Cline · 2020