The Toll
The bell rings, announcing the ruin of utopia.
November 14, 2025
The Toll
Neal Shusterman
Open Books
2023-02-10
9788932923062
Review
This work goes beyond a simple ending and undertakes a narrative experiment that thoroughly deconstructs and reconstructs the utopian premises built by its predecessors.
Due to the absence of a god-like absolute being, chaos increased rapidly, and what emerged to fill the vacuum of this chaos was not rational order, but religious madness and dictatorial terror.
Humanity's helplessness, unable to make even minor decisions without Thunderhead's guidance, is revealed.
This shows how dependent modern people are on technology.
I feel that similar situations are already occurring in this era of rapid AI development.
Now, even minor choices are made depending on AI, and there is a tendency to follow those decisions blindly.
Even if few people blindly trust AI now, it's likely because of the possibility that it could be wrong due to its current structure and technical limitations.
If there were a perfect AI like Thunderhead that never made a mistake and always suggested a better path than my own choice, I too would trust it blindly and my dependency would increase.
As doctrines previously dismissed as cultish become reality, the public's perception of the Tone Cult changes.
This shows the human nature of clinging to religious salvation rather than rationality in times of social crisis.
Looking at reviews of this work, there was reportedly controversy over the ending.
Did the protagonist shirk responsibility, or did they leave for a new role?
Due to the absence of a god-like absolute being, chaos increased rapidly, and what emerged to fill the vacuum of this chaos was not rational order, but religious madness and dictatorial terror.
Humanity's helplessness, unable to make even minor decisions without Thunderhead's guidance, is revealed.
This shows how dependent modern people are on technology.
I feel that similar situations are already occurring in this era of rapid AI development.
Now, even minor choices are made depending on AI, and there is a tendency to follow those decisions blindly.
Even if few people blindly trust AI now, it's likely because of the possibility that it could be wrong due to its current structure and technical limitations.
If there were a perfect AI like Thunderhead that never made a mistake and always suggested a better path than my own choice, I too would trust it blindly and my dependency would increase.
As doctrines previously dismissed as cultish become reality, the public's perception of the Tone Cult changes.
This shows the human nature of clinging to religious salvation rather than rationality in times of social crisis.
Looking at reviews of this work, there was reportedly controversy over the ending.
Did the protagonist shirk responsibility, or did they leave for a new role?