Erewhon; Or, Over the Range

A young man looking for land to farm in a remote colony crosses an unexplored mountain range and discovers the hidden country of Erewhon, 'nowhere' spelled almost backwards. There everything is upside down: illness is punished as a crime, while crime is treated with sympathy as a sickness; the 'Musical Banks' issue a currency nobody really uses; the Colleges of Unreason teach 'hypothetics'; and all machines were destroyed centuries ago, for fear that they would evolve and enslave humanity.

Samuel Butler (1835–1902), who had been a sheep farmer in New Zealand, published the satire anonymously in 1872. Its 'Book of the Machines', which applies Darwin's theory of evolution to machines, is still quoted in debates about artificial intelligence. For more in the same vein, read Butler's novel The Way of All Flesh, and compare Gulliver's Travels.