The narrator recalls his first minimum wage job at Burger-G fast food joint in the early 21st century, and describes the Manna system, which was installed there as a simple store management tool that guided the minimum-wage workers via headset.
He describes how advances in networking, robotics, and computer-vision drove the Manna system to dominate the service industry, leading to mass unemployment and extreme income inequality.
After Manna finally takes over his current education job he is forced into a massive, cheaply built government welfare housing project, with little hope of regaining employment or escaping.
The novel imagines the future US, which has a libertarian economic system that leaves most Americans unemployable and living in cramped housing projects, where they are fed and kept safe like farm animals.
[citation needed] Some technological and social themes explored: Positions and assumptions presented in the novel include: The book can be read online for free (see link below).