Tom Fleischmann
A confluence of events, combined with a healthy attention to detail and a love of writing, gave computer scientist Ali Juelz everything she needed to create her second fictional thriller novel.
Juelz, who is also a trustee of the Weill Family Foundation and the Joan and Sanford I. Weill Professor at the Jacobs Technion-Cornell Institute at Cornell Tech and the Technion, has spent much of the pandemic lockdown and fortuitous sabbatical working on a new novel, “The Oracle,” which tells the story of a software developer who, along with his FBI partner, races against time to dismantle a killer blockchain program launched by the people of Delphi, worshippers of the ancient Greek god Apollo.
Juelz, who is also a professor of computer science in Cornell's Ann S. Bowers School of Computing and Information Sciences, tells the story from an expert's perspective: “The technology described here (which is often presented in great detail for a public audience) is heavily based on work that Juelz and his research group are conducting at Cornell Tech's Roosevelt Island campus.”
“Much of my research for this book was not by reading academic publications, as a lot of novelists do, but rather by writing those publications,” Juelz said. “One of the fun things about The Oracle is that I was living, and still live, the research in the novel.”
This is Juelz's second foray into the literary world: the first was the 2010 computer security thriller “Tractthys,” which, like “The Oracle,” blends Greek history with modern technology to tell a tale of mysterious computer intrusions, international intrigue and corruption.
Juelz spoke to the Chronicle about his new novel.
Q: Is this a cautionary tale? The author's note at the beginning of the book reads like a warning of sorts.
answer: Indeed it is. At its core, the story is a cautionary tale about the haphazard blending of technology – in this case, blockchain and artificial intelligence, specifically large-scale language models like ChatGPT. In the book’s scenario, blockchain technology called smart contracts automatically pay out murder bounties. The AI is responsible for interpreting news articles and determining payouts. While the novel is near-future science fiction, the technology it describes is here and now, and the premise is technologically plausible. Fortunately, smart contracts like those in the book are Oracle It's not possible with today's infrastructure, and I think my colleagues in the community are taking the future risks seriously.
Q: The book is based on a 2015 research paper that you co-authored, but how much other research did you do in writing the book?
answer: The technical parts of the book are heavily based on a 2015 paper and numerous other studies, some of which have seen the light of day as the blockchain technology we use today. Other parts of the book, especially the history of the Delphi oracle, required me to do a fair amount of research the old-fashioned way, reading books and articles.
Q: What is the biggest danger of blockchain, cryptocurrencies, smart contracts, etc?
answer: The danger is twofold. I am caught in the middle, so to speak. On the one hand, blockchain technology, like all other technologies, is dual-use and can be misused in all sorts of ways. This includes scams like the exchange FTX run by the notorious Sam Bankman Freed, as well as criminal activities that are common today and may arise in the future, such as those in my novels. These are clear dangers that exist today and will continue to evolve.
But on the other hand, there is also the danger of overreacting or misunderstanding the negative aspects of the technology. For example, I worry that people, especially politicians, will confuse the frivolous and sometimes silly aspects of cryptocurrencies, such as dog-themed coins and other meme coins, with the deep and powerful blockchain technology that cryptocurrencies have spawned. As a result, a promising and rapidly evolving technology could be squashed in its early stages. So the dangers I worry about are abuse and neglect.
Q: The connection between history and the present is evident in your novels: what is it about the ancients that fascinates you?
answer: I think that looking at the ancient world in general is a very insightful way of understanding the modern world. But when it comes to ancient Greece in particular, what fascinates me is the kind of miracle that this small community could produce theater, philosophy, accurate depictions of the human body, and democracy in such a short time. These are just some of the fruits of the creative explosion that took place there. For me, this is a recurring source of amazement.
Q: How has fiction writing influenced or changed your academic writing?
answer: Not really. Academic writing is very tied to the standards and conventions of the academic community, so there isn't much opportunity for real stylistic experimentation. To give one example, a while ago, my colleagues and I published a paper in which we cited a popular cookbook, “The Joy of Cooking,” and we were reprimanded by a reviewer who felt that the citation was not academically sound enough. That's how stubborn some parts of the community can be.
I see fiction as a way to ask important “what if” questions that don't get much coverage in academia, and I hope it's also a way to popularize technical ideas with non-technical audiences — and in this case, to draw attention to all the weird, prescient things happening in the blockchain world that aren't written about much.
