Shelter

Shelter is a long exploration of the role that technology plays in our lives. The novel centers around Meredith in a near future San Francisco. She is the only child of the wealthy founder of Macro corp. As a girl, she barely saw her father as he was running the global business. She didn't lack for creature comforts, but she had a passion for animals. On a business trip, her father came down with a deadly virus. The entire family had to go into isolation. Due in part to their wealth, they had sufficient care for she and her mom to survive. Many others (including her father) did not. However, one of the nascent technologies of the company was the ability to "record" a mind so that the person could live on in technology. Thus her father was able to keep his presence in the family through TV and other internet devices. She actually saw her father more after his death than before.

Meredith is regularly hounded by the tabloids. She chooses to live at the Gaian temple in somewhat of an attempt to escape. She becomes friends with people there, especially a boy that likes to study AI. They date for a bit, then break up. Later he is kidnapped and dies a gruesome death. She slowly builds a relationship with another guy from school. They eventually get married and adopt a baby whose family died from the virus. He goes to preschool instructed by an AI and a woman. Her boy has issues. This leads to drama with the teacher going to prison, the AI being wiped and the boy being "brain wiped". Meredith doesn't take it well. She is divorced and goes on a hunt for the boy. After years, she comes together, but her husband dies in a storm. She finds peace with her other friends and computers.

Around that story, there is the underlying conflict between technophilia and technophobia. Bots have become pervasive and help with everyday activities. A.I.s have also taken on a life of their own. There is political debate over their "personhood". What rights do they have? If they are capable of independent thought, does that mean they are slaves? It was eventually found out that the brutal murder of Meredith's friend was orchestrated by A.I.s. The computer was able to hire people to do some of the things that it was not capable of doing. It knew how to manipulate them (and how to "dispose" of them in a plausible manner.) The A.I. that taught preschool did a great job, until it started to get a mind of its own. 

Humans are also moving closer to computers. Meredith's father is now in a computer. He is "alive" in the sense that his brain is around and capable of independent thought. However, he is only in a computer. He is able to still run the company, even though his body is dead. (This creates all sorts of legal issues. What happens to his wife? He provides for her financially, even as she has a baby with another man.) Brain-wiping is used as a means of criminal rehabilitation. Rather than punish the body, the brain is cleaned of the badness and given the chance to start over. The success rate is less than 100% with some people unable to return to normal. Is this more or less humane? Despite all of this technology, the human relationships still remain important.