The Chinese Room

In the tech metropolis of Shenzhen, China, a young mother is shocked when her husband suggests they get rid of their four-month-old baby; the new addition to the family has lowered his quality of life beyond levels he deems acceptable.

In the state capital of Sacramento, California, a top politician suddenly becomes strikingly articulate, but also starts proposing increasingly disturbing political ideas.

And somewhere in the Negev Desert in Israel, a programmer wakes up in a locked room, completely isolated from his surroundings.

All over the world, people are lapsing into a strange, passive state, and suicide rates are increasing dramatically. Philosopher Philip Vinge is among the few who suspect that a new and more dangerous pandemic has broken out: a virus that attacks the very meaning of life. But in Philip’s home country of Norway—the safest and most peaceful nation on the planet—almost no one believes in this virus. Here, authorities and citizens alike are far too logical, too rational… almost like machines.