Consider some of the ways that the characters in the book socialize. How did you interpret the tone and atmosphere of these moments of connection between humans?

Consider some of the ways that the characters in the book socialize: the "quick coffee" with the Mother and Josie, the kids' "interaction meetings," Josie and Rick's drawing meetings, and the sessions Josie has with Mr. Capaldi. How did you interpret the tone and atmosphere of these moments of connection between humans?

I found the interactions to be very bizarre. I think the most realistic were when the moms met in the kitchen during the interaction meeting. My understanding was that the moms weren't lifted, so they still had a old-school way of interacting. The children's interaction meeting was so awkward. The fact that Josie didn't want to meet up with them was so strange to me. I always wanted to be with my friends at that age!

Josie and her mom also had a strange relationship. I always felt tension when they were together. Their love didn't feel genuine for some reason.

The young humans had a pre-set time for socializing. Sometimes Rick came with Josie but he did not fit in as he was not lifted. The humans seemed stilted. Feelings and emotions were absent. Clara seemed more human. She felt and saw more.

I actually could relate to the awkwardness and reluctance of the social meets of the youth. I had a very small group of friends when in high school which I was fine with but my parents wanted me to be more social and frequently tried to get me in situations with other teens. I disliked it immensely. The moms in the kitchen did seem more comfortable.

As a high school teacher, I can attest that most teenagers are pretty awkward with each other when gathering in large groups until they get to know everyone well. So, that part seemed fairly normal to me. I believe the "elephant in the room" was the superiority, arrogance and entitlement that the individual teens seem to demonstrate--Josie included. It seemed to me that the parents of these kids, since they had made the conscious decision to have their children "lifted", shared & perpetuated this sense of superiority for the most part. It was clear by the questions that were asked by the girls that higher intelligence & social graces were not always achieved when "lifted". The pettiness & the willingness to mistreat anyone or thing NOT "lifted" was also
disconcerting. Nonetheless, Josie seemed to develop some friendships close enough to warrant sleep-overs as she got older. As for all the other social interactions mentioned in the question, each individual seemed tense & somewhat artificial with the end goal being for her or him to gain something from the other person. Very awkward & sad. I would have to say that the only genuine social interactions seemed to be those that Josie & Rick shared when they were young.

I thought the tone of many of the interactions was quite aggressive/adversarial, which surprised me. It seems like in the future portrayed in the novel, there aren't many close relationships. I felt bad that Josie & Rick weren't able to continue as friends; the fact that they drifted apart was realistic, but at the same time it seemed like this was the only peer relationship each had. We're left knowing Josie developed other friendships, but it seemed to me like her peers were mostly competitors. One has to wonder she'll have a true love in the future.

The previous posts all made very good points. Few human interactions appeared meaningful. Aside from the teenagers, it appears to me that people experienced a difficult time adjusting to the new reality of significant AI presence and genetic interference. People tried to adjust, but no one was comfortable with others. The relationship of the two moms actually struck me as bizarre since they appeared to have little in common and did not have similar social contacts.