I was very impressed by Slow River's depiction of the near-future applications, and consequences, of developing biotechnology and nanotechnology. The novel uses accurate, technical terminology to create a sense of reality; even for those readers who are not familiar with the technology Griffith is discussing, her faculty with it is obvious and lends authenticity to the novel. Furthermore, it is this background of science and its economics which makes the novel more than a simple, plot-driven work of fiction.

Two Oxford sociologists recently published a study concluding that engineers are more disposed than other professional demographic to join militant political groups (or, neocon parlance, "terrorist groups"). The finding itself—the empirical fact that rank-and-file terrorists are demonstrably likely to come from an engineering background of some kind—is less interesting than the analysis offered by the researchers to explain it (away).