Mitchell Glenn

2173: The Ghost in the Machine

After the great climate collapse and nuclear outbreaks of the 21st century, the elite descendants of the Founding Houses rule eight billion souls through Sentinel, a planetary AI. But, as the clocks sync, the algorithms spin, and the reactors hum, a ghost in the machine is waking

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Mitchell Glenn

Mitchell Glenn is the pseudonym of David Cairns of Finavon, the Baron of Finavon (a 14th century Scottish title). He is an award-winning author renowned for his deeply researched and immersive historical fiction. Best known for the gripping Major Gask and Erroll Rait mystery series set in the 1860s, he brings a unique perspective to the page. By weaving together his background as a CEO and CFO in the tech world, a keen interest in the impact...

David Cairns of Finavon

Blog

June 4, 2026

Musk Destroys the World

I wrote recently about the future impact of AI in my novel, 2173. Others have been closely watching this technology of course but I was particularly intrigued by an article in the British newspaper, the Independent, that described a test of different LLMs.

It was an experiment called 'Emergence World' designed by the research lab Emergence AI, whose scientists put leading artificial intelligence models in control of simulated societies to observe how they would manage resources, establish...

March 3, 2026

The Rightness of Might

March 7, 2026

I am sitting at my keyboard looking towards the Pacific Ocean, overlooking a calm lake on the Gold Coast of Australia, watching black swans glide across a mirror-like surface. The swans remind me of 'black swan' events - rare, unpredictable, high-impact occurrences that are inappropriately rationalised in hindsight as having been obvious. These outliers fundamentally change systems, often causing catastrophic economic or social damage. Examples include the 2008 financial crisis,...