Does this mean that information will necessarily become knowledge? No, but it will be a big step. Still, a lot of that process is up to the individual. It's just that the individual can't even make the decision to strive for knowledge if he or she has no way to judge the quality of the information he or she is receiving.

Moving beyond the recognition that the Internet is a very different animal from print, I don't really know if new kinds of corporate regulation would be required to achieve these goals. Certainly it is sinister that so few companies control so much information and entertainment, and there is no reason to think that they operate any differently than their blue-chip ancestors -- observe how Napster has revealed its true colors as just another attempt to beguile members of the public with claims of being on "their side," only to turn around and try to bilk them. But this is true of all industries. What's troubling here is that you're dealing with delivery systems that so directly affect what people learn and therefore what they choose to believe. So the need for having multiple hands at the helm is all the greater. Do we need new antitrust and anti-monopoly rules for the Internet, along with new quality-control regulations? Not if the existing rules are stringently enforced. But then, what are the odds of that? So maybe new codes will be necessary.

Am I ultimately saying that the government should shut down the Drudge Report because it's irresponsible and specious? Absolutely not. I'm saying there should be an agency in place that would terrify Matt Drudge into vetting his reports and not publishing hearsay unless it is labeled as such. If such an agency existed, would Drudge, like the snake oil salesman he is, eventually be driven out of business by the reduced sensationalism of his product? Perhaps. And I can't say I'd shed a tear. But he wouldn't have been shut down by the government.

Government regulation of information technology is nowhere in sight, however. Politicians fall all over themselves to prove that they will regulate less than their opponents, and the public has somehow become convinced that this lack of regulation is in their, rather than business's, best interests. All of which instilled in me a desire to issue a warning, a warning as to where I believed the path we are on must inevitably lead. And that is what I consider "Killing Time": not a "dystopian" novel but a warning novel; not an ivory tower analysis but an engaged and passionate commentary.

Warnings are by nature concerned with consequences; therefore speculative, futuristic fiction, rather than another look backward, seemed the appropriate genre. But there was a further reason for framing this warning in futuristic terms: As I learned with both "The Alienist" and "The Angel of Darkness," historical novels, even when they concern horrendous subjects, offer readers a certain zone of comfort, the comfort of knowing they are reading about times gone by, and the comfort of believing -- even if it is a delusional belief -- that things have changed. I could not allow such a comfort zone to be generated by "Killing Time," not if I wanted the warning to hit home.

And so, readers, if you feel irritated, disturbed and upset by "Killing Time," be secure that you are meant to; but I hope you will also feel entertained, amused and touched. Perhaps it's perverse to try to spark such a contradictory array of reactions; perhaps, when all's said and done, that's my real problem.

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