This is the first in a series of three novels exploring what it means to be human in an age where consciousness may soon be able to be transferred to robotic, and therefore immortal bodies.
In The Singularity Is Near: When Humans Transcend Biology, Ray Kurzweil postulated that the convergence of biologic and technologic systems will occur in our lifetime. Indeed, more and more people live healthy lives with ‘replacement parts’ such as hearts, joints, prosthetic arms, hands, legs, hips, knees, and even elements of eyes. Advances in humanoid robotics have led to massive bets by companies such as Tesla in the US and many others most notably in China and Japan. The robots are coming, soon.
Much of the discussion recently has been around the installation of Artificial Intelligence into humanoid robotics, leading to the age depicted in movies such as ‘iRobot’ or James Cameron’s ‘The Terminator’. Japan recently began work on the first AI data center to support such integrated robotic systems. But it is as likely that humans will want the immortality these same systems can deliver unto them.
In this first novel, the exploration is of how the first person to transition consciousness would experience life. Suddenly reactions and behaviors are the result of memories, not feelings as there will no longer be the biological inputs to produce them.
What is love, when it is a mere memory and not an emotion? Do the factors of attraction carry over in such a state? The need to procreate or raise a family no longer exists as you will never need a replacement, merely swapping parts and living forever.
Days become longer when sleep is no longer necessary, simply a recharge period when the mind is still engaged. So too, with memory upgrades, the pace of life and work picks up. Innovation leapfrogs when clock speed doubles and triples rapidly.
But all this creates dissonance and moral choices.