Ramez Naam Explores Transhumanism And Terrorism In Nexus

 Books

Expanding into science fiction with the release of his new book, Nexus: Mankind Gets an Upgrade Ramez Naam sets his story in “a near future scarred by the misuse of advanced technologies.” The plot focuses on an illegal nano-drug called Nexus that can wirelessly link human brains together.

In Ramez Naam's thrilling new novel, Nexus, set in the near future, the experimental nano-drug Nexus can link humans together, mind to mind. There are some who want to improve it. There are some who want to eradicate it. And there are others who just want to exploit it.

When a young scientist is caught improving Nexus, he's thrust over his head into a world of danger and international espionage - for there is far more at stake than anyone realizes.

From the halls of academe to the halls of power, from the headquarters of an elite US agency in Washington DC to a secret lab beneath a top university in Shanghai, from the underground parties of San Francisco to the illegal biotech markets of Bangkok, from an international neuroscience conference to a remote monastery in the mountains of Thailand - Nexus is a thrill ride through a future on the brink of explosion.

Some of the reviews for Nexus:

Wired says “Good. Scary good… stop reading now and have a great time reading a bleeding edge technical thriller that is full of surprises.” read the whole thing 

Cory Doctorow at BoingBoing says “Nexus is a superbly plotted high tension technothriller… full of delicious moral ambiguity… a hell of a read.” read the whole thing 

Ars Technica says “Nexus is a lightning bolt of a novel… with a sense of awe missing from a lot of current fiction.” read the whole thing

Naam is a computer scientist who spent 13 years at Microsoft, leading teams working on email, web browsing, search, and artificial intelligence. He holds almost 20 patents in those areas.

Naam is also the winner of the 2005 H.G. Wells Award for his non-fiction book More Than Human: Embracing the Promise of Biological Enhancement. He's worked as a life guard, has climbed mountains, backpacked through remote corners of China, and ridden his bicycle down hundreds of miles of the Vietnam coast. He lives in Seattle, where he writes and speaks full time.

Naam also teaches at Singularity University on innovation, energy, and the environment.

Recently in a fascinating conversation with Nikola Danaylov on Singularity 1 on 1 discusses his novel and also covers a variety of related topics such as: the difference between fiction and non-fiction; the major issues.

Let us know what you think about Nexus!

SOURCE  Singularity Weblog

By 33rd Square

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