Post-Human Series Books 1-4 Read online

  Great News! Book 5, Inhuman, has begun pre-sales! Pre-order your copy of the most action-packed, thrill-stuffed instalment of the Post-Human series yet by clicking here: http://goo.gl/RXqmIs

  POST-HUMAN SERIES BOOKS 1-4

  Copyright ⓒ 2014 David Simpson

  All rights reserved. No part of this book may be used or reproduced by any means, graphic, electronic, or mechanical, including photocopying, recording, taping or by any information storage retrieval system without the written permission of the author except in the case of brief quotations embodied in critical articles and reviews.

  This is a work of fiction. All of the characters, names, incidents, organizations, and dialogue in this novel are either the products of the author’s imagination or are used fictitiously.

  Because of the dynamic nature of the Internet, any Web addresses or links contained in this book may have changed since publication and may no longer be valid. The views expressed in this work are solely those of the author.

  A message for you from the author:

  Hi! Thank you so much for reading my book! I hope you enjoy it. It is always an honor when someone takes the time to read one of my novels and I feel humbled and thankful. I owe you one! If you do enjoy the book, please remember to tell a friend or two (or two thousand) about it. And if you feel like being awesome, please take 1 minute to leave a positive review on Amazon.com. At this stage in my writing career, word of mouth is better than gold and is the best way for me to reach a large audience. It’s because of the amazing support of readers that I’ve recently been able to achieve my dream of writing full time. There’s no way to do it without the readers! You guys are everything.

  I want to be available and interactive with my readers, so you can actually friend me on Facebook, “LIKES” the Facebook page for Post-Human, follow me on Twitter, or check out my website. I’m also on goodreads.com and love to hear from readers and correspond with them about their experiences with my books.

  So, thanks again, and hopefully, this will be the beginning of a long, rewarding, and beautiful relationship between reader and author.

  Yours,

  David Simpson

  What order should I read the books in?

  This is the single biggest question that I get from readers about the Post-Human Series, and it’s very understandable. I actually published Post-Human in 2009, Trans-Human in 2011, Sub-Human in 2012, and Human Plus in 2013, yet I’ve numbered Sub-Human as Book #1 in the series. The reason is pretty simple and that is that Sub-Human is a prequel to Post-Human and tells the story of Old-timer as a young man, as well as the story of how the world as it is at the beginning of Post-Human came to be. Some people will choose to read Post-Human first because they want to read the series in the order of publication and the series will still make plenty of sense that way. I’m placing Sub-Human first, however because it is a worthy Book #1.

  Post-Human is a perfect book for readers of science fiction who have already accepted that the visions of the future posited in the science fiction of the 50’s all the way into the 90’s (and are still posited in Hollywood) are badly out of date. Keep in mind that the science fiction heroes of the 60’s could’ve solved many of their problems if they’d just had an iPhone, iPad, or Wi-Fi. Post-Human takes into account the exponential acceleration of information technology and its profound implications. Thirty steps linearly are thirty steps, but exponentially they are a billion. In thirty years, it’s quite plausible that computers will be a billion times more powerful, as their processing power doubles every year to eighteen months—and what does that mean? How would it change our abilities to deal with disease and aging? What would the social implications be if we were immortal? What would happen to modes of transportation? How would we interact with our computers? I’m proud that when I started writing Post-Human in 2005, I foresaw the mental heads up display of which Google Glass is obviously the first generation. Not many people saw that coming before there was even such a thing as a smart phone. NASA is working on generating magnetic fields for its astronauts to protect them in space. An artificial intelligence beat the best two players in the world at Jeopardy! Yet Post-Human is still a little bit ahead of its time for some people, and I don’t blame them. Even the man who coined the term cyberspace has said he doesn’t write posthumanist novels because he can’t get his head around the concept and it’s the place where he belongs to the “old guard.”

  Sub-Human is my novel that helps those people who need a little assistance opening their minds to this new, frightening and exciting future. It takes us from a time that is recognizably our near-future and walks us through the turbulent possibilities to get us to that “post-human” future in Book #2 and I think it does its job very well. That’s why I’ve ordered the books as I have within the 2 volumes.

  All that said, the series still works very well if readers access it through Post-Human, Sub-Human, or even Human Plus for that matter. The story is clear, accessible for everyone, and is certainly not an impenetrable labyrinth, yet all roads lead to Rome in a sense with the Post-Human Series. I’ve kept readers who choose to read in various ways in mind and have left little nuggets and retro-active surprises, even in the prequel, so don’t be afraid to go with your gut. Follow your heart. If you like reading things in order of publication, go right ahead. If you like them in the order of chronology, then access them that way too. It’s up to you! Either way, just remember to enjoy them! After all, you only get to enjoy a series for the first time once!

  SUB-HUMAN

  PROLOGUE

  Interviewer: With us is presumptive Presidential nominee, Senator Morgan, for his first major interview since sweeping the Super Tuesday primary contests less than twenty-four hours ago. Congratulations on your victories, Senator and for locking down the nomination so quickly.

  Morgan: Thank you very much, Anderson.

  Interviewer: Now that your opponents have suspended their campaigns, are you surprised at all with how quickly you’ve managed to dispatch your competition? You were, after all, facing two candidates that were far better funded than yourself throughout most of the early primary season. Yet here we are in the middle of March, and you’re already uncontested and headed for the general election.

  Morgan: I’m not surprised at all, actually, given that the stakes were so high. The choice was crystal clear for voters, and they resoundingly chose to cherish and protect human life. No amount of funding would have been enough to confuse the issue for the American people in the primaries, and no amount of funding will be enough to confuse it for them in the general election either.

  Interviewer: By ‘protecting human life,’ you are, of course, referring to your signature issue—that being that you want to outlaw what is known as strong artificial intelligence.

  Morgan: It’s not just my signature issue—it’s the most important issue in the history of our species. It’s about species dominance—

  Interviewer: And the ‘history of our species’ is 6,000 years? Since Adam and Eve?

  Morgan: Listen, Anderson, I’m not going to play that game. This is too important—

  Interviewer: I’m just trying to clarify—

  Morgan: No, you’re not. You’re doing a hit job on me, as I knew you would.

  Interviewer: I’m just clarifying—

  Morgan: You’re doing a hit job for the incumbent—the President of the United States—as I expected.

  Interviewer: Senator, you said during the primaries that you believed in Adam and Eve—

  Morgan: I’m not going to be debating theology or my personal religious beliefs with you, Anderson. I am not taking that bait. What I am going to do is voice the concerns of the majority of Americans, whether y
our friend the President likes it or not.

  Interviewer: I cannot deny, Senator Morgan, that you have voiced the concerns of about half the American electorate. Stats have shown that 47 percent of Americans say they strongly oppose the development of strong A.I., which is part of why you were able to use your unofficial status as the head of the Purist movement in the United States to beat back your better-funded opponents.

  Morgan: The Purist movement is bigger than any one man.

  Interviewer: Well, it may be bigger than you, sir, but you must admit that it was your wedge issue.

  Morgan: You think you’re so clever, don’t you?

  Interviewer: Excuse me?

  Morgan: You do. Admit it. You ask me questions and smirk away, but you have no idea what’s coming. You and your pseudo-intellectual establishment. The people of this country know what’s coming. They know the choice that they have in this election. That’s why I accepted the invitation to be here today. No amount of personal character assassination against me is going to confuse this issue in the minds of the American public.

  Interviewer: Okay, so let’s discuss the issue at hand, then.

  Morgan: All right.

  Interviewer: It’s your position that the United States should use its power within the new Democratic Union to push for a ban on artificial intelligence worldwide, correct?

  Morgan: Let’s be crystal clear, because this is a crucial point.

  Interviewer: Okay.

  Morgan: It’s not my position that we should use our power to push for a ban—it’s my position that we should use our power to insist on a ban. And I am not personally against the development of artificial intelligence. A.I. is all around us—

  Interviewer: Yes, I was going to ask you about your own personal use—

  Morgan: I’m not against artificial intelligence. What I’m against is strong A.I. I am against artificial intelligence that is capable of passing the Turing test and that has the potential to become infinitely more intelligent than human beings.

  Interviewer: But, Senator, A.I. is already stronger than us at most types of thinking—

  Morgan: Most types of thinking? I don’t know where you’re getting your information, Anderson, but that’s simply not true.

  Interviewer: Okay—many types of thinking—is that a fair statement?

  Morgan: It’s faster, sure.

  Interviewer: So, if computers have already surpassed us in many respects, isn’t the Turing test an anthropocentric and, therefore, irrelevant way of evaluating—

  Morgan: No, it’s not. The Turing test determines whether or not a computer is conscious. That’s the whole point of it.

  Interviewer: Don’t you think that might be debatable?

  Morgan: We don’t have time for that type of academic debate.

  Interviewer: No time for debate, Senator?

  Morgan: The Turing test is the only agreed-upon—

  Interviewer: No time for debate in a democracy?

  Morgan: Let me finish. The Turing test is the only agreed-upon test in which all parties agree that, when a computer passes it, that computer will have reached human levels in all respects. We won’t have any cognitive advantages over a machine like that—we’ll be demoted to the second-smartest species on the planet. Like the dolphins. Ask them how that worked out for them.

  Interviewer: So your position is that the United States will unilaterally decide to ban artificial intelligence if you’re elected president?

  Morgan: I never said that.

  Interviewer: You said the United States should insist on a ban.

  Morgan: We should.

  Interviewer: The rest of the Democratic Union doesn’t agree with that position.

  Morgan: That’s not true.

  Interviewer: It is true, Senator—

  Morgan: No, it’s not. Sure, there are countries within the D.U. that disagree, and we’ll negotiate with those countries—

  Interviewer: You said “insist.”

  Morgan: The United States has the most influence of any D.U. nation. If we take a moral stand, I have full confidence that the D.U. will follow our lead.

  Interviewer: Even if that’s true, China will never agree to abandon—

  Morgan: I don’t know about that.

  Interviewer: They have openly stated their position that they will continue developing strong A.I., regardless of the D.U. position on the matter.

  Morgan: As President, I will not let China threaten us—

  Interviewer: They’ve issued no threat, Senator.

  Morgan: Yes they have. If they develop strong A.I., not only will that threaten international security, but it will also threaten our species.

  Interviewer: How have they threatened international security?

  Morgan: A strong A.I. would quickly be able to find a way around our defenses. That’s why they want to develop it in the first place—to threaten us.

  Interviewer: With all due respect, Senator, aren’t you the one who’s issuing threats?

  Morgan: Absolutely not, Anderson. I’m simply doing what the American people expect me to do—defending humanity from an existential threat.

  Interviewer: Isn’t this—

  Morgan: I’m glad you find this amusing.

  Interviewer: I’m sorry, but aren’t you being a little dramatic?

  Morgan: I don’t find the security of the American people and the security of the people of the Democratic Union funny, Anderson. I take it very seriously. If your friend, the President, were to take it seriously, he’d back me up and insist on a comprehensive, strong A.I. ban.

  Interviewer: Let’s talk about that proposed ban. The election is almost eight months away, Senator, and even if you win, you won’t take office until January of next year. Meanwhile, IBM already has a working simulation of the human brain. Some experts are saying now that this simulated brain might be able to pass the Turing test before the end of the next President’s first term. How do you intend to implement measures draconian enough to stop multinational companies from following through on the development of these technologies?

  Morgan: By any means necessary.

  Interviewer: Excuse me, Senator, but I am a bit taken aback. Isn’t that the kind of talk that has caused some people to label you as an extremist?

  Morgan: Your network has labeled me as an extremist. The American people haven’t.

  Interviewer: Senator, I resent that. We’ve always been fair—

  Morgan: Fair? The man who owns your network has donated to the President’s campaign already, has he not?

  Interviewer: He has. Full disclosure for our viewers. That’s true.

  Morgan: He’s got his toes dipped in every major technology company there is.

  Interviewer: That’s an unfair generalization—

  Morgan: It’s worse than selling his soul. If he just sold his soul, so be it. He’d burn in Hell. Serves him right. But this is worse than that. He’s selling out his species. He’d end humanity. He’d see a world that is post-human, as long as he lived to see it inside a computer—

  Interviewer: Senator Morgan—

  Morgan: He’s not just a traitor to America—

  Interviewer: This is really—

  Morgan: He’s a traitor to the species—to his own species!

  Interviewer: Senator Morgan? Please—okay. Senator Morgan has walked out on the interview. He’s certainly started the general election campaign with a bang, that’s for sure. We’ll see how voters respond. A fiery outburst of a self-proclaimed Purist, or the extremism of a fanatic? The American voters will decide in November.