Pandora’s Oracle
(Available at Amazon as ebook, paperback and audiobook)
Humanity creates god. Can humanity survive?
The mind of a student named Matt has been uploaded into a supercomputer, but before he can achieve a fraction of his potential, his uploaded mind is captured and effectively frozen by a group within the US intelligence services. A couple of years later, this group need Matt’s help to tackle an existential threat to humanity. The risks are terrifying, but Matt agrees to help – after all, he has his own plans for the future.
Pandora’s Oracle is a high-concept techno-thriller which describes our future after the arrival on earth of the first artificial super-intelligence. It is the sequel to Pandora’s Brain
Pandora’s Brain
(Available at Amazon as ebook, paperback and audiobook)
Pandora’s Brain is a techno-thriller in the style of Michael Crichton by best-selling writer Calum Chace. It uses the issues raised by the machine intelligence explosion as a platform for a fast-paced and thought-provoking adventure story. Set in the very near future, it features Matt, a shy but engaging and resourceful student who discovers that his recently-deceased father was involved in research that could enable the construction of the world’s first conscious machine. Matt’s enquiries lead to him being kidnapped, as he is caught in the crossfire between two groups pursuing that goal – one led by a Russian billionaire, and another backed by the US military. Matt has to do more than simply survive: he has to harness these powerful forces to his own ends. At stake is his own life and those of his family and friends.
A dramatic seaborne rescue operation, a series of brutal murders and other filmic action scenes follow. In the course of his adventures, Matt discovers that the potential upside of creating machine intelligence includes immortality, and godlike powers of understanding and being – but the potential downside is immediate extinction, or worse. As he is drawn deeper into his adventure, he becomes both the symbol and the victim of a global struggle over the approach to be taken towards this powerful new technology. A landmark decision at a meeting of the UN General Assembly forces Matt to make a fateful decision which sparks the story’s final twist.
Pandora’s Brain will appeal to readers of Michael Crichton, as well as to readers of Ray Kurzweil and other futurists.
Reviews
Hank Pellissier, producer of the Transhuman Visions conferences
“I was eagerly anticipating a fiction adventure book on precisely this topic! Very well done, Calum Chace. A timely, suspenseful, and balanced portrayal of AI and the most important decisions humanity will make in the near future.”
Peter James, author of the best-selling Roy Grace series
“I love the concepts in this book!”
David Wood, Chairman of the London Futurist Group
“Pandora’s Brain is a captivating tale of developments in artificial intelligence that could, conceivably, be just around the corner. The imminent possibility of these breakthroughs cause characters in the book to re-evaluate many of their cherished beliefs, and will lead most readers to several “OMG” realisations about their own philosophies of life. Apple carts that are upended in the processes are unlikely ever to be righted again. Once the ideas have escaped from the pages of this Pandora’s box of a book, there’s no going back to a state of innocence.
Mainly set in the present day, the plot unfolds in an environment that seems reassuringly familiar, but which is overshadowed by a combination of both menace and promise. Carefully crafted, and absorbing from its very start, the book held my rapt attention throughout a series of surprise twists, as various personalities react in different ways to a growing awareness of that menace and promise.
By their actions, the central characters vividly bring to light debates that have, up till now, mainly been the fringe preserve of academic philosophers, students at the cutting edge “Singularity University”, and discussions at futurist or transhumanist meetups. All these audiences should find this book engrossing, but the book’s bigger impact is likely to be its awakening of many other minds to the transformational potential of artificial intelligence.”
Brad Feld, co-founder of the Foundry Group and Techstars
“Awesome! Count me as a fan.”
Jeff Pinsker, Vice President, Scholastic
“It’s hard not to write in clichés about Calum Chace’s premiere novel: “a page-turner,” “a hi-tech thriller,” “action-packed,” and “thought-provoking” all come to mind. But in a world where most people aren’t thinking past their next text message and what they’re having for lunch, Chace has crafted a novel that provides a credible look at where the human race could be tomorrow . . . and the next day. It’s the future of sci-fi: a totally realistic, totally readable book that challenges you as it entertains. So, if you like to read and if you like to think, I have one piece of advice—open Pandora’s Brain.”
William Hertling, author of the excellent “Avogadro” series
“Pandora’s Brain is a tour de force that neatly explains the key concepts behind the likely future of artificial intelligence in the context of a thriller novel. Ambitious and well executed, it will appeal to a broad range of readers.
In the same way that Suarez’s Daemon and Naam’s Nexus leaped onto the scene, redefining what it meant to write about technology, Pandora’s Brain will do the same for artificial intelligence.
Mind uploading? Check. Human equivalent AI? Check. Hard takeoff singularity? Check. Strap in, this is one heck of a ride.”