Five years ago, bioengineer Peter Bernhardt and his Yiddish-speaking research partner Dr. Ruth Chaikin spearheaded an innovation in nanotechnology that changed the course of evolution. Until everything was taken from Peter – his research, the people he loved, and finally his life. Uploaded as artificial intelligence, Peter is alive again thanks to Ruth and fellow AI Carter Potsdam.
But a third sentient computer program, Major Tom, is tearing the United States apart, destroying its leaders and its cities. Major Tom’s mission: rebuild a new America from the ruins and reign as an uncontested monarch. Ruth knows that only Peter can tikkun olam–repair the world – by bringing all sides together.
Caught in a virtual world between an alleged ally and an enemy, pieces of Peter’s former self remain: the need for vengeance, empathy for the subjugated people of a derelict world, and doubt in everything he’s been led to believe. To rescue what’s left, he’ll need to once again advance the notion of evolution and to expand the meaning of being human – by saving humanity.
Fiction
(CON)science
September 1, 2020
Discussion Questions
Courtesy of PJ Manney
- Is this a future you can imagine happening? Why or why not?
- Which characters did you empathize with? Did your empathy surprise you?
- Did the story disturb you? How?
- How do the technological advances depicted in the trilogy reflect our current technologies? If these technologies begin as medical therapies, but are weaponized, what can we do to prevent that?
- How does Ruth Chaikin convey what we might consider Jewish values?
- Are the choices the Peters and Toms make consistent with ethics as you know them? Did any choices surprise you? Would you have made different decisions?
- How do Peter Bernhardt and Tom Paine resemble golems or dybbuks? How do they differ?
- How do becoming cyborgs (part human, part machine) change our relationship with each other? Our communities? And the world? Are we cyborgs now or not?
- Can you imagine yourself as an artificial human intelligence? How might you be similar and different from the person you believe you are now?
- The protagonists want to repair the world. How do you see their goals as Tikkun Olam and what would you do to repair the world in their place?
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