Nexus by Ramez Naam. Wonderful book. If you like high tech with high ideas then you'll inhale this book. The writing while not flashy is very smooth and professional. Surprising given this is his first work of fiction. Characters are well drawn with depth and interest, perhaps they fit a little too closely to type, but they are people worth caring about. The plot has a sense of the inevitabel as it is grounded in the idea that history repeats itself not because of any sort of magic, but because human nature itself does not change. Yet there's still enough freedom that the plot stays interesting throughout and the ending is both satisfying and pragmatic.
Nexus is very H. G. Wells. There's a big bold futuristic idea, in this case it's how nanotech will create transhumans and bootstrap nextgen posthumans, and then see how that big idea plays out in the arena of our human capacity for great good and even greater evil. Invisible Man, War of the Worlds, Time Machine, Island of Doctor Moreau, follow this pattern with humans always weighing out as wanting.
In Nexus humans are still on probation, but the book radiates with the same sort of optimism you'll find in the psychedelic era writing of Gordon Wasson, Gerald Heard, Aldous Huxley, Alan Watts, John Lilly, and Timothy Leary. There was a hope at the time drugs could open the human mind to a greater understanding that would lead to transcendence. A new way of humans to be with each other.
For some, in the right circumstances, this is no doubt true, but these powerful drugs, released in a common culture free of shamans, were abused and trivialized. The psychedelic era ended with a predictable reactionary anti-drug movement firmly in place.
Then end game was clear relatively early on, but how it worked its way through a twisty backstabbing path was fun to watch. We have our extremes set against each other.
The War on Drugs types who think the way to protect the world is complete control, even while they themselves become completely corrupted in the process. I'll call these the Sith.
Then there are the profiteers. They look to exploit any new development for profit without regard to morality or consequences. These are the Merchants.
Then there are the utopians who can only see the upside to their favorite development. These are the Hippies.
Then there are people who just want to be better. Enhancement is seen as a good thing. These are the Humans.
Then there are the elites who want control so they can profit and/or believe they are the only ones who know how the world should be run and everyone else's freedom is a purposeless misguided waste. I'll call these the .01%.
So, we have nanotech in Nexus following a similar path to the psychedelic movement, yet nanotech technology has an even greater more tangible promise, along with an even greater more tangible terror.
What happens then when you chum the social and political waters with a revolutionary technology like nanotech, that promises vastly enhanced intelligence, a group mind, and the possibility of absolute mind control? How will humans handle it?
Nexus doesn't answer that question because it is unanswerable. There will be as many answers as there are humans.
The interesting broader implication is that technology will change humans so much they will not be human anymore. If you aren't human then why not just kill and control humans? The implication being only your kind deserves respect. As humans we have this same issue with animals and when we visit people from different cultures. You can imagine when much more powerful aliens visit they will have the same issues. Robots will no doubt have the same issue towards humans in an uncomfortably short time.
Why shouldn't the strong crush the weak? Why shouldn't those who are different be treated as other?
Nexus casts back thousands of years ago for approaches to the how-we-can-all-get-along problem. It will seem very familiar to Buddhists and early followers of Jesus. Technology both amplifies and destroys. In the end it's about making a personal choice to be better than we are. Not everyone will make that choice, but we should always be aware it is a choice that is constantly being made, regardless of technology, tribe, nationality, or species.
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Top reviews from other countries
GC
Un possibile futuro per l'umanità, nemmeno così remoto. Un bel romanzo sci-fi.
Reviewed in Italy on December 6, 2019
R. Taylor
Mind alteration for the improvement of humanity.
Reviewed in Australia on June 21, 2019
Ashley Charles Williamson
Absolutely fantastic!
Reviewed in the United Kingdom on September 11, 2015
