MARIONn: The Management of Loss (Trilogy - Vol 1)

By Nick Millard

20 years in the future, from the depths of Louisiana, arises the grail of Artificial Intelligence - the first conscious computer, MARIONn. Synchronicity, the point at which the mind of man and machine become indistinguishable, is finally achieved. But the man responsible for its development, Thornton Lamaire, a devout Catholic, is divided by what he has created; beguiled by both technology and religion. He is tormented by doubts as to whether he is creating a helpmate for humanity - or has wildly overstepped the bounds of what is permitted by his Creator. Will the mimicry of human minds bring only further distress to a society already damaged by the competition from AI - or will it provide solutions to problems that have beset mankind for millennia?As MARIONn is brought to life, her creators stumble on a technology that enables them to decipher the meaning of what is recorded in the brain's synapses. Soon, memories can be deleted, modified or added to. Therapy is revolutionized; a power that several of the characters, with traumas and guilt from their pasts, are now tempted to employ. But if we exclude causes of unhappiness from our life will that really be of benefit? For memory is at the core of what is to be human. We can tamper with memory but, as the head of MARIONn's development team says, "In the future, the past will be very different to what it is at present."The problems go beyond the fates of individuals. For, too late, we discover there is a relationship between what is contained in our consciousness and how the world is constructed. Tampering with consciousness turns out to have consequences that imperil the very existence of humanity.

• Format: Paperback
• Language: English
• ISBN: 1091925593
• ISBN13: 9781091925595
• Release Date: April 2019
• Publisher: Independently published
• Length: 510 Pages
• Weight: 1.63 lbs.
• Dimensions: 8.5" x 1.1" x 5.5"