Null State Collective Clarity's Veil
In 2040, humanity welcomed its evolution to receive neural implants that promised them the world; but by 2045, it realized it was surrendering its soul.
When neural implants called 'Augments' promise infinite knowledge, seven hundred million people rush to enhance themselves. The 'Unaugmented', consisting of those focused on their own individual privacy and remaining human (refusing to connect with an artificial neural network), end up becoming labeled as digital 'resisters'. They are dismissed as paranoid and cast out of society.
Cipher is one of the 'Unaugmented' who refused to receive the implant. For seven years, she maintained her privacy with an unmodified mind in a world where thoughts themselves had become the sole property of corporations.
When a dying hacker transmits proof that the 'Augments' don't just enhance consciousness, they can actually modify it, Cipher alongside a group of what Corporate considers 'rogues' decide to build technology that liberates those that are enslaved to the program.
Corporate begins making behavioral modifications in an attempt to forever eliminate the ability for humans to make any further conscious choice (but were their choices even theirs to begin with?). Cipher and her crew must prove that consciousness can be enhanced without humanity being implanted and, thus, enslaved.
The problem? The enemy is already inside humanity's collective skull. It has become a hive mind. And the only ally they have is an algorithm that may be saving them or playing a game beyond human comprehension.
Philosophical depth blended into a cyberpunk, techno-thriller for the age of AI; intertwining themes of Dune with 1984.
What if the price of unlimited knowledge is your very essence, the thing that makes you human?
Are your thoughts even yours, or are they controlled and programmed? Does free will exist, or is it all an orchestrated play?Customer Reviews
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