Review | BIODIGITAL: A NOVEL OF TECHNOPOTHEOSIS by John Sundman (Senegal)
If one substitutes the very real Elon Musk for the imaginary Monty Meekman, and specifically focuses on the fact that…
Biodigital: A Novel of Technopotheosis
John (F.X, Compton, Damien) Sundman (Senegal 1974-76)
Rosalita Associates
2015
$5.99 (Kindle)
Review by: D.W. Jefferson (El Salvador, Costa Rica)
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John Sundman Senegal
This is a novel by a computer, biology, and sci-fi nerd for other nerds in particular, and for anyone who strives to understand the space between technology that we know exists and that which either may currently exist or likely soon will exist in some form. Most of us are likely in this latter category!
Sundman states that he is especially interested in the convergence of biological and digital technologies. He has been a hardware, software and science technical writer, and a manager of information architecture in Silicon Valley and elsewhere.
Biodigital is a sci-fi thriller about a fictitious Silicon Valley tech genius/messiah named Monty Meekman and the quasi-religious cult of transhumanist computer designers and brain hackers who are his devoted followers. It is set in the 1990s but could easily be adapted to the current timeframe. The book includes details that will impress an expert, and yet interest a tech outsider with a page-turner plot and compelling characters.
Newcastle, Massachusetts, March 1990: As war looms in the Persian Gulf, half a world away computer designer Todd Griffith discovers a secret function buried within the Kali computer chip. That night he is shot in the head as he sleeps.
A small group of scientists and engineers, who fear the motives of Meekman and his followers, set out to prevent them from gaining control of the technology that could allow them to control the future of humanity.
Biodigital invites you to contemplate a world where billionaire venture capitalists set the agenda, and where anything that can be hacked will be hacked, from hardware to software to DNA to the human soul.
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D.W. Jefferson was a Peace Corps agriculture volunteer in El Salvador (1974-76) and Costa Rica (1976-77). A blog about his Peace Corps years is at dwjefferson.blogspot.com He is currently retired from a career in computer software engineering.
If one substitutes the very real Elon Musk for the imaginary Monty Meekman, and specifically focuses on the fact that Musk recently received permission to implant microprocessors in human brains, one will realize that the biodigital world described in this story may not be all that far from reality!