Hunter Johnson: Blog

Book 2 comes to an end today. I hope you have enjoyed it as much as I enjoyed writing it. I shall begin posting book 3 as soon as the Editors are satisfied. I do recommend you read the new versions.
My thanks to Jim7 and BarneyR for the effort they put in to help make the books more readable.
Book 3 follows the new sequence of books ie Traitor Redux and The Mob. If you have not read the new versions I have no idea how much difference it will make. The first books are very different and miss a lot of themes that will appear later, but each book is independent. Thanks to those who have taken the effort to comment. I hope to improve my writing further in time. I am up to book 6 and am halfway through, so there is more to come in time. Each book is three times the size of a standard novel so it is a lot of editorial work. I never realized how much work goes into a book and how much Editors help in the process. Reader comment helps find errors but it is really hard to find those errors and correct them.
My thanks to all the readers who have persevered reading all four books. Book three will be posted as

Book 2 now as the Mob is in the process of being loaded. I have put up two chapters. For those who read the previous versions it is different this time round. I hope to start book 3 by Xmas. I apologize for the delay as I had an intense time writing books 4,5 and am half way through book 6. You will see the evolution of artificial intelligence as I see it and different and complex societies as the books progress. Book 3 will make less sense if you miss the new versions.

Thank you for so many ideas. I will follow up on the reading.
I suspect I did not phrase the questions I wanted to be answered clearly enough. I was thinking about evolved, Sentient level AI's at levels of sophistication one would expect in sixty thousand or more years ahead. I am not talking about now, I wanted to ask people how they think it will move and what will be the steps. It was not is AI here and can it evolve. My question relates to the book where I say here is here is this sophisticated society much more advanced than we are and they have sentient AI's who are working with people. How did a society reach that positive accommodation and what steps are we likely to go through if we have a good result and what went wrong along the way? I explore in the beginning largely metallic AI marines and have introduced part biological AI's, later. People are given AI's/Computers/memory which are inserted into their brain to add processing power storage etc. People add modifications and AI's add biological bits. Maybe I will wait till the books evolve more and explore the issues subsequently on the blog. I was wondering if people could speculate about the future evolutionary stages. I am thinking about it. I have been reading extensively but I am interested in the social changes society is likely to go through. Will job types continue to evolve so we have something to do? How are the Luddite backlashes dealt with. What happens if unemployment reaches 67% and after. I am trying to not have dystopic societies as that has been done to death eg Blade Runner. I wondered if anyone could project into the future and guess.
Thank you for the information about black holes and current weapon types.
If you can imagine the social changes that will occur as AIs can do more and more and we live indefinitely long lives, what adaptations will we have made along the way? That is what I am asking. I know there isn't one answer but my brain has its limits.
How will we deal with sentience and rights in society? Could a sentient AI vote? For those that read book 2, we meet an even more advanced society.
How will we cope with living two hundred years in good health, a thousand years in good health and even longer lives. How do we handle the boredom. I have tried to grapple with some of this in book 3 which is with the editors.

I am looking for some inspiration and also some consultation help. First of all, I'd like to thank everyone for the useful feedback that I received recently and again thank my two editors and proofreaders Jim 7 and BarneyR who are currently beavering away energetically on the third book which I will hope to post to finish by Christmas, which has a reasonable chance of happening.
Major question 1
How will society progress as Artificial intelligence advances and specifically what do you think the evolutionary stages will be and what will they be like. Even now we seem on the threshold of a major change in transportation where the implicit message is we are less reliable drivers than car AI systems will be and then your car if you have one can be used to transport others around when you are not using it.

One of the issues that I am attempting to grapple with, but I can't say that I have found terribly much useful written about, is the question of how people will land up working with and adapting to artificial intelligence in time. Economists appear to be of the belief that career types and occupations will continue to increase and we will have work in the future. Others believe in science fiction books that we will not have work, all the menial work will be done by low-level AIs, and huge chunks will be chopped out of many occupations. Some may no longer exist. Some predict war between us and the robots. Asimov programs the AI's with directives to save us from that fate.

Some cite that the most sophisticated computers can even now make better diagnoses than the best physicians and can develop better treatment plans, particularly as they stick to guidelines in the best evidence. Recently I saw the quality of some articles written by a newspaper AI, which I have to admit shocked me. A lot of legal work is amenable to AI talents, and of course, we have seen industrial AIs. Let us assume that this continues to the degree that they can get to the degree over some time where they become sentient. What do people think the impact on society is going to be before that happens, you think that there will be work for us? What do you see us doing? Specifically, what will be the stages that we are going to go through in the future. Do you think there will be unique things that only we can do.

Let us assume that they become sentient and they become more capable than we are? Do you think they will want equal rights in society and how are we going to negotiate agreements with them? What you think about what will happen with remuneration in the future. Some consider that we may pay everyone a basic living amount. What will happen to society if 40% of the people are unemployed or if 60% are unemployed?

I chose to look at a society that was far ahead of us. A hell of a lot of science fiction tries to grapple with these issues in the close future but there is not a lot that I have seen goes forward even ten thousand years.

I would be very interested if those who are interested in future developments would try and extrapolate their thoughts to look at the different stages that they think that society will go through in our relationship with artificial intelligence. I find that the ideas plague me as I continue to write. At one stage I began to think of what makes us uniquely human, but I remember in battle star Galactica that the machines began to create themselves in a biological form as time went on. It is highly improbable that AIs that work mining asteroids are going to have biological forms, but will there be advantages in the future to so doing? I am sure that there will be a massive commercial incentive for the sex industry to go down that path and I'm sure that that is not the only area that will be pursued. Would a sentient artificial intelligence wish to have a biological form?

Military Consultation
I am looking at someone who can read my stuff and point out glaring errors of strategy, tactics etc and make suggestions about some of the battles to add to the realism, both on the ground and in space. I have not made the weapons as powerful as I think they will be in the future because I wanted to tell a story. Creating a huge temporary black hole in the middle of an enemy fleet makes for a dull story.

Does anyone know if black holes just get bigger or does something else happen or will the big one in the center of the Universe one day get so big it pulls the Universe back to the center and the Big Bang happens again?

A few answers or suggestions would be greatly appreciated.

Critters

Does anyone have some interesting ideas about some sort of creature they would like to see? Or some kind of race or species with interesting characteristics? I haven't yet run out of ideas but some thoughts would be of interest. I am busy with book 5 currently, I just finished no 4 and still have a plan for six. An interesting appearance but especially a different alien way of thinking would be of some appeal. I have some weird stuff coming but I am always open to ideas or suggestions. I do this stuff for fun so if you have an idea please feel free.

Feedback

Feedback is always appreciated.

Thank you all for the comments. Chapter 13 is in the Queue. My Internet is terrible today so I am unsure if it is in the line. Also the introduction got truncated. Here it is:-
On the verge of old age and entering an old aged home Jason's 80 year old wife suicides after she is diagnosed with dementia and he faces murder charges. He is asked to travel to the Empire which is 65000 years ahead to help his sick great grandfather run his Duchy. He travels on a battleship but faces new enemies and lovers but finally has to decide if he can face his nemesis.