Ramez Naam, Nexus, 2013

Ramez Naam, Nexus, 2013


Lac Market House,
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NG1 1HW
UK

angryrobotbooks.com
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first published by Angry Robot in 2013
this edition published 2015 


 1  The don juan protocol               7 
    briefing                           26
 2  close door, open mind              27 
 3  calibration                        35
 4  the noose                          53
 5  leverage                           75
    briefing                           85 
 6  external conditions                88
 7  explanations                      105
 8  back doors                        112 
 9  training days                     128
10  changes                           134
11  serenity                          144
    briefing                          151
12  two tickets to paradise           153 
13  invitations & provocations        162
14  surprising interactions           175 
15  replay                            183
16  a slight change of plans          191
17  VIP                               199
18  ayutthaya                         205
19  the confusion                     212
20  only human                        220 
21  wild at heart                     231
    briefing                          241
22  the bazaar of the bizarre         242
23  buddha's kiss                     249 
24  one tough bitch                   260 
25  the pawn seldom knows             273 
26  masks                             286 
27  leave no man behind               292
28  warnings & discoveries            297
29  madness everywhere                302 
30  data gathering                    308
31  from a friend                     316
32  preparations                      324 
    briefing                          330
33  synchronicity                     331 
34  sisters                           339 
35  roots                             348 
36  company                           361
37  harsh introduction                366 
38  hell on earths                    380
39  frying pan to fire                388 
40  running                           403 
41  repercussions                     413 
42  a matter of perspective           417 
43  just breathe                      428 
44  findings                          439 
45  anyone                            445
46  calm before the storm             450 
47  incoming                          456
48  no plan survives...               470
49  vermin                            486 
    briefing                          493
50  going viral                       494 
51  shanghai                          504
    briefing                          506

author's note: the science of Nexus   517
Epilogue  crossroads                  508
    briefing                          512 

pp.284-285
   Nakamura had skipped another rock, then spoken softly.  “Sometimes dropping a piece is necessary in order to win”, he'd said. “A sacrifice. A gambit. A trade for a more valuable piece. It's not just that you might be killed in this line of business. It's that you might be intentionally sacrificed or traded to further advance your side's position.”
   Sam had scoffed at that. “That's not how we play. We take care of our own.”
   Nakamura had grunted, said nothing.
   They'd walked a bit more in silence. She remembered the intense heat of the sun. DC was so hot that summer.
   Eventually she'd asked, “So what kind of pieces are we? Knights? Bishops?”
   Nakamura had chuckled. “You, my young friend, are a pawn.”

p.285
   She was troubled by the conversation with Becker. Not just because he'd scolded her.  It was the notion that Kade might trust her more now as a side effect of the ambush.  It was true.  She'd felt it.  The hostility had dropped.  He felt honest gratitude that she'd saved his life.  He'd felt comforted by her presence.  That could only be an advantage to the mission. 
   In seeking to uncover the causes of an event, ask yourself:  who stands to benefit from it? [qui bono - who benefit]  More wise, cynical words from Nakamura. 
   Becker stood to benefit from this, she thoughts.  The mission did.  The ERD did.  Is there any chance this was a set-up?  That I was meant to beat those guys?  That it was all to play Kade?  Were those men pawns, sacrificed in a larger gambit? 
   No.  That was just paranoia talking.  Surely just paranoia.  Wasn't it? 


author's note
the science of Nexus    
pp.517-523
p.517
   I first became aware of the advances in brain computer interface technology in the early 2000s.  The experiment that caught my attention was one being conducted at Duke University and led by a scientist named Miguel Nicolelis.  Nicolelis and his collaborators were interested in tapping into signals in the brain to restore motion for whose who'd been paralyzed or lost limbs.  Funded in part by a grant from DARPA ─ a branch of the US Department of Defense that sponsors advanced research ─ they showed that they could implant electrodes in a mouse's brain and teach the mouse to control a robot arm simply by thinking about it. 
p.518
   What happened next was even more remarkable ─ the mouse learned that it didn't even have to press the lever.  Over time it figured out that it could stay completely still, and think about getting water, and voilà, the robot arm would deliver it. 
   Well, that paper got my attention.  Over the next few years, Nicolelis and his team did the same thing in a species of monkey, with more sophisticated arms that could move about in multiple directions.  They even took the experiment farther, to its logical extent, and had a monkey control a robot arm six hundred miles away, connected over the internet. 
p.518
Phil Kennedy, scientist 
Johnny Ray  
p.520
William Dobelle, scientist 


acknowledgements                      525


Scott Harrison, Archangel 
James Floyd Kelly, Wired.com's GeekDad blog
Philip Palmer, Version 43

    joint winner of the prometheus award 2014
shortlisted for the arthur c clark award 2014 


non-fictions
Ramez Naam, The infinite resource
Ramez Naam, More than human: embracing the promise of biological enhancement 


https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Nexus_Trilogy
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Arthur_C._Clarke_Award
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Prometheus_Award


MindGamers, 2016 film
written by Joanne Reay & Andrew Goth
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/MindGamers