Publisher's Synopsis
Not too far in the future, terrorists who hate modern civilization hope to wreak unrelenting destruction when they get their hands on powerful military AI software -- ultimately forcing life altering decisions in a race to save the very existence of humanity. Against this backdrop, Weston Foard must juggle a championship chess match while falling in love with Jasmina Simonis, the soulmate who would upend his life; Chris Giordano is writing a book about the best people on Earth while being stalked by a terrorist; and software genius Martin Sandoval is recruited to work with a mysterious woman to disarm the terrorists' software while trying to prevent his prosthetic arm from going amok. It's about the future of AIs, biotech, immortality, the perils of technology-so, the future of humanity-plus a bit of chess, a bit of humor, a bit of romance, a bit of philosophy on how society would deal with such threats and opportunities, and much more. Termination of Species is very timely with the rise of generative AI and other recent advances in technology.
"In Termination of Species, Andrew Burt puts so many pieces into play-ideas and warnings and opportunities that may lie just ahead-that 'The Future' will never be the same."
-David Brin.
"A very intriguing, multiway view on the future of AI. It's not just the humans who have something to worry about."
-Vernor Vinge
Dr. Andrew Burt (www.aburt.com) has lots of published science fiction and is a former Vice President of the Science Fiction and Fantasy Writers Association. He's been a computer science professor (specializing in AI, networking, security, privacy, and social issues); founder of Nyx.net, the world's first free internet service provider; CEO of custom software developer TechSoft, and a technology consultant/author/speaker. For a hobby, he constructs solutions to the world's problems. Fortunately, nobody listens.
