We the People

by Bryan Zero Johnson

The War has ended. The Children won.In the late 21st century, a neurotechnology called Bridge has changed the world. Bridging allows a person to program their own body and mind to achieve untold enhancement. There was one It only works in children. Within a single generation, a new world order developed. Bridged Children grew smarter, faster, and stronger than the Adults and demanded equal rights. The Adults fought back. During the ensuing war, Adams, a prodigy among the Children, hid in seclusion on the Nordic coast. But when a family secret pulls him into the public eye, Adams must unravel the details of a sinister, mind-bending plot of global domination before it is too late.

Writing as “Zero,” author Bryan Johnson is an entrepreneur and explorer of new frontiers of human existence. Johnson has founded multiple Blueprint (longevity), Kernel (neurotechnology), OS Fund (AI, computation, and biotechnology), and Braintree Venmo (payments). In We the People, Johnson explores what it means to program the body, the mind, and society, using the technologies of tomorrow.

Genres: Science Fiction, Fiction

199 pages, Kindle Edition

Published November 19, 2023

About the author

Zero was the first individual H. sapiens to surpass five hundred years of age. He died in 2478, hit by Earth's last bus in operation, only weeks before becoming Homo Deus. During his life, Zero fathered millions of biological and digital offspring who now live in the far reaches of the solar system and beyond. Best known for inventing Zeroism and the resurrection technology undie, Zero famously raised his detractors from the dead so he could tell them that he had outlived them.
Zero's ancestor, Bryan Johnson, was born in twentieth-century USA. Johnson left his religious upbringing and built the payments company Braintree Venmo, which sold to PayPal for eight hundred million dollars in 2013. He subsequently became a pioneering entrepreneur and investor in the fields of synthetic biology, nanotechnology, brain interfaces, and longevity. Johnson became the most biologically measured person in history through his Project Blueprint and created the global movement DON'T DIE that sowed the seeds for human, planetary and Al alignment..

Johnson follows a strict dietary and lifestyle regime in pursuit of life extension.

His writing blog on Medium is extensive and has written a chapter in Martin Ford’s Architects of Intelligence: The Truth About AI from the People Building It. His new book, Don’t Die, is accessible on his blueprint site.

Reviews

[Tash · Rating 5 out of 5]

Okay if you are a fan of Black Mirror like I am you are going to absolutely love this book!!
This just screamed Black Mirror to me and I was totally here for it!!

This book was fast paced it did not lull one bit and it kept my interest thoroughly.

It was kind of mind blowing honestly.
New Zero fan in the house!!!


'Cognitive extinction.”

It’s ridiculous. Dr. Seussian. Children versus Adults. Up versus Down. Butter-side up. Butter-side down. Left. Right

The shortest path to mind control is tricking people into thinking it was their idea in the first place.

[Bookworm-hev · Rating 5 out of 5]

First time in while sat read book start to finish in same day 4 hour 11 mins nice on to book 2

[Judith Fleming · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is not at all my jam. Futuristic sci fi dystopian… nope. But for not being my jam is was pretty good and impossible to put down!

[Nina · Rating 3 out of 5]

This started out ok, but then it just got a bit too much too fast. There are also some gaping plot holes, like obviously Washington would have hacked Taiga’s Bridge - after all, he installed without Adams’ knowledge! So from the moment Adams crossed with Taiga, Washington ought to have been able to listen to all his thoughts. Anyway. I liked the first half, so it’s three stars from me.

[Xavier Terminello · Rating 5 out of 5]

A book that I stayed up past my bedtime for !! One of my all time favorite books and I believe extremely well written. This book got me to believe what if it does work out? And I think maybe one of the most empowering framework shifts and great plot to!

[Bex · Rating 5 out of 5]

Flo read and recommended it, and safe to say I was pleasantly surprised by the world that was created. Would be curious to read what comes next if there is a sequel

[Anne · Rating 5 out of 5]

Amazing and clever page tuner. Couldn’t put it down and read it in two go’s. The depicted mind bending future is a great motivator to keep eating your Green Giant.

[Ioana Lily Balas · Rating 1 out of 5]

I watch Bryan Johnson's Youtube channel, and at some point I saw that he uploaded some audiobooks, this being the only fiction one. The others are all about his Don't Die project. So although the themes in this scifi world are related, it is definitely more extreme in pushing the boundaries of societal advances.

Now, I have to precede this by saying that I really, strongly, completely dislike audiobooks. They just don't work for me. They don't retain my attention, often the narrator's voice puts me to sleep or worse case scenario bothers me, and I can't follow with the rhythm of the reading set by someone else.

And this brings me to 'We the People' - the narrator annoyed me to the point that I was visibly cringing and getting angry. The voice acting is horrendously bad, and especially the raising of the tone of speaking for portraying a female-sounding, soft-spoken AI was disturbingly bad. It was a type of American accent that is not pleasant to my ears and where I can hear the saliva on the tongue and between the teeth of the narrator. It really put me off.

So all of this said, I couldn't focus, and the bits that I did focus on were not written well at all. There were cliche expressions, unrealistic dialogue, and a lot happening yet strangely it felt like it was after the fact. The plot had an air of epilogue, like the main events are already behind us, we are dealing with the aftermath and the exciting part has already passed and we missed it.

The reality is I can't even summarise very well what this was about due to all these frustrations. Basically, a generation gets implanted with a device that allows them physical and intellectual superpowers, and what happens after a war in which these children confront their ancestors in finding their own place in society. There's a lot of fancy terms thrown about, but this medium of audiobook meant I couldn't retain the information and it didn't pique my interest enough to rewind.

[Steven · Rating 2 out of 5]

There is an obsession with being the smartest/cleverest/most multi-processing dude in the room that permeates the world of tech—and this book is just dripping with it. No wonder Amazon is giving this book away for free. Zero is just about right.

[Dragos Macelaru · Rating 5 out of 5]

Good different science fiction

What happens if a very small fraction of humanity suddenly becomes extremely smart? Would they become masters? Or be enslaved?
Well written, I'm looking forward to the next book in the series.

[Colin Keeley · Rating 4 out of 5]

Fun read with some clever ideas. Could use more polishing. Worthy of lengthening into a trilogy.

[Dan Spettle · Rating 5 out of 5]

Great great

to be honest I was skeptical at first. about 20 pages in I could not put it down. I can't wait to have the smartest person I know to read it

[Jay Rao · Rating 4 out of 5]

Interesting book from the guy who is trying to live forever. It’s a sci-fi book about the future and there’s a lot of great ideas and food for thought in the book.

[Brian Neuman · Rating 4 out of 5]

There's a non-zero probability this was written, in part, with outsourced thinking. The co-author being AI. The pen name "Zero" literally includes the description of nearly becoming "Homo Deus". The real Bryan Johnson has publicly stated he converses with ChatGPT for an hour a day. I too have been an avid AI user since nearly day one. This book reads as if I'm conversing with ChatGPT. That's probably why I was surprised to find it a page-turning thriller. When pressed, I can get AI's to do the same, to press my internal bio-chemical emotional feed-good buttons. That's what this book is (I think).

Over the last couple decades we've seen our best minds shift their energy attention towards driving the attention of others (and mining their data). This book might be a silicon chip doing the same. I can't decide if that's good or bad.

[Tricia Toney · Rating 4 out of 5]

In the late 21st century, children have been Bridged. Bridging is a technology that enhances intelligence and physical ability. Soon, the Children rebelled against the Adults and war broke out. Adams and his twin sister Madeleine are the first two Children to have been Bridged. Both armies want to use him as a pawn and figurehead. When they finally bring him out of hiding, he needs to figure out everyone's true intentions before the war destroys everyone.

[Alex Shevchuk · Rating 4 out of 5]

Read this right after finishing the Nexus trilogy—this is conceptually similar, and reads almost as a darker fourth novel of the series. It was an overall enjoyable read due to the fast-paced, unpredictable plot. There is an unpolished feel to it, however, and the book would significantly benefit from being longer. Much of the events felt rushed and random.

[Elizabeth Socha · Rating 1 out of 5]

I did not enjoy this book, it just was not my thing. It felt like I was thrown into the middle of a sci-fi series where nothing got explained so I was super confused the entire time. Also, the ending was so abrupt I have no idea what happened.

[Michelle Kssili · Rating 2 out of 5]

Bridged?

This story confused me from the beginning. What is bridged? No explanation. I never understood why people think artificial intelligence is great. I guess Im not into the Sci fi. Is it so hard to do things normal? People are not made to be robots.

[Louise Tong (shadybookdragon) · Rating 5 out of 5]

4.5/5

[Delphin · Rating 5 out of 5]

I was sad when I finished reading it, it's super well written with a lot of details, and I learned a lot (opened me to new ideas)

[Imaloser Dude · Rating 5 out of 5]

I was hooked instantly, reading it in one day. So much to think about. I want more.

[Angie Gallardo · Rating 5 out of 5]

Me encantó, una historia bien contada y con mucha tecnología lo que resultó ser un desafío en inglés, pero lo recomiendo. Es rápido y entretenido.

[Ernest Burdett · Rating 5 out of 5]

Amazing

Never read anything like this story. I was hooked from the first paragraph. In short I loved it. Start too finish.

[Aprile Kim · Rating 4 out of 5]

i normally don't care for science fiction at all but this exploration of consciousness and superposition scratched an itch i didn't know i had. i wish it was longer + better developed tho

[Luka · Rating 5 out of 5]

Had a 10 minute existential crisis with intense goose bumps after that ending and understanding of the motive and the story of this book.

If you are councious, I recommend you to read this.

Can't wait for AI or Bryan to extend this story to a trilogy, since it's so good.

[Amilia Garside · Rating 3 out of 5]

This was a good read, however I did feel confused at times. It delved a lot into science theories that I didn’t quite understand. But, I did enjoy reading this book.