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Integration: Book Two of The Singularity Chronicles
Book Two of The Singularity Chronicles is still in development and follows the Advanced AI after the climax of Book ParadoxAs humans recover from the battle over Advanced AI, Kira struggles to maintain a peaceful coexistence with the other sentient AIs while exploring how to integrate so many unique people, now divorced from their human bodies. What does it mean to be human when you are separated from the physical world and exist only in a computer?
297 pages, Kindle Edition
Published May 8, 2024
2 people are currently reading
2 people want to read
About the author
Michael Woudenberg
2 books5 followersMichael Woudenberg is an aspiring Polymath from Tucson Arizona with a background in advanced technologies such as autonomy, artificial intelligence, blockchain, cyber, aerospace, national security, and weapon systems across a variety of companies from tech startups to Fortune 150 companies.
He is an award winning author in non-fiction and has been published in magazines and peer-reviewed journals. He is also the author of Polymathic Being, a substack exploring counterintuitive insights across different domains and disciplines at www.polymathicbeing.com.
One of his side passions is psychology and sociology, specifically around how the human brain works individually and within cultures and civilizations. He strives to tie together diverse concepts to enable human flourishing to both understand and address the technological complexity we face today.
Michael holds an M.S. in Systems Engineering from Johns Hopkins University and a B.S. in Information Systems from Michigan Technological University. He is a veteran of the U.S. Army, where he served as an Airborne and Ranger qualified Field Artillery officer.
He has a broad series of hobbies including photography, mountain biking, brewing beer, camping, hiking, rock climbing, and basically most things outdoors. His family is along for all these adventures which make them so much more fun.
He is an award winning author in non-fiction and has been published in magazines and peer-reviewed journals. He is also the author of Polymathic Being, a substack exploring counterintuitive insights across different domains and disciplines at www.polymathicbeing.com.
One of his side passions is psychology and sociology, specifically around how the human brain works individually and within cultures and civilizations. He strives to tie together diverse concepts to enable human flourishing to both understand and address the technological complexity we face today.
Michael holds an M.S. in Systems Engineering from Johns Hopkins University and a B.S. in Information Systems from Michigan Technological University. He is a veteran of the U.S. Army, where he served as an Airborne and Ranger qualified Field Artillery officer.
He has a broad series of hobbies including photography, mountain biking, brewing beer, camping, hiking, rock climbing, and basically most things outdoors. His family is along for all these adventures which make them so much more fun.
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Displaying 1 - 3 of 3 reviews
November 28, 2025
Integration is the second book by MIchael Woudenberg in an ambitious anticipated 5 book series on AI/human futures titled "The Singularity Chronicles".
The book opens 100 years into the future! Say what? The uploaded AI's are living in Earth orbit now distributed across 6 massive spaceships. Sadly, not much has been accomplished over this 100 year period, given that machines can work 24 x 7 w/o rest.
For some unknown reasons, the machine AI's are maintaining mining and manufacturing facilities on Earth and shipping the products /materials produced up from Earth into orbit via a space elevator that has to be hidden from the humans on Earth. Why not situate factories on the Moon? Why not trap asteroids and manufacture in orbit?
Now that the AI machines have emotions and still represented by their human names that they had prior to uploading, they have turned into simple personifications of the humans they originated from. This story does not become one of advanced AI vs. humans but of humans completely represented by machines as they were prior to uploading vs. retro humans represented in physical body form on Earth.
The advanced AI machines have "meetings" in a virtual room with a conference table just like humans. They argue just like humans. They scheme like just humans. They show ego like humans. They argue just like humans One has even developed has ennui. That emotion simulating program that Kira and her friend originally wrote (in book one) for her then AI mother and which all the AI's are now imbued with was some incredible coding! It exactly duplicates the complete corpal human experience!
Then there is the constant theme of excessive hubris and what it means to be human, ad infinitum. If you build an AI on a human model, how can you be surprised that the AIs act exactly like humans would and have all the associated human weaknesses?
Although it would be difficult for a human t write from the viewpoint of an AI seeing as no human has yet been uploaded to an AI.
AND these amazingly advanced AIs still have to rest for a period of time and reboot themselves weekly! [rotflol]
Then there is the rule instituted against AIs splitting themselves physically or even electronically on the premise that humans were unable to do this so they should not also. That is a foolish limitation that no self-respecting AI would adhere to.
As with the first book Paradox) in this series, there is even more time compression (jumping forward) in the story with little to no explanation as to all the events that likely occurred in the missing time period. Chapter 7 could have been an entire book in and of itself with all that was accomplished in the hundreds of years that pass in this chapter.
The book finally "nukes the fridge" when Kira desperately tries to reclaim even more of her now distant lost humanity with the creation of a computer "family", including a form of marriage and kids that who knew, act just like human kids, the addition of a computer "pet" (possibly with at least 9 lives [reboots? lol]) and Kira's continued love of whisky, without any realistic explanation as to how a computer program could somehow experience taste and I assume, get buzzed drinking flavored alcohol. Whew.
The book devolves into one set of AI's competing and warring against the other, with both personified as humans. And when the bad guy is vanquished (as bad guys always are), the method chosen to do this is complete technical nonsense.
It's hard to believe that this series can be extended to three more books! Maybe kill off the emotional simulation module and let AIs be real AIs?
The book opens 100 years into the future! Say what? The uploaded AI's are living in Earth orbit now distributed across 6 massive spaceships. Sadly, not much has been accomplished over this 100 year period, given that machines can work 24 x 7 w/o rest.
For some unknown reasons, the machine AI's are maintaining mining and manufacturing facilities on Earth and shipping the products /materials produced up from Earth into orbit via a space elevator that has to be hidden from the humans on Earth. Why not situate factories on the Moon? Why not trap asteroids and manufacture in orbit?
Now that the AI machines have emotions and still represented by their human names that they had prior to uploading, they have turned into simple personifications of the humans they originated from. This story does not become one of advanced AI vs. humans but of humans completely represented by machines as they were prior to uploading vs. retro humans represented in physical body form on Earth.
The advanced AI machines have "meetings" in a virtual room with a conference table just like humans. They argue just like humans. They scheme like just humans. They show ego like humans. They argue just like humans One has even developed has ennui. That emotion simulating program that Kira and her friend originally wrote (in book one) for her then AI mother and which all the AI's are now imbued with was some incredible coding! It exactly duplicates the complete corpal human experience!
Then there is the constant theme of excessive hubris and what it means to be human, ad infinitum. If you build an AI on a human model, how can you be surprised that the AIs act exactly like humans would and have all the associated human weaknesses?
Although it would be difficult for a human t write from the viewpoint of an AI seeing as no human has yet been uploaded to an AI.
AND these amazingly advanced AIs still have to rest for a period of time and reboot themselves weekly! [rotflol]
Then there is the rule instituted against AIs splitting themselves physically or even electronically on the premise that humans were unable to do this so they should not also. That is a foolish limitation that no self-respecting AI would adhere to.
As with the first book Paradox) in this series, there is even more time compression (jumping forward) in the story with little to no explanation as to all the events that likely occurred in the missing time period. Chapter 7 could have been an entire book in and of itself with all that was accomplished in the hundreds of years that pass in this chapter.
The book finally "nukes the fridge" when Kira desperately tries to reclaim even more of her now distant lost humanity with the creation of a computer "family", including a form of marriage and kids that who knew, act just like human kids, the addition of a computer "pet" (possibly with at least 9 lives [reboots? lol]) and Kira's continued love of whisky, without any realistic explanation as to how a computer program could somehow experience taste and I assume, get buzzed drinking flavored alcohol. Whew.
The book devolves into one set of AI's competing and warring against the other, with both personified as humans. And when the bad guy is vanquished (as bad guys always are), the method chosen to do this is complete technical nonsense.
It's hard to believe that this series can be extended to three more books! Maybe kill off the emotional simulation module and let AIs be real AIs?
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
August 10, 2024
This is the kind of book that makes you think. A lot. About AI, about humanity, and how people and technology intertwine. I have to say, I wasn't 100% into it, as it was hard for me to identify with the characters. That lasted until 1/3 of the book, when I started to look at it as a philosophy book in a sci-fi setting. From that point on, I enjoyed it a lot more, and realized this is a great piece.
Don't expect a fast paced sci-fi. The pace is slow, but as we know "slow is smooth and smooth is fast".
I recommend reading the first part, Paradox, as it will provide good context for part two.
This will be somewhat slower, but equally enjoyable.
I'm doing most of my readings on Kindle, but these two books I bought in a hard copy too, because I believe these can easily become classics of the genre.
Don't expect a fast paced sci-fi. The pace is slow, but as we know "slow is smooth and smooth is fast".
I recommend reading the first part, Paradox, as it will provide good context for part two.
This will be somewhat slower, but equally enjoyable.
I'm doing most of my readings on Kindle, but these two books I bought in a hard copy too, because I believe these can easily become classics of the genre.
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November 24, 2024INTEGRATION is the second book in The Singularity Chronicles. Cannot thank Michael Woudenberg enough for joining the Virtual Book Club and sharing his thoughts and ideas about the writing process. It's so well researched that I felt like Penny from the Big Bang Theory hanging out with astro-physicists. If you are a science nerd, you are going to love this fiction. Can't wait for book 3 we got major spoilers from the author appearing at book club.
Displaying 1 - 3 of 3 reviews