Synaptergy

by Thomas Murosky

Mark is a student of robotics with a budding career track. Still in high school, he has a fellowship with the local university working with the renowned Professor David. But just before the end of the school year, Mark becomes a quadriplegic, closing the doors to his future.

But Professor David is contacted by his best friend, Tyler Davis, who was recently promoted to the project lead for a new company called Synaptergy. This company is working on a new brain-to-robotic interface that promises to restore the lives of those who have lost the use of their limbs.

Mark rejoins his old lab partners to work on the project. The team makes many breakthroughs, but some things are not as they seem. Soon, the team suspects that the technology has some extra side effects that no one had even considered.

Are the effects just random or odd occurrences, or are more nefarious actions going on behind the scenes? The team sees the potential on the project, but needs to decide if the price they may pay is too steep.

Audible Audio

Published June 19, 2020

About the author

Thomas Murosky has a background in the Biological Sciences earning his Bachelors in Biochemistry and Doctorate in Molecular Toxicology. He taught Chemistry at Bucknell University and Western Wyoming Community College. While as a student and professor, Tom worked in several capacities as a children’s and youth worker having served the local CEF board, as a counselor for Christian camps, Awana programs, and other youth outreach including a decade of work in Big Brothers, Big Sisters of America.

Tom stepped aside from teaching and academics to work as a technology consultant to focus more time on writing, blogging, and video production in the area of Christian teaching with a focus on discipleship and sanctification. His first book, Testing and Temptations, is about how we are called to transform our lives to be like Christ in the process of Sanctification. His second book, The Art of Shallow Neighboring is parody book calling us to better Christian discernment in the books we read. His third book, I AM Not Amused calls for sober analysis of the media entertainment industry. In addition to these, Tom does videos on current Christian events and sound theology.

You can find more information and other books Thomas has authored at www.ourwalkinchrist.com.

Reviews

[Patrick Weems · Rating 5 out of 5]

Synaptergy is a sci-fi book about our relationship with technology on a personal level. The book deals with the logical progression of smart tech as it evolves from smart speakers and wearables to implants that actually allow the user to interact directly with hardware. This is a concept that has been around for awhile, but it has never been so close to becoming a reality. This creates an environment of impending menace, or at least the possibility of it, as our society hands over more of our dwindling privacy every day. It isn’t a great jump from current smart tech to the type of invasive tech depicted in this book. And if this happens, what will the tech companies behind these devices do with that power? Already we see the mismanagement of our personal data and the covert collection of data. If implants can receive and transmit information, the companies behind this technology will have a high level of control over our personal choices. This is the ultimate avenue of manipulating consumers to the will of the highest bidder.
So this book is a bit scary, but more importantly, it will make the reader think about what is happening with this rapid integration of new technologies into our daily lives. While this book isn’t perfect, it is one I highly recommend. I hope the author is working on the second volume, as I would like to see where the story goes and what other questions arise concerning new issues that we are all facing whether we realize it or not. I didn’t really get into the story itself, as I was more interested in the overall message. However, it is interesting and the action makes the narrative flow very well. I am also a Linux user, so I appreciated that the protagonist was using a Debian system.