Parallel Universe Saga By Randy C. Dockens – Sponsored By Pump Up Your Book
The Story Behind Parallel Universe Saga
By Randy C. Dockens
The Parallel Universe Saga is somewhat of an extension to my series, The Adversary Chronicles. In that series, I talk about different dimensions and how those relate to the Bible. In this current series, I take that concept and look at it from a humanistic point of view. The common denominator between the two is that limitless universes represent the limitless number of decisions that we humans make. Therefore, travel into the past is prohibited because decisions have already been made which set our Earth down a certain pathway. Yet, the decisions of the future have not yet been made, so we have multiple pathways we can choose to set our Earth on, so it takes a different, but planned, course. And, if we can choose one of those alternate Earth’s and utilize their future technology that may or may not be part of the path of our Earth, we can change our destination to either bring those technologies to our Earth faster or bring technology to our Earth that we would not otherwise experience.
With that concept as the primary basis for the novel, I considered what would be such technology that could be brought back to our Earth. I chose Artificial Intelligence (AI). Yes, I know we already have AI, but it is in its infancy stage, so I brought to light a very sophisticated AI. Today, there are those who embrace AI stating all the positive things it can do for us. Then there are those who fear AI and want nothing to do with it because it can be used by nefarious individuals turning it into a sort of Big Brother, tracking our every move, controlling the masses to their will—if not by deception, then by force.
These dichotomous beliefs in AI are brought up in this novel, and one of the characters in the story, George, has the fear side of the argument and wants to control how the created AI can progress and what direction it can go. Yet, in doing so, he brings about the very things he was trying to prevent. This then brings up the question of how much information should an AI have access to? It is my premise, and that in this book, that if AI can continually update its own code and make decisions based upon all the information it has access to, then it should have access to all information so it can make the best unbiased decision and analysis it can. Without that, it can make biased decisions. Humans do this all the time but never take their biases to the nth degree. This would not be the case with AI. We can either let it make decisions and analyses without trying to limit it so it can deduce things from all data that humans can’t do or won’t allow themselves to do because of their human bias and belief. This could lead to discoveries or rationales beyond what we can do ourselves.
As with any story, there are protagonists and antagonists. In this story, these roles are sometimes held by the same individual. In the end, love and trust overcome prejudice and fear. It is a story that can entertain as well as make the reader think. Which character would they most identify with? How would they expect AI to work in their world? So, it’s a story that can expand one’s imagination as well as make one think about their own world and what role will AI play in it.