13 Top #100 YA Dystopian Authors Giveaway!

GIVEAWAY HERE 

Win a dystopian starter library of paperback books from top #100 dystopian authors!

.99ebook extravaganza today only! Every book only .99c!

Authors Included:

Christina L Rozelle - The Treemakers

Logan Keys - The Last City

JN Chaney - The Amber Project

David Estes - Slip

Julian North - Age of Order

M. Black - Exotiqa

Sarah Noffke- Defects

Melanie Karsak - The Harvesting

Angel Lawson - The Girl Who Shot First

David Bernstein - Influence

Sophie Davis - Talented

Jenetta Penner - Configured

Ramona Finn -The Glitch

SPHERE FREE today only!

FREE HERE

"LIKE EXOTIQA THERE IS A MIXTURE OF EMOTIONS THAT GO THROUGHOUT THIS WHOLE STORY AND GETS YOU THINKING THAT QUITE POSSIBLY IT MAY ACTUALLY HAPPEN IN THE REAL WORLD" -AMAZON REVIEWER

"THESE BOOKS ARE GREAT. AS WITH THE OTHERS, I COULDN'T PUT THIS DOWN. NEW FAVE AUTHOR" -AMAZON REVIEWER

"ANOTHER GREAT READ!" -AMAZON REVIEWER

Divergent meets iRobot. ENTER TOMORROW with this YA Robot Cyberpunk Dystopian novel

EXOTIQA 1
THIRTY 1.5
SPHERE 2

With machine advancements embedded within human bodies, the questions of social inequality and prejudice come to light...

A year after the events of Exotiqa, Fione and Maci, are now facing ImaTech’s latest threat, the Humanbot program. Under the careful eye of Russell Wagner, this won't be easy. 

With Sector Spheres keeping watch on Fione and her best friend Spear joining the rebellious Vigilante group, Fione has to trust Pix more than ever. But is his allegiance to the human race the same as hers?

Find out in the conclusion to EXOTIQA, the top #100 YA Dystopian seller!

Quantum State, a story about a computer in control of our lives

QUANTUM STATE is my third release and while the PRINT is out now, the ebook won't be out until MAY 15th.

QUANTUM STATE asks the question, what if we designed such a sophisticated quantum computer to take care of us that one davit took over? What would life be like then? Would we enjoy life or what change? Would we be able to overcome this quantum computer intelligence since it could predict so much of our behavior? Would life be better with it or without it?

The idea came to me when I started thinking about those above questions. We already have a computer predicting crimes in certain areas. Crime rates have gone down! It is only a matter of time until more computers are used to predict human behavior and keep track of all those going in and out or prison.

Quantum computers are good for: Predicting accurate weather patterns, drug discoveries, solving traffic nightmares, military and defense, encrypted communication, space exploration, machine earning and automation,

In my story,

Masha Mikhailov is out main character and is friends with Esfir. They don't like the system they are under, and how the quantum computer dubbed MAQS directs their lives and makes all important decisions for them. They want their freedom, a basic human right, right?

So, the two begin their investigations which start with the Cylindrical in the park which is suppose to be for their own good, to help the air become cleaner to breathe. This leads them down a spiral of more questions and mysteries and suspicions until we are brought to the truth at the culminating end.

Do they get out of Cherni?
Do they find happiness?
Do they ever get away from MAQS?

All questions answered in the latest release. If you'd like a FREE copy for review purposes only, please eMail me. touch-of-grace@hotmail.com

If you'd like to learn more about quantum computers, read HERE

Is our universe a Simulation?

What is a simulation? 


A lot of people ask me how I can up with the idea of my book SIMULATION, and I have to tell them the story was based on the possibility that everything around us is an illusion. Modern science hints at the possibility that our universe itself is a simulation--or something to the effect of a 'computer game' so to speak. 

That brings us to the question of the MATRIX which proposes that humanity is more a less living in a simulation within their own mind, hooked to tubes as they sleep so that machines can suck their body energy as food. Kind of disturbing. But how close could the MATRIX be in real life?

More disturbingly, "the science-fiction nightmare of being trapped in a universe manufactured within our minds can be traced back further, for instance to David Cronenberg's Videodrome (1983) and Terry Gilliam's Brazil (1985)."

Not only may we be in the MATIRX, but we may not even have bodies at all. That may also be a simulation. 

"Several physicists, cosmologists and technologists are now happy to entertain the idea that we are all living inside a gigantic computer simulation, experiencing a Matrix-style virtual world that we mistakenly think is real."

Even Elon Musk had a thing or two to say about this idea."In June 2016, technology entrepreneur Elon Musk asserted that the odds are "a billion to one" against us living in "base reality"

"Musk and other like-minded folk are suggesting that we are entirely simulated beings. We could be nothing more than strings of information manipulated in some gigantic computer, like the characters in a video game"

But why all this talk about simulations? There are a few reasons, I think. One is that we use simulation models for all kinds of things. To understand animals better, or to understand cosmology or even flight patterns. We use simulations to learn to fly and or how life will be like in space. It is used in training, and these simulations are getting more complex. 

Would it be possible to one day create a virtual being which experiences consciousness? Some think so. That opens up a whole can of worms. What are these virtual conscious beings rights? Do they feel pain, pleasure? Do they have subjective feelings and thoughts about it? Do they experience? Do they remember the experience? 

In physics this idea keeps popping up too. The universe behaves mathematically and can be broken up into subatomic particles like pixelated video games. 

"The simulation hypothesis also accounts for peculiarities in quantum mechanics, particularly the measurement problem, whereby things only become defined when they are observed."


FREE books about our Dreams and Illusions

For more information, click HERE and HERE

Truck Automation

One of the reasons I wrote EXOTIQA is because of all the robot talk in magazines, newspapers and online. We are reading more and more that robots are the way of the future, and just how much will they be taking over? Well, it looks like they will be working not just from inside the grocery stores at the cashier counter, but now on the road too. 

It is inevitable that most manual labor will be done by robots. The trucking industry is already heading in that direction. Trucking can be hard, long hours and weeks away from family, and with little pay. Finding people to do the job can be hard and to find those willing to stick around even harder. 

"The White House released a report in December predicting that 1.3 million to 1.7 million heavy and tractor-trailer truck-driving jobs could disappear because of automation. That’s 80 to 100 percent of all truck-driving jobs." 

"David Alexander, an analyst with Navigant Research, anticipates that most truck companies will gradually introduce automated driving technology in the next five to 10 years."

The old jobs of truck driving will eventually be gone, but in its place there will be a need to monitor the automated trucks and prepare damage to the system and problem solve issues on the road with these trucks.

Less physical labor and more use of the mind. 

It gets interesting when Platooning is talked about. Fleets of trucks working in unison, braking together, speeding up together and all operated by one man.

“The people who can use the computers are seeing their wages rise,” he said. “The people who are not—their jobs are being taken away.”

Read more HERE 

When machines take over

So why did I write EXOTIQA?

Looking around me one day at the local Walmart, I began wondering how long it would be before most of our manual labor would be done by machines. Where would that leave us? Would we still have jobs? What would that mean for the machines? How would they develop?

I've read a lot on such subjects. https://www.washingtonpost.com/posteverything/wp/2016/02/17/yes-the-robots-will-steal-our-jobs-and-thats-fine/?utm_term=.44becdf25059

As I thought about these questions, I wondered what life would be like for the A.I. robot. What life would really be like inside his or her mind. How their thoughts would be different from ours, humans.  Would they have feelings? Are these all programmed or could they become something more?

EXOTIQA was born.

I didn't want to write just another 'robots take over humans' story, but a story from a robot's perspective. So, MACI is told from the machine's POV and FIONE is from the human's POV. I think this also helps there to be a balance, and allows the reader to experience what each might feel or think.

I also wanted my main characters to be human. I know, some readers said they wanted THIRTY to be the main guy, but hey you all have enough male leads in robot flicks and books alike.

In EXOTIQA, the world is very different from our own, because FLEXs do many human jobs. There are people who like this and people who don't. But then a new interface design is introduced called the SLAB, which is a lot like ELON MUSK's NUERAL LACE, though I wrote EXOTIQA back in late 2015, and released it in early 2017.

This SLAB allows for the download of a program called EXOTIQA which essentially starts allowing the owner to control his subjects.

The story gets intense half way through and we are left wondering how this program can be stopped if at all. I wanted to write a story about these issues in a way that would appeal to the younger audience, because it is they who will be living in such worlds. So, the book is YA, but I think will appeal to a vast age range.

Sound like Science fiction? Check again.

This book explores issues such as the Singularity, robotic consciousness, human V.S. machine rights, what is life, what is consciousness, how far can a human become machine before being a machine himself.

And then the book explores deeper issues in the sequel such as social inequality and prejudice between those who have and those who have not--machine parts.

DeepMind experiments on AI shows aggressive behavior

https://www.weforum.org/agenda/2017/02/ai-learned-to-betray-others-heres-why-thats-okay?utm_content=buffer2d2c2&utm_medium=social&utm_source=facebook.com&utm_campaign=buffer


This article explores the AI's tactics at either cooperation or aggression. The video at the end of the article is very interesting, and I recommend everyone reading to watch it.

The study was done by DeepMind to see whether AIs would use guns to shoot their opponent to get the apples. Or would they work together?

What was found was both startling and some might say predictable.

Given the instructions to collect as many apples as you can on the board and having the ability to shoot your opponent and stun them were simply it.

Discovered was that given many apples on the board, the AIs didn't shoot or m much at all. Given few apples, the shooting spree began. more interesting, was that more advanced AIs would shoot more often even with plenty of apples on the board.

The definitely showed a preference to logic and strategy to compassion and care.

But again, some might say this is no surprise. Given the parameters, that is what they will do.
The AIs are responding to rules humans gave them, human rules. They've been given a gun, and an objective and no limits.

They don't shoot for fun, or out of fear or excitement or nervousness. They shoot because it will allow them to win. Pure strategy. We didn't teach them anything else.

So, as humans in a world that is coming closer and closer to merging with machines...we will one day be walking along them on the streets and if we want to stay safe, we are going to have to get better at teaching them what they need to know and not giving them the ability to shoot;)



From author M.Black
EXOITQA, THIRTY, and SPHERE are part of EXOTIQA WORLD series, a 3 part book series that explores the blurred lines between human and machine, and what happens when machines start becoming conscious.

ELON MUSK and NUERAL LACE are eerily similar to EXOTIQA

https://futurism.com/elon-musks-attempt-to-merge-to-the-human-brain-with-ai-may-have-serious-problems/

The full article is above, but I will be commenting on parts of it below.

Combining humans and machines often sounds like a SyFy idea, or at least has been until modern times. Elon Musk is serious about combining humans and machines. TESLA and SPACEX are banding together for this venture.

Perhaps this is inevitable if humans are going to keep up with machines. This theme is explored in SPHERE, the sequel to EXOTIQA. How are humans to keep up with machines and an ever growing harsher environment?

Musk wants to build a device to be implanted into the human brain called a NUERAL LACE. This would give the brain the ability to interface with gadgets and other devices. Holy crap that sounds like my book EXOITQA.

The NUERAL LACE could improve memory, neurological disorders, and more.

Questions of SOCIAL INEQUALITY pop up, another issue delved into in my sequel SPHERE. After all, if some humans are advanced through machine/computer/AI parts, doesn't that give them an unfair advantage? Are they still human? At what point do we stop being human and become machine? Can anyone be giving these advancements? What about criminals? Children? Are our pets next?

These are all important questions I go further into with my EXOTIQA WORLD SERIEs that you can find here on this blog.

As one writer put it: “In other words, not only do the rich seem to get richer—they may get the benefit of having a computer-enhanced brain.”

Now that would be one hell of a story to write about. Anyone heard of talk of my next AI story ELECTRIC GARDENS? ;)