Gary Durbin

Nano-Uncertainty Gary Durbin

Nano-Uncertainty brings to life the strange world of high-tech in the Bay Area while presenting the real danger of an unconstrained artificial intelligence. Software super geek James Forrest becomes unexpectedly embroiled in a murder case when he is hired to investigate the software at Distributed Nanotech Inc., a Berkeley supercomputer software company. James tells Susanne Anderson, the CEO, that DNI's murdered Chief Scientist copied his code from an artificial intelligence project; this makes her life even more complex. While she struggles to keep the company's venture financing on track and James struggles to understand the software, they become murder suspects. James builds a visual tool to see inside the supercomputer. Even though the Visualizer is hypnotic and painful, it helps him unlock a hidden AI. The DNI system breaks, and when James figures out how to fix it, the murderer is enraged and comes after James. Pulled together by their romantic attraction for each other, James and Susanne join forces to contain the dangerous AI. Recent statements by Stephen Hawking and Bill Joy, co-founder of Sun Microsystems, about the possible dangers of artificial intelligence have raised public concern. Readers will find Nano-Uncertainty accessible, thrilling, and disquieting.