Day 131: Nexus

A techno-thriller chock full of action, espionage, and sci-fi wizardry, Ramez Naam's 'Nexus' is exactly what you'd expect from the genre, and more. With the usual expectations comes a huge serving of philosophical wisdom, as the novel touches on profound topics such as human desire, the abuse of technology, the power and dangers of transhumanism, Buddhist teachings about the nature of life and reality, and so much more. Going in, I thought this was going to be a pure and simple sci-fi thriller. By the end, I see it as something much deeper. With 'Nexus' Naam seeks to present a story about how minds can change, and how the world would follow. I think he succeeded quite spectacularly in that regard.

When neuroscientist Kaden Lade becomes obsessed with the healing powers of the illegal drug nexus 3, he and his partner Rangan discover something amazing. The mice that they've dosed with the concoction of nanomachines inside nexus 3 are not just able to send information between the neurons of their brains as expected, but that the information they send is also manipulatable. They realize that the nanomachines are able to store many more bits of data than they need to function, and soon find ways of sending extra data between the neurons those machines inhabit. The result? Programmable, telepathic, hive-minded mice.

They dub this iteration 'nexus 5,' and like any young, completely responsible scientists, they dose themselves with the upgraded masterpiece. Through parties and friends of friends, their human trials begin (illegally), catching the attention of the ERD, the Emerging Risks Department of the US government. Kaden's high minded goals of healing and forward progress aren't shared by everyone. There are people who would no doubt use nexus 5 to coerce, to manipulate, to hurt, and to kill. The ERD is responsible for stopping any non-human threats from emerging. Threats like the one Kaden has just begun distributing. Agent Samantha Cataranes is sent to infiltrate Kaden's nexus group, no small task among a party full of telepaths, and as soon as she is dosed with nexus, the false memories her bosses have implanted fall apart, and she's revealed as an under cover agent. Things go south and she's forced to take violent action instead of the more subtle approach.

Kaden is taken into custody, made to capitulate with all the ERD's demands, including to hand over all data relating to nexus 5, and to use his status as a neuroscientist to spy on one of his own, the brilliant Su-Yong Shu. Kaden is thrown into a world of espionage, mind control, violence, genetic manipulation, drugs, clone soldiers, and most awe inspiring and terrifying thing of all, a post-human being that sees mankind as lesser. His heart and mind are tested as he's forced to make one hard decision after another, culminating in a choice that could save the world, or destroy it.

As far as thrillers go, this one is top notch. Naam's prose is a little rough around the edges, a little more tell when you would like a lot more show, but that's hardly unforgivable for a debut novel. It's one of those stories where you can squint your brain and see it happening not too far in the future. The research put into this novel behind the technology and the philosophical elements really makes it what it is. As he points out in the afterword, we already have the technology to send and receive data from the brain. I think Naam sees transhuman connections like nexus 5 as a when, not an if, and that conviction of his gives 'Nexus' a legitimacy that pushes it beyond a simple techno-thriller. Though this first book stands alone very well, I can't wait to read the rest.

Thank you for reading,

Benjamin Hawley