I, Human

The author's 1988 novel, Transformations, told the story of a young geneticist who wanted to root out and replace the human species' more unsavory character traits. But he found himself part of an experiment by advance beings who revealed the real inner-workings of human evolution as self-transcendence. Twenty-five years later, after the themes of transhumanism, its peril and its hope, have been bandied about by authors of every stripe, Nelson revisits these themes in I, Human. Set in the "Brave New World" of the late 21st century, most everyone has neural implants that have raised average I.Q.s to 200 plus and monitor one's activities. The downside is they suppress feelings and intuition and are causing massive emotional breakdowns among the techno elites. This sets the stage for Alan Reynard and his journey from callous transhuman to a feeling-oriented Intuitive. Fitted with an experimental processor, he infiltrates a "borny" village to discover the secrets of its spiritual healers. Having lost the ability to program integrative functioning, his superiors hope Reynard's processing can rectify this deficit and save their society...