Smashwords Interview June, 2017

Your first two books involve telepathic dolphins and the terminal effects of rampant global warming. What’s next? I am working on the next book in the Metamorphosis Chronicles series which begins in the aftermath of the nuclear weapon assault in the Bay Area. It begins with the portrayal of a robot controlled factory which was spared from the detonations but the assembly line robot workers are mutating as a result of the waves of high energy radiation that had surged throughout the complex. xxxxxxxxXXXXXXxxxxxxXXxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx A strong psychic connection is a common thread in your novels. I understand that you have a doctorate in marine biology. Do you ever have difficulty in resolving science vs. the paranormal? Working with Adele Tinning I experienced multiple experiences that seem to defy scientific explanation. (See the Telepathic Dolphin Experiment Backstory.) However, I believe that all psychic phenomena will eventually be explained by the fundamentals of science and the scientific method which relies upon unbiased testing of clearly stated hypotheses and the submission of the results for testing and evaluation by the scientific community. How do you see technology evolving? As robots and androids become outfitted with post-singularity Artificial Intelligence they will be formidable allies or competitors. What jobs can humans do that robots can’t do better, more efficiently and with less time and cost? Will they have the right to vote, own property or assume a government office? Still it seems like there may be the hope that AI's and humans will work together to defend against the threat of a planet killing asteroid as well as conduct asteroid mining to construct colonies in space. What’s unique is that that robots will be able to mutate and test the survival of the fittest in simulations in seconds instead of decades. The quest for immortality is also a major feature in Met-Chron Sanctuary. What are your thoughts about prolonged life spans in humans? With advances in nano-scale tissue and organ bioengineering New-Humans will become more android like and live longer lives—maybe even for centuries and beyond. The problem is limited resources….and of course we will have to share those resources with robots and android populations. Will robots and droid’s have feelings and desires? If a robot studies the concept of love and how it is manifest and that has an impact on certain abilities that are analogous to the chemistry of emotion, and then creates an algorithm to mimic its behavior and ultimately establish a reward system that encourages the robot to incorporate that behavior into its subroutines, it will act as if it has feelings of love. That algorithm could then be broadest to the robot population. An important factor will be whether AI-Droids have the right to reproduce Will procreation be regulated? Will they develop the concept of desire? Will factions with different and opposing priorities develop? In Met-Chron Sanctuary you portray national governments as corporations. How does this relate to your views on politics? There are three major opposing governments in the story. United States Corporation (USACO), a joint Iranian-Venezuela (IRANVEN), China, Russia and North Korea (CHIRUS). As long as corporations can make campaign contributions I expect their power to increase. The problem with corporations is that they have no soul and are essentially immortal—as long as they make a profit. Much of the goodwill they disseminate is image marketing and the human leaders come and go over time. The question is ‘Will AI androids secure the right to vote and hold office’? ....Will they pay taxes? Published 2017-06-11.