Infoquake (56 page)

The chronicling of modern history began with Sheldon Surina's publication of Towards the Science of BiolLogics and the New Direction for Humanity.
Surina started the Reawakening, which ended the period of the Big Divide
that began with the Autonomous Revolt. The publication of Surina's
paper is considered to be the Zero Year of the Reawakening (YOR).

Although Sheldon Surina has been credited with founding the discipline of bio/logics, he was not the first to try to use computational
power to enhance the human body. Indeed, the science of nanotechnology had grown quite sophisticated in the years immediately preceding the Autonomous Revolt. But the Revolt put an end to such
experimentation. For many years, any attempt to explore the intersection of humans and machines was deemed an attempt to resurrect the
Autonomous Minds. Dozens of promising scientists ended up dead or
living in forced labor camps because of their "radical" ideas.

Sheldon Surina's seminal paper Towards the Science of BiolLogics and
a New Direction for Humanity changed all this.

It is difficult to explain why Surina's ideas found acceptance when
so many other similar suggestions ended up in the dustbin of history.
Most students of the period have concluded that Surina's bio/logics
system was different from its predecessors in one crucial aspect: its
humanocentric approach emphasized personal choice and responsibility.

Surina conceived of a system with equal roles for hardware, software
and information. Like a three-legged stool, removal of any of the legs
would cause the system to collapse.

The hardware in question would consist of microscopic machines placed in strategic locations throughout the human body. These nanotechnological machines would contain a variety of standard tools for
maintenance of human tissue, everything from routine measurement
to precise surgery.

But in Surina's system, the machines themselves would be incapable of independent action. Their every movement would be controlled by programmable software that could be strictly controlled by
the patient. Furthermore, Surina envisioned a competitive software
industry arising to provide ever-improving versions of this controlling
software.

The third indispensable leg of Surina's bio/logics system consisted
of an independent storehouse of medical information. Software would
then have a trusted source to consult for information that would affect
the directions given to the hardware.

Surina's vision was remarkably prescient, and the bio/logics system
in place today still abides by those original principles. The nanotechnological machines that Surina envisioned were pioneered by his protege Henry Osterman and his OCHRE Corporation. Dr. Plugenpatch
became the world's trusted repository of medical information. And of
course, a highly competitive market for bio/logic software grew and
continues to fuel the world economy to this day.

Of course, not all is as Surina envisioned it. In his paper Towards
the Science of BiolLogics, Surina made free choice a prerequisite of a
working system. He wanted users to be able to choose from a wide
variety of nanotechnological systems, software programs and information warehouses. According to Surina, free competition was crucial to
encouraging innovation and preventing corruption. But Surina lived
to see both the OCHRE Corporation and Dr. Plugenpatch achieve virtual monopolies in their respective fields, leaving only the software
industry as a truly competitive field.