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...
