Scientists work from the bottom up. They build a baseline of observations and formulate theories to explain these phenomena. Nothing is sacred; with new observations, theories are discarded or modified to fit the facts. A scientist may or may not have a personal belief in the existence of God, but at most a scientist believes in a passive Deity that doesn’t interfere with nature.
Tolerance seems possible, maybe, but this might be wishful thinking. A religion-dominated culture would have to accept the existence of women’s rights, homosexuality, abortion, evolution, and all that stuff. This is pretty tough for a fundamentalist to swallow. Even more difficult is accepting a large group of people who don’t believe in the True Religion.
Not that the science-based cultures are without blame. Secular cultures believe they are intellectually and morally superior to the faith-based cultures. Arrogant, but at least they’re not flying airplanes into buildings.
So here’s my conclusion and it’s not pretty. Religion and science are irreconcilable. At best, each can give the other a little space and allow peaceful co-existence. But not always. As an American, I see continuing divisiveness within my country as the secular and religious groups press for advantage. Not violence, but plenty of heat and anger. And that’s the good news. Here’s the bad: religious, primarily Moslem, fundamentalist will continue to attack us for years to come.
What do you predict is the future for artificial intelligence, both short and long-term?
Artificial intelligence has developed more slowly than expected, but now it’s all around us, although somewhat constrained. For example, when Amazon makes purchase recommendations to you, that’s a form of AI. The coming years will see startling gains in artificial intelligence.
In the shorter term (3-5 years), there is a strong possibility truly smart viruses will be released on the internet. These viruses will read the host computer and change their code to make detection difficult, and also change their mode of attack. This is the idea behind PeaceMaker, my first novel.
In the longer-term (20-30 years), I anticipate a sharing of intelligence between humans and software. As software intelligence grows, people will demand a wireless link from the brain into external software in order to share speed, memory, and application processing available across the internet. Over time, our need for telephones, personal computers, and handheld devices will be eliminated, with all communications seamless mind to code.
Some elements of your plot are, shall we say, edgy. Have you received any mail from offended readers?
Unholy Domain is both violent and sexual, and I’ve received feedback from a few offended readers. As a writer, my objective is to get the reader emotionally involved with the characters and the story. I’ve been successful, and that’s usually a plus, but some readers feel the novels are too graphic. My suggestion is to read a couple of chapters on my website before you buy the book.
Article comments
1 - Gordon Hauptfleisch
Excellent interview, both Q&A -- very engrossing.
2 - Tom
I am a fan of the fiction genre and a fan of Dan Ronco's thrillers. He knows how to write suspenseful pieces and I look forward to more!