Κεντρική Διάθεση: Βιβλιοπωλείο "Εν Αθήναις", ΑΧΙΛΛΕΑΣ ΣΙΜΟΣ, Εμμανουήλ Μπενάκη και Μαυροκορδάτου 9, Αθήνα, τηλ.: 210-3830491 https://www.simosbooks.gr
English
VERY SOON Under Publication in English: FUTURE FLASHBACK 2074
Version 2023 summary
Science fiction novel from the year 2074 to 2014
This book is an anthropocentric science fiction, it tells the story of a journey that started in the future, that takes us through difficult time courses, technological developments and more, to the present day. It offers us experience, knowledge, information, world events, situations and reflection, for many years later. With the detailed description of the decisions that the scientific world is going to make, for the preservation of the human race, through the technology of robotics and in a digital computer environment, sentimentality is bypassed by shocking decisions. The grandmother narrates historical events, experiences and knowledge, which are intended to influence the granddaughter to discover that the roads to an ideal world are always open, even at the last moment of the deconstruction of society, when man renounces his "freedom" , even after a holocaust. The problems along with the answers are found within the pages of this book. Will all that is written, that is going to happen in the coming years, affect the decision-making of the reader in his current life? Or will he worry and make a new disruptive start, having lost confidence in accepting his participation in the existing situations and the new facts? ISBN 978-618-00-4947-3 (In Greek language)
Under Publication
in English:
FUTURE FLASHBACK 2074
Very Soon
English translated by Google translate
Presentation text
THE PRESENTATION OF THE BOOK FUTURE RETROSPECTIVE 2074 ON THE WEB TV CHANNEL ANICHNEFSEIS (7/12/2024)
Good evening, Mr. Dimitris Vervelis. Good evening to all our listener friends. I am Ioannis Karras, the author of the book Future Flashback 2074.
I thank you very much for the invitation you extended to me, Mr. Dimitris Vervelis, and it is my honor to be a guest on the show Eros Eleftherias, on the online television Anichnefesis. I am particularly pleased to be with you, in conversation with an active scientist, a lawyer, who is interested in philosophy, the commons and social law. I consider it very important that tonight you give me the opportunity to present my book, which is a science fiction novel, entitled Future Regression 2074, Dystopian Literature, self-published 2023. It is a story about what happened from the year 2074 to the year 2014, after a granddaughter urged her grandmother because of her desire to know everything that has happened. Question: How did you come up with the idea for the book? Let me introduce myself a little. Since I was in 4th grade, I have been building with electronics. I am a physicist, I have a master's degree in Electronic Automation of Computers and a PhD in Computers. In my career, in addition to more than 30 years of teaching at all levels of education, I founded 3 electronic manufacturing companies where I marketed my patents in the same field. I am a book author with a scientific background and, most importantly, a family man. What was the reason that I started writing a fiction, Future Regression 2074, science fiction, for the first time in 2014? It was the sense of indignation that I felt, at the time, along with the rest of the world, about the situation and events in my immediate environment. My way of telling the story appears anthropocentric, because I myself felt human, strong and at the same time weak. I myself was anxious, because I was trying to guess what the developments would be in the coming years, in all sectors. Moral, spiritual, scientific, environmental, survival and how many others, that wrap themselves around and tighten a mental noose around all of our necks every day, more and more tightly. I started from the unknown future of 2074, but I dared to use a scientific background, information and some real facts, accompanied by solutions and answers for our common concerns, with an objective perspective. The book entitled Future Retrospect 2074, can be purchased by anyone interested from any physical bookstore in Greece, Cyprus, America and Canada, or by searching online. It is a self-published book from the year 2023.
Question: Does it describe a utopia, dystopia or utopia?
Eutopia. It is in the book. It is the guidance with suggestions for ways of "compliance" for criminals. There is the solution that is considered the best way for all citizens to live well in an ideal social system. Dystopia. There is also this one, in which social unrest and difficult political situations occur after an ecological disaster in Europe in 2050, with the following effects on the environment and the sustainability of people. The utopia of human thought contrasts with the reality created by the development of new technologies, computer systems and robotics. What we call impossible today is being realized. However, some intuitive gates of the intellect are indirectly realized in a different way, due to technology, but they serve the same purpose. (Should I read an excerpt?) Question: AI: Blessing or curse? Question: Why blessing and why curse? There is no distinction between blessing and curse. The same event for a small society can be considered a curse, while for another it can be considered a blessing. The "selfish" meaning for our choices matters. What each of us desires and what place we want our existence to have in the closed social environment that we live and experience. If we train an AI to serve us for a good purpose, it will do so. If not, it is easily programmed to cause harm. Good for us and bad for others? Here is the answer: A blessing for us and a curse for others. From the development of technology, knowledge emerges that can be used for both versions. The concern comes from whether it is us or them.
Question: What awaits us in the coming decades according to your book in terms of world-historical events and discoveries - inventions?
Will you allow me to read a skepticism that is in the first pages of the book: If you wonder, You are certainly concerned And when you do not find solutions You sink into thoughts Without return The hero of our book is actually one. Is each one of them us because we all have the same concerns about the uncertainty of tomorrow and we seek solutions and answers about the environment and our social life. In the line of books that approach the insight of our era a century ago and with a careful methodical analysis of the conditions that prevailed at that time, there is a correspondence in our own century, where the development of technology and in general all sciences, is very far away. Today we have other data, situations and very different living, development and education conditions. In conclusion, the book presents the following: The educational system of 2074 compared to today's It writes about the implantation of knowledge during human adulthood. The form of evaluation not only of teachers, but also of each citizen.
The political situation, whether there is a regime, the parliamentarians, the way of governance, whether the citizen continues to vote or not. What is life like in 2074 after a holocaust in 2050, with wars and crime in the midst of climate change. The development of technology, Robotics in the service of medicine and beyond. The suppression of delinquency. The "compliance" of criminals, how is it achieved? Interplanetary space travel. The immortality of the dead. The resurrection of the dead. The afterlife. The return to life. Increasing life expectancy is the desire of every human being. The mandatory health check-up in a hospital every 10 years, Kostas Antigravity systems. The Tholopolis in the year 2054. Specifications for the rules of behavior and living of citizens. The rise of sea levels. Political instability, riots and murders. Terror in the Mediterranean. The shadow of war in the eastern states. Innovative applications of agricultural cultivation. Synthetic food.
A significant figure in the plot is also Giannis A democratic environment in digital state administration. In what ways is the implementation carried out and for many other issues, there are all the answers within the pages of this readable and interesting literature. Are there people among robots? Or are there robots among humans? Do humanoids coexist or is it just a theory?
Excerpt 1
Mandatory health check every decade.
The state is implementing an “innovative” offer to all citizens without exception! Free mandatory health checks from birth. Every ten years, anyone living or residing in the country will undergo all medical exams at a state hospital unit for FREE but also MANDATORILY.
The government claims that the purpose of this decision is to maintain the physical health of citizens.
“Too good to be true!” exclaimed Kostas, who is a doctor and responded to the private conversation happening in the surgical unit offices.
“Why do you say that, Kostas? This is the best policy ever implemented in the health system for citizens! And it’s free! Do you disagree?” asked Maria, the anaesthesiologist on the same surgical team.
“I don’t disagree with the free part, Maria. But I’m afraid of the mandatory part! There are other practices hidden behind this so-called divine gift, as you say!”
“We have to fight this! It must not pass, it must not become established!” Kostas started shouting.
“They’ll turn us all into robots! They’ll make us do whatever they want!” And stepping out into the hallway, outside the offices and patient rooms, he continued shouting: “No! The new law must not pass! They’ll turn us into robots! Free healthcare, YES! Mandatory checkups every ten years, NO! They want to turn us into robots!” And he kept repeating it, screaming, as he banged on doors and urged people not to accept the mandatory aspect, until he reached the lower floor outside the cafeteria!
Excerpt 2
Human behaviour is becoming the main focus of state research. There is no solid scientific evidence, only limited studies, linking individual behaviour to genetic determination. It would be unacceptable to adopt a policy of reproducing individuals based on their genes and excluding others. Such an approach would be entirely illegal, inhumane, lacking moral boundaries, and destructive. The prevailing theory is that “implanting” knowledge and impressions at an early age can influence a person’s behaviour later in life.
However, it would also be illogical to create a world devoid of free will, where
individuals are passively submissive, with no initiative and a robotic attitude towards desires, ultimately suppressing emotions.
Excerpt 3
"Process of reintegration". With a little observation, one can distinguish such a person because the personality type is identical to others who have undergone the “reintegration process.”
By this method, the “reintegrated” criminal is much less dangerous than the average citizen. He is “integrated” and lives in society, easily following moral laws and state laws. Is this worth doing? Is it right from a moral standpoint? In reality, the person undergoing “reintegration” was aware of the possible outcome, so it appears that it was the convicted individual’s choice throughout the sentencing process, rather than the imposition of Justice. Is it the same as biological death? Of course not.
If someone claims to prefer biological death, they wouldn’t be able to compare the difference because they simply wouldn’t exist on Earth!
It would, of course, be better not to commit the crime. Obviously! But the question arises: Why would the obsessive idea that they “must” commit the crime enter their mind?
On the other hand, why should the state “condemn” all the others, the majority of whom are peaceful and law-abiding citizens, to live with murderers who move in and out of prison like in the old days, attacking them to rob them at night in their homes or on the street, constantly trembling at the thought of an imminent real death, or fearing for their own physical safety and that of their family? Which of the two sentences is preferable?
Excerpt 4
“Grannie, can I ask you something? I’m curious about you!
How do you remember so many events with such accuracy and detail, even though you’re quite old? Please tell me, it seems strange that you have such thorough scientific knowledge in so many fields!”
Now, how should I answer? I know! I do! But you’ll understand it yourself once you finish your studies, because the same thing will happen to you, just as it did with your mother!
“You’ve left me wondering! Do you also attend a Self-Awareness Department? What happened with my mum? You didn’t answer!”
It’s already late. We need to go to sleep. We need to rest. Now, go ahead and tidy up, I responded, purposely avoiding continuing the conversation so as not to frighten her.
Maybe I’ll tell her some other time.
Except 5
Human behaviour is becoming the main focus of state research. There is no solid scientific evidence, only limited studies, linking individual behaviour to genetic determination. It would be unacceptable to adopt a policy of reproducing individuals based on their genes and excluding others. Such an approach would be entirely illegal, inhumane, lacking moral boundaries, and destructive. The prevailing theory is that “implanting” knowledge and impressions at an early age can influence a person’s behaviour later in life.
However, it would also be illogical to create a world devoid of free will, where
individuals are passively submissive, with no initiative and a robotic attitude towards desires, ultimately suppressing emotions. For this reason, there is no attempt to technically shape a person’s character in infancy. Everything depends on education, training, and free will.
Excerpt 6
All this inventiveness that set him apart, along with the experience he had gained, gave him the ability to create an additional “product” requested by the company. This “product” was related to the well-known desires of prominent citizens and their demands, which had emerged since 2025.
Specifically, the “extension of life” either before or after the death of an industrialist who wanted to leave behind someone exactly like himself, who would think just like him, so that his company wouldn’t close. Similarly, another wealthy individual, who loved his daughter excessively, wanted to see her “live” with the “implantation” of his knowledge and not die before him.
However, it wouldn’t bother him if he gradually became a “humanoid” himself! As long as he had the same mind, the same feelings, and the same ability, so that he could continue caring for his daughter. Leah, as his daughter was called, was in a hospital where the restoration of her vital organs had almost been completed after a car accident she had had a year earlier! John fulfilled all their wishes and “felt” their joy! He wondered if it might be worth doing the same for himself and his own daughter! In the end, he created copies of his brain and periodically transferred his recent knowledge into the system.
He programmed the robotic hybrid organ restoration systems himself and included all his own knowledge and skills on a data access base, so they would operate according to his specifications, knowledge, experiences, and abilities. Thus, each time he went to the hospital, he began replacing parts and organs in his own body, aiming to increase his life expectancy. Whenever he “got sick,” the “restoration” at the hospital involved his gradual transformation, which increasingly resembled the structure of a humanoid robot!
Do you remember a doctor named Kostas who once shouted? That’s exactly what he suspected, and that’s why he rebelled! He didn’t want interventions in human thought and will! He feared that people would no longer remain the same. John did the same for his daughter!