The foreword of The Superunknowns encourages the reader to look around, consider the number of people using an electronic device, and ask, “Who’s in control here?”
About 75 years in the future, contact lenses, known as CB’s, have replaced all forms of computers. What was known as the internet overlays every aspect of what people hear and see. Users accept what they experience through CBs as the only reality. Any deviation from the CB world is false.
This twisted perception of reality lends itself to tinkering by those in charge. When people disappear, taken to debtor concentration camps, their family members quickly forget about missing loved ones, their memories replaced by a new false reality. And those taken to labor camps similarly believe the lie – they’re living out their normal lives back home — while unaware that they are toiling away in factories.
The Superunknowns imagines how such a world could come about and the effect it would have on average people in their day-to-day lives. Crowded rooms are noisy with conversation, but those present aren’t talking to each other. They’re yammering on with real and imaginary friends who appear in their virtual reality feed, while oblivious to others around them. Such citizens in a constant state of virtual distraction do not notice the arrival of massive UFOs. Those who notice it still do not accept it because the massive mountain-sized object cannot be seen with CBs. Anything at odds with the constructed reality is perceived as false.
If that is the standard of the future by which truth is measured, then consider the power in the hands of those who decide the “reality” of the virtual world. In The Superunknowns, twin sisters, Irene and Edith, experience such horrors after the death of their father. Their awareness is jarred and sharpened when they receive a package from him. Inside is a samurai sword — its blade scrawled with the message: “I will see you again in mountains.”
The twins have no choice but to notice floating objects the size of mountains when one centers over their house. Imprisoned by the government in a deep underground military base, they begin to develop supernatural abilities. Able to know the answer to any fact-based question asked, while undergoing a polygraph, Edith learns the true plight of their father. Edith and Irene, a Japanese sword master with telekinetic powers, fight to escape and rescue him. They team up with other teen supers to destroy the system that enslaved the minds of millions.
The Superunknowns is an exciting science fiction ride. And it is also a cautionary tale for us, especially in light of reports that companies such as Sony have filed patent applications for video recording contact lenses. See Huffington Post Article.
Where are we going with our overuse of the internet now, to be soon replaced by virtual reality? Who’s control of the internet now, and who will be in control of our virtual reality feed in the future? Will it change our perception of reality, and shouldn’t we be asking questions like this before we’re hooked into false reality at the expense of reality?
Something to think about as your enjoy The Superunknowns.
Austin
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