I just finished the Robot Geneticists series by J. S. Morin. It is also known as the Project Transhuman.
Good science fiction has a clear premise and sticks with it. The premise for Robot Geneticists is clear and simple. In the not too distant future, human brains can be saved in digital format and aliens killed all life on Earth.
There are two twists that make it unusual. It’s a post-apocalyptic world, but the story starts a thousand years after the alien attack, so it’s nearly a post-scarcity world. The other twist is that robots don’t hate humans.
The first book, Extinction Reversed, starts with a human girl escaping from a lab that was doing forbidden genetic research attempting to create a viable human. Eve was the first human on Earth in a thousand years. The robots running the world weren’t afraid of her, but considered her the most precious being on the planet.
In 2065, aliens attacked Earth with the goal of exterminating all life and colonizing. The researchers at the Transhuman Institute were nearing the end of a decades long project to digitize a human mind, copy it into an artificial brain and install it into a robot. During the alien attack, they managed to scan the lead researchers brain and install it into a robot before the humans died.
That one robot with a human brain waited for the attack to conclude. The aliens killed off all life, but only destroyed infrastructure where their colonies were to be located. For the research, the institute had scanned 27 brains, so the single robot loaded brains into the six remaining robots. The alien plan of attack was to kill off life, but ignored everything else. The seven robots plausibly killed off the colonies. Over time, the robots did a bunch of genetic work to recreate life on Earth. That is all backstory that comes out over several books.
When Eve is discovered by robot society, there are a few thousand robots on Earth. Each robot is a mix of three of the 27 minds that had been scanned. For variety, it’s a big deal to mix three minds to get a unique mind. There are also mindless robots used for menial and repetitive tasks. Robots are getting bored, and happy to have a human around. Many of the robots would like to be reloaded into a human mind to get back feelings and human senses. They remember chocolate, but can’t taste it. The world is empty, but technologically advanced.
Charlie 7 is the original robot and the only robot left has the mind of one specific human. He knows everything, can control everything, but usually doesn’t get involved or tell anyone quite how powerful he is. Charlie 7 is an irreverent smart-arse. Kind of a Han Solo type. All of the characters have strengths and weaknesses, and distinct personalities. J. S. Morin has a talent for writing real people.
The series was almost too engaging. I try to listen to the audiobook while I do something productive, but several times, just had to sit and listen. It’s well worth the time.
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Wow Mr.Nestoff I am surprised you still update this site
Yeah, it took me longer than I thought it would to get this going. And I really don’t know what I’m doing, but it’s serviceable. Turns out, I love being retired and just dicking around all day doing stupid stuff.
One thing I miss, and Jaden, you were always good for this, is talking to you guys about stupid stuff that would pop into my head. Social Media mostly sucks, so I figured I’d start this up. I don’t promote it and I’m not trying to build a brand, but I thought someone might find it, and you did.
Yeah I found your site while hanging out with Justin. And I think it is awesome that you keep the site active. Other former noro students also read your posts now
To give you some context what I have been up too. I am currently a Junior at OSU in Electrical Computer Engineering. I have been doing pretty good I got on the deans list and I am on track to graduate early. I can say for certain that your classes helped me with OSU Engineering. As you laid the foundation for logical thinking in the context of math and physics. The stuff we learned in AP physics 2 and normal physics still often comes up in my classes. Like today Schrodinger equation come up in my semiconductor class which we of course covered in physics 2.
So I just wanted to say thanks for being an awesome teacher. You were the best science teacher I had at North Royalton and you actually prepped me for hard college classes.
Not sure how the reply system works on here but, I hope you get this
Hey Mr. Nestoff,
I am about to be a junior mechanical engineering student and I really appreciate you and your classes. I am on the SAE Baja off road team and last year we went to CAT in green valley Arizona and they were testing autonomous equipment. I thought you would enjoy that as your previous work.
Oh man, you’re killing it. I loved Mini-Baja, as it was called at the time. As I may have mentioned, I got to drive the maneuverability event. I have to dig up my photos of our buggy. Did you take any pictures? I’d love to see them.
Ya, I have lots of pictures, I could email them to you. That’s cool, how did you guys do at the competitions?