Headlong (Ings novel)
Encyclopedia
Headlong is a 1999 science fiction
novel by English
author Simon Ings
. It is Ings' fourth novel and depicts the struggle of a man trying to find his humanity his previously enhanced senses are removed. A review of the novel in New Scientist
praised it as "mature and thoughtful".
have led to the hybridization of human and artificial intelligence
(AI). These expensive interfaces have only been installed on a few architects to facilitate their direction of nanobots that are constructing beautiful cities on the Moon. However, a few years before the novel begins, the AIs take over the Moon and precipitate an economic collapse on Earth by subtle market manipulations.
The novel's posthuman
protagonist Christopher Yale and his wife Joanne have enhanced senses and are telepathically linked. Christopher has lived on the Moon for years. When his interfaces are removed following the economic collapse, he struggles with Epistemic Appetite Imbalance (EAI), a disorder precipitated by the loss of his enhanced senses. Christopher and his wife divorce, and she is killed a few months later. Christopher is pursued by both his wife's murderers and the police.
Science fiction
Science fiction is a genre of fiction dealing with imaginary but more or less plausible content such as future settings, futuristic science and technology, space travel, aliens, and paranormal abilities...
novel by English
England
England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Scotland to the north and Wales to the west; the Irish Sea is to the north west, the Celtic Sea to the south west, with the North Sea to the east and the English Channel to the south separating it from continental...
author Simon Ings
Simon Ings
Simon Ings is an English novelist and science writer living in London. He was born in July 1965 in Horndean and educated at Churcher's College, Petersfield and at King's College London and Birkbeck College, London....
. It is Ings' fourth novel and depicts the struggle of a man trying to find his humanity his previously enhanced senses are removed. A review of the novel in New Scientist
New Scientist
New Scientist is a weekly non-peer-reviewed English-language international science magazine, which since 1996 has also run a website, covering recent developments in science and technology for a general audience. Founded in 1956, it is published by Reed Business Information Ltd, a subsidiary of...
praised it as "mature and thoughtful".
Plot summary
Headlong is set England in the mid-21st century. There has been a civil war and reconstruction after a period of corporate excess. Advances in nanoelectronics and roboticsRobotics
Robotics is the branch of technology that deals with the design, construction, operation, structural disposition, manufacture and application of robots...
have led to the hybridization of human and artificial intelligence
Artificial intelligence
Artificial intelligence is the intelligence of machines and the branch of computer science that aims to create it. AI textbooks define the field as "the study and design of intelligent agents" where an intelligent agent is a system that perceives its environment and takes actions that maximize its...
(AI). These expensive interfaces have only been installed on a few architects to facilitate their direction of nanobots that are constructing beautiful cities on the Moon. However, a few years before the novel begins, the AIs take over the Moon and precipitate an economic collapse on Earth by subtle market manipulations.
The novel's posthuman
Posthuman
Posthuman may refer to:*Posthuman, a hypothetical future being whose basic capacities so radically exceed those of present humans as to be no longer human by our current standards...
protagonist Christopher Yale and his wife Joanne have enhanced senses and are telepathically linked. Christopher has lived on the Moon for years. When his interfaces are removed following the economic collapse, he struggles with Epistemic Appetite Imbalance (EAI), a disorder precipitated by the loss of his enhanced senses. Christopher and his wife divorce, and she is killed a few months later. Christopher is pursued by both his wife's murderers and the police.