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Brent Bowen chats with Ramez Naam at the 2013 Worldcon in San Antonio. They discuss his novels Nexus and its follow-up, Crux ; whether we, both individually and culturally, are equipped to adapt to a world of accelerating technological change (such as privacy matters and how we ALL are being watched by the NSA); and the importance of SF fiction in helping us generate conversation about the potential benefits and adverse consequences of said technology. In fact, Ramez recommends a non-fiction book by Alex Soojung Kim Pang titled The Distraction Addiction, the perfect gift this holiday season for your gadget-addicted friend or family member.

Giveaway: ***Winner is Justin S.***



Angry Robot Books is giving away a paperback copy of Crux, worldwide. To enter, comment below about why you want to read Ramez’s books. A winner will be chosen after the midnight deadline on Dec. 20.

Links:

Read the first chapter of Crux free at IO9! or buy at Robot Trading Company; Amazon; Barnes and Noble; or add it to Goodreads.

AISFP 98 – Paolo Bacigalupi

AISFP 105 – Nancy Kress and Scott Sigler

About our guest:

Ramez Naam was born in Cairo, Egypt, and came to the US at the age of 3. He’s a computer scientist who spent 13 years at Microsoft, leading teams working on email, web browsing, search, and artificial intelligence. He holds almost 20 patents in those areas.

Ramez is the winner of the 2005 H.G. Wells Award for his non-fiction book More Than Human: Embracing the Promise of Biological Enhancement . He’s worked as a life guard, has climbed mountains, survived dust storms in the desert, backpacked through remote corners of China, and ridden his bicycle down hundreds of miles of the Vietnam coast. He lives in Seattle, where he writes and speaks full time.

Ramez Naam’s Works:

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Brent Bowen

Co-Host, Interviewer and Producer

Turned onto reading at an early age–the product of bible stories given as punishment for stealing candy from a drug store–Brent Bowen devours books of all genres. And though Samson and Delilah is still one of his favorites, he would prefer to blend mysticism with archeologist canines and plasma armor. Since then, Brent’s first paid, published story was a tweet, and he’s studied at the 2009 Viable Paradise XIII writer’s workshop. Learn more about Brent and his work at Split Legend. You also can follow Brent on Twitter.

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