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XNOR: Prions posits a direct and dangerous similarity between the destruction caused by biological prions and the chaos caused by societal prions in human culture. It also explores the nature of mental or conceptual prions and their role in the degradation and collapse of AI systems.
Prion people. We all know a few, or many. Like biological prions, they have a unique ability to corrupt others, turning them into copies of themselves. Their most destructive flaws propagate. Biological prions misfold useful proteins, causing disease and death when they become dominant. Likewise, human prions corrupt otherwise useful and productive people. If their character flaws and attitudes become dominant, societies degrade, even collapse.
Agentic AI systems suffer from the same malaise. Their output can degrade into useless slop, or worse. Mental or conceptual prions corrupt useful models and paradigms. Like biological systems under prion attack, AI systems collapse when the prions overwhelm valid concepts and reality-based data.
XNOR: Prions explores two fantasies: a future in which AI systems are owned by a small clique of the massively wealthy; and a forced jump to the 18th century, where famous characters interact with 21st-century people from different vocations and backgrounds.
If you enjoy exploring historical events set in a different context and juxtaposed with parallels from our time, XNOR: Prions provides a unique and creative ride. It was carefully written to retain plausibility and avoid magical mechanisms. The breadth of characters and their interactions supplies readers with multiple ways to engage with the story.
XNOR: Prions posits a direct and dangerous similarity between the destruction caused by biological prions and the chaos caused by societal prions in human culture. It also explores the nature of mental or conceptual prions and their role in the degradation and collapse of AI systems.
Prion people. We all know a few, or many. Like biological prions, they have a unique ability to corrupt others, turning them into copies of themselves. Their most destructive flaws propagate. Biological prions misfold useful proteins, causing disease and death when they become dominant. Likewise, human prions corrupt otherwise useful and productive people. If their character flaws and attitudes become dominant, societies degrade, even collapse.
Agentic AI systems suffer from the same malaise. Their output can degrade into useless slop, or worse. Mental or conceptual prions corrupt useful models and paradigms. Like biological systems under prion attack, AI systems collapse when the prions overwhelm valid concepts and reality-based data.
XNOR: Prions explores two fantasies: a future in which AI systems are owned by a small clique of the massively wealthy; and a forced jump to the 18th century, where famous characters interact with 21st-century people from different vocations and backgrounds.
If you enjoy exploring historical events set in a different context and juxtaposed with parallels from our time, XNOR: Prions provides a unique and creative ride. It was carefully written to retain plausibility and avoid magical mechanisms. The breadth of characters and their interactions supplies readers with multiple ways to engage with the story.