APPENDIX B
HISTORICAL TIMELINE
The chronicling of modern history began with Sheldon Surina's publication of Towards the Science of BiolLogics and the New Direction for Humanity. Surina started the Reawakening, which ended the period of the Big Divide that began with the Autonomous Revolt. The publication of Surina's paper is considered to be the Zero Year of the Reawakening (YOR).
APPENDIX C
ON THE SCIENCE OF BIO/LOGICS
Although Sheldon Surina has been credited with founding the discipline of bio/logics, he was not the first to try to use computational power to enhance the human body. Indeed, the science of nanotechnology had grown quite sophisticated in the years immediately preceding the Autonomous Revolt. But the Revolt put an end to such experimentation. For many years, any attempt to explore the intersection of humans and machines was deemed an attempt to resurrect the Autonomous Minds. Dozens of promising scientists ended up dead or living in forced labor camps because of their 'radical' ideas.
Sheldon Surina's seminal paper Towards the Science of BiolLogics and a New Direction for Humanity changed all this.
It is difficult to explain why Surina's ideas found acceptance when so many other similar suggestions ended up in the dustbin of history. Most students of the period have concluded that Surina's bio/logics system was different from its predecessors in one crucial aspect: its humanocentric approach emphasized personal choice and responsibility.
Surina conceived of a system with equal roles for hardware, software and information. Like a three-legged stool, removal of any of the legs would cause the system to collapse.
The hardware in question would consist of microscopic machines placed in strategic locations throughout the human body. These nanotechnological machines would contain a variety of standard tools for maintenance of human tissue, everything from routine measurement to precise surgery.
But in Surina's system, the machines themselves would be incapable of independent action. Their every movement would be controlled by programmable software that could be strictly controlled by the patient. Furthermore, Surina envisioned a competitive software industry arising to provide ever-improving versions of this controlling software.
The third indispensable leg of Surina's bio/logics system consisted of an independent storehouse of medical information. Software would then have a trusted source to consult for information that would affect the directions given to the hardware.
Surina's vision was remarkably prescient, and the bio/logics system in place today still abides by those original principles. The nanotechnological machines that Surina envisioned were pioneered by his protege Henry Osterman and his OCHRE Corporation. Dr. Plugenpatch became the world's trusted repository of medical information. And of course, a highly competitive market for bio/logic software grew and continues to fuel the world economy to this day.
Of course, not all is as Surina envisioned it. In his paper Towards the Science of BiolLogics, Surina made free choice a prerequisite of a working system. He wanted users to be able to choose from a wide variety of nanotechnological systems, software programs and information warehouses. According to Surina, free competition was crucial to encouraging innovation and preventing corruption. But Surina lived to see both the OCHRE Corporation and Dr. Plugenpatch achieve virtual monopolies in their respective fields, leaving only the software industry as a truly competitive field.
In addition, the strict separation of functions that Surina wanted has not always been maintained. The
