Veteran cop Jake Travissi was banned from the LAPD. But Homeland Security is willing to offer Travissi one more chance. The price? Implanting an experimental “P-chip” in his brain.
In “State of Mind,” author Sven Michael Davison depicts a dystopian 2030 Los Angeles where the boundaries between virtual and real worlds have long since dissolved.
“Part of a global community means sacrificing individuality. Most of us give up a piece of ourselves to fit in when experiencing adolescence, some of us never stop trying to conform. The more society advances and experiences instant gratification, the more there is a danger of giving up true freedom,” Davison told SFBookReviews during a recent interview.
“I wanted ‘State Of Mind’ to entertain but to send a message. Don’t get me wrong, I’m not an advocate of giving up technology and moving into caves, but I do believe we need to think before gobbling up every piece of candy somebody dangles under our collective noses. Everything has a price.”
According to Davison, “State of Mind” is influenced by a number of classic sci-fi works, including “The Matrix,” Arthur C Clarke’s “Lion of Comarre” and even his own real-life experiences.
“In 2000 I read an article in Popular Science, which covered chipping pets with subcutaneous identification tags. I thought about a world where we could all interface with computers through chips in our minds. I also thought of ‘The Matrix,’ which was the best contemporary example I had at the time. Then I thought of a world where we could be emotionally and physically enhanced by chip implants,” he explained.
“[In addition, I used to] help enforce anti-piracy on digital media. But if one person invents secure code another person can hack it. Ultimately I thought: What it would be like to hack into someone’s mind, place them in a coma and force their body to do anything? That’s when I started writing.”
