Mystery in the Metaverse by Nick Airus; AI Metaiverse Science Fiction is Harrowing and Thought Provoking

 

Mystery in the Metaverse by Nick Airus; AI Metaiverse Science Fiction is Harrowing and Thought Provoking 

By Julie Sara Porter

Bookworm Reviews 

Spoilers: The Metaverse could be one of the best or one of the worst experiences ever. It could be the best because people can experience and interact in another world that before they could only experience with the arts, entertainment, and their own imagination. We can learn so much more and communicate with others around the world. It could also be the worst with the ever approaching overuse of AI and not knowing what is real and what isn't. Art and literature are being replicated and while still being flawed, could one day be hard to discern whether they were made by human hands or a program designed to appear human. There is also the possibility of technological addiction and people preferring to live in the AI world instead of the physical and natural world around them. Nick Airus explores the good and bad of AI and the Metaverse with his thought provoking and harrowing Science Fiction/ Mystery, Mystery in the Metaverse.

Damien Zill, Chief Technical Officer of Emergence AI and member of a secret group known as Obsidian Goal, has been attacked and is reported missing from his home. Detective Asher Bloom and Evidence Response Team Leader, Jade Heart investigate the disappearance. Witnesses said that Zill spent a lot of time in his Metaverse theater and books and notes left in Zill’s home describe a singularity and a cult. To find out what all of this means, Bloom has to travel inside the AI Metaverse to find clues towards Zill’s disappearance and other murders and death threats that pile up. To solve this mystery, Bloom must play the sadistic games of the enigmatic avatar known only as Ninjagod1138, who knows more than they are letting on.

This book has many highlights but the greatest among them is the Metaverse setting itself. When Bloom enters the virtual world, it is almost as real as the physical one. However, it is populated with various settings and characters that seem just a little bit off in that uncanny valley way where the virtual world seems real but not quite. It adds to the tension and blurred lines between AI and human, imagination and reality making them even more faint the longer that Bloom and others stay in this VR world. 

The best parts of the book are the trips into the Metaverse. Bloom is like a stranger in a strange land, in awe and amazement but wary about the dangers around him. The Metaverse manages to activate all senses and provides the visitor with knowledge to interact with other avatars.

 When arriving in Meta City, Bloom sees a city with shiny skyscrapers and avatars of all kinds from humans, to animals, to superheroes, walking around. It's like everyone's fantasy brought to life but it has a dark side. He also visits various other locations such as an ancient Greek civilization, under water, and a desert.

It would be fascinating to visually imagine the transition as pixels, binary numbers, codes , and images transform into a setting that is technically animated, but appears more real than reality itself. 

That dark side is seen when characters get hurt in the simulation world and still suffer the pain in the real world suggesting yes, if they die in the Metaverse, they die in real life too. It is a fascinating ever changing AI world and visiting it only covers a third of what this technology can do. That is a fascinating and terrifying thought and Mystery in the Metaverse covers those alternating schools of thought towards AI.

The investigation is intricate and detailed as well. Ninjagod1138 provides clues and games for Bloom and his colleagues to follow to find each hint and solve the case. One of the creepier aspects occurs when Bloom and his colleagues are forced to play Hangman to find a vital clue. Ninjagod 1138 is a sadistic genius who enjoys forcing the other characters to play off their sick and disturbing mind games.

 

The investigation also reveals much of the suspects’ motives on how they tried to put AI in its place but ended up becoming more servile than ever to the invention that humans created.

Robotics CEO, Eon Tarik (I thought ELONg and hard over who was Tarik’s inspiration but the results seem rather MUSKy) reveals some key information about the plans that he and his colleagues are working towards. It becomes clear that their plans are about to change but not by their own intended will.  Instead, they have to bear the responsibility for what they made and what will result from it. What is particularly frightening is that they do so without any remorse. No “what have I done” cries of anguish No, “I have become Death, Destroyer of Worlds” moments of self-realization. They not only acknowledge and own up to it, but welcome the destruction and change their AI baby will bring about. It says something that the human characters like the tech gurus and possibly those behind  the avatars like Ninjagod 1138 are more terrifying and inhuman than the AI that strives to conquer through subjugation and assimilation. 

The Metaverse takes an even wider perspective especially towards the end where a transformation occurs that goes beyond known technological capabilities. After a while, I nearly forgot what book that I was reading as it turned from Science Fiction/Mystery into something else. The tone is changed by the end and the world goes through an evolution but it remains to be seen whether it's for the better or worse.