Peter Ravlich's latest update for Phase Three

Apr 18, 2016

The Science of Phase Three 

I understand several of you have been waiting for this, fingers itching over the pre-order button while you frown and re-read the description: Where’s the hard sci-fi? 

And I feel your pain. The (my) problem with pitching a draft novel is making distinctions between character knowledge and objective knowledge, especially when those distinctions are entwined with plot points. In the case of Phase Three, this isn’t a trivial concern. But - and it’s there in the title - here’s a teaser for the science of Phase Three, as extracted by an interview with Avalon Radys for the Inkshares blog

Phase Three was inspired by an ongoing conversation with my wife, an engineer with a background in robotics and machine learning. I wanted to explore the implications of automation, augmented reality and virtual reality technologies, especially for people on the outside, including those who define themselves by their connection to the land. 

Phase Three presents a holistic view of the near-future, so extrapolates from many current trends in engineering, design and emergent research. Nassim Nicholas Taleb’s statistical theories on human foresight, Heisenberg’s uncertainty principle and the field of deep learning are all key components of the science in Phase Three.

My characters each interact with distinct facets of the emergent world and its science, but they are also misfits in a literal sense; each incompatible in some way with the future in which they live. 

I can’t wait to say more, but I’m going to have to. Thank you so much to everyone who has pre-ordered and supported Phase Three. It means a lot to me, and the world to my characters.