From artificial consciousness to “augmented” technology, Edoardo Volpi Kellermann’s first novel creates the literature of the third millennium

It is an unexpected and intriguing work, the first novel by Edoardo Volpi Kellermann, just released for Delos Book, both in digital (from 8 March) and paper version (from 17 May).
First of all for the format: an augmented book, in which there is an internal Wikipedia that develops in parallel with the plot and where symbols ("Glyphs") and QRCodes refer to the pages of an Internet site "in constant development", as the author states, where each scene will be integrated with further info, music, animations, "easter eggs".
All organized in such a way as not to disturb the linear reading, in an attempt to integrate the two worlds (digital and analog, virtual and real) which we think has succeeded fairly well in this initial phase, but which is even more interesting as a potential for development with upcoming technologies: augmented reality, electronic paper, etc.

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Artificial Consciousness vs. Artificial intelligence

The subject is purely science fiction, but not too much: the birth of the first artificial consciousness in a future Italian laboratory, excavated under the island of Montecristo.
Artificial consciousness is still quite a distant scientific goal. What we currently call Artificial Intelligence is a system of complex algorithms capable of learning, for example, to recognize images, faces or sentences spoken by a human interlocutor, but still completely incapable of semantic understanding, of contextualization, of really understanding what that they are told or asked (among other things creating very serious social problems and risks, as the author himself explains in his article "The Algorithm of Social Stupidity" published in Innovating.News).
We still don't have an established scientific theory on what our consciousness is and how it works, our ability to be aware of existing, to think.
Researchers such as Sir Roger Penrose think that the current algorithmic computer, built on the model of the so-called "Turing Machine", is completely insufficient to achieve a so-called "Strong Artificial Intelligence", capable of "thinking about itself", coming to hypothesize a functioning of our brain based directly on quantum principles (thesis still controversial) and even the need to discover a new physics in order to one day reach the ability to create a conscious being. “The Montecristo Project” partially relies on this scientific thesis.

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The foundations of a story that dates back to 1993

Born as a development of a 1993 story that had already aroused the interest of an Italian director and an international producer, "The Montecristo Project" is a wide-ranging novel (a "Novel-World", defines it Edoardo Volpi Kellermann , very fond of John Ronald Reuel Tolkien) with often short scenes, almost lightning-fast, but always well-finished: one feels that there is a thought matured over a long time behind it.
The protagonists and the protagonists give life to a choral plot, in a not very distant Tuscany of the future (2075-2077) where the evident love for their places of origin is combined with a much broader historical-philosophical vision over time and in space-
The book is so full of ideas that it seems like reading a science fiction novel from the golden age of the American 40s, but with the point of view of a modern author, devoid of those ingenuity and didactic intentions that sometimes make antiquated the books we enjoyed in our childhood.

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A more than spontaneous… “Novel-World”

"The Montecristo Project" describes a complex and articulated narrative universe, multicultural, neither utopian nor dystopian, full of phenomena recognizable as an evolution of those of today's world (and which in some cases has anticipated absolutely current themes, given that according to the author they are ideas already conceived in 2010), but with completely different problems.
The climatic follies of our times, for example, are still being paid for, but the energy problem appears to have been completely overcome.
On the other hand, with the international balance completely changed, new risks and new social and, yes, even ethical challenges are emerging.
Scientific ethics and problems of international law are among the most heartfelt topics, together with non-trivial philosophical ideas on the problem of being, of self-awareness.
The stylistic changes, deliberately unsettling, alternate parts of classical and modern writing, sometimes with flashes of experimentation, making reading the work a stimulating experience, never dull.
Yet even when he talks about complex concepts – it is actually high-tech science fiction, or hard science fiction, if you prefer – the writer allows himself to be followed without great effort, probably thanks to his experience as an educator and science popularizer.

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An open ending that can convince everyone

Edoardo Volpi Kellermann (acronym "EVK") knows how to write and involve, knows how to excite and intrigue without indulging in excesses: an essential style that is somewhat reminiscent of Arthur C. Clarke mixed with the ironic "last line" changes of perspective characteristic of Roger Zelazny.
A nice compliment, we realize, but the book is really fun, easy to read despite the rather complex underlying narrative structure and despite the "augmented" part of the text, which enriches the experience, but which could sometimes be a distraction. It is also true that at first reading it can easily be ignored.
In short, this new unknown author promises well. We'll see if in the next two parts of the novel he will be able to keep his promises.

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