Ramez Naam's Nexus 💊

Nexus is the first book in a sci-fi trilogy where people can take a nano-bot drug (Nexus) that creates a computer-brain interface so you can literally join minds with other people. The technology is quite different from Relateful practices, but the outcome is similar enough that it's really been stimulating me! Soldiers become peace-activists. Learning, scientific breakthroughs, disease cures, art evolution, all accelerate because of knowledge-and experience-sharing. Naam imagines a post-human future where minds join to become a super-intelligence, like atoms forming a molecule. But he also envisions violent resistance on the way there, and dangerous misuses of the technology (potential readers beware: the book is extremely violent). 

Between the lines I also saw extra clearly what I think of as the Silicon-Valley-Burning-Man ideology: Technology + psychedelics + Buddhism + libertarianish + open source + fast progress will usher humanity into paradise. I don't subscribe to this particular blend of ideology—for example surrender is my psychedelic and I love Jesus as much as I love the Buddha—so being able to see it so clearly helps me spot where I'm under its influence. I think we all are influenced by this ideology, whether we like it or in resistance. Being able to spot it more easily helps us be more conscious.

With love, Jordan