Singularity

Singularity is a science-fiction novel by Golbahar Kurush. It is set in a future where humans manufacture Singulars, androids with AIs so they could be useful as a workforce and tools of war. In each of these robots was engineered a singular superpower, depending on which functions it was made for, called a Singularity.
The story follows a young war Singular alongside the Commander, its human officer after the rest of their unit is slaughtered in combat and the Commander deserts, taking the Singular with them. Together, they explore the world, the Singular gaining its title as the Wanderer along the road, and slowly gains sentience.
It is one of the most translated books, has been featured on the best book of the 20^th century in the UK where it was first published and still sells millions of physical and digital copies annually.

Historical Details

Legacy

Singularity has made history, getting Kurush his first Nobel Prize.
Soon enough, the word Singular came to replace the word transhuman, which had been used so far to talk about Augs. In the same fashion, ‘Singularity’ was adopted, first by the scientific communities that saw there a word that sounded serious and neutral, unlike ‘super-powers’, which had been in use so far. If the use of Singular has began being replaced by Aug after the start of the second wave of the Emergence for various reasons, Singularity as a way to describe the Gene Augs’ abilities is still the regular way to refer to them today.
Last but not least, the city of Rúnsgarðr, the Singular utopia the Wanderer stumbles upon gave the foundations and its name to the real Aug country of Runsgard.

Type

Text, Literary (Novel/Poetry)

Medium

Paper

Authoring Date

1981

Authors

• Golbahar Kurush

Cover art by Geoffroy Thoorens