What's next for us?

Ethics Engineer Jennifer Peterson already knows where humans are going. As robots gain more facility with thought and problem solving, a human future melded with machines seems inescapable. But the timing will be critical, for in 2030, America is torn between an analog past and a digital future. Silicon Valley and forward-thinking states have broken away from the U.S. to pursue their own path, one that Jennifer and her husband, George, have staked their lives upon.

As a young scientist, Jennifer had glimpsed an era in which next-stage humans would gain the ability to balance rational and emotional intelligence.

"If robots could feel, they could help man build on our greatest strength - our intellect - and overcome our greatest weakness - emotion. This reliance on the heart regarding matters of the mind, I believe, is what holds us back from further evolution".

Now, her effort to bring artificial consciousness to machines is nearing a tipping point. She and George fear that, if not upended, the old models of money and power will allow the wealthy elite to hoard the highest form of intelligence, leaving ordinary people behind. Together, their work could trigger two revolutionary events: imparting a soul to artificial intelligence, and bringing human beings one step nearer to integrating with these ultimate thinking, feeling machines.

As fiction meets fact, listeners will come to realize they are previewing not what's next for us...but when and how. Is Jennifer's journey near its end? Or is it just beginning?