The novel “Nexus” by Ramez Naam was published for the first time in 2012. It’s the first book of the Nexus trilogy. It won the Prometheus Award.

Kaden Lane is a young scientist who is experimenting with Nexus 5, a new implementation of a nanotechnology that allows the direct connection between different minds treated as a drug with some friends and colleagues. Sam, one of the people at a party where it’s being spread out, turns out to be a government agent who infiltrated the group’s contacts.

When Sam’s cover is blown, Kaden Lane and almost all the members of his group get arrested. He’s made an offer he can’t refuse: he and his colleagues can go to prison for many years or he can work with the US government. His mission is to contact Su-Yong Shu, a Chinese neuroscientist accused of various crimes related to the use of Nexus, to gather information about her activities.

In 2007, Ramez Naam published the essay “More Than Human: Embracing the promise of biological enhancement”, in which he described the developments in biotechnology and the impact they’d have and will have. It’s an essay that also includes reflections on the ethical implications of these scientific developments.

The ideas expressed in that essay were subsequently reworked to develop the novel “Nexus”, centered on a nanotechnology called Nexus. It allows to connect directly to other human minds but also to include actual programs in a mind.

World governments treat Nexus as a drug and have made it illegal but its spread and its development continues underground. The US government has declared war on Nexus and an entity called ERD (Emerging Risks Directorate) is responsible among other things to pursue anyone using it.

In 2040, the young scientist Kaden “Kade” Lane is working on Nexus together with his colleagues Rangan Shankari and Ilya Alexander and is spreading the new version with his friend Watson “Wats” Cole. Things turn bad for them when ERD agent Samantha “Sam” Cataranes finds them and only Wats manages to escape arrest when the ERD team busts them.

Kade is offered the chance to avoid prison for himself and his colleagues if he helps the US government to find evidence of the criminal activities of the Chinese neuroscientist Su-Yong Shu. That starts a mission that will include various dangers not only related to Nexus but also to other biotechnologies and dirty activities of various governments.

The whole plot is developed in many ways like a spy story because Kade is forced to contact the neuroscientist Su-Yong Shu to spy on her activities, related in large part to the development of the Nexus. Instead of the typical ultra-tech gadgets seen in James Bond’s stories there are highly advanced computer technology and biotechnology.

Nexus is at the center of the story but in this fictional universe in the coming decades through genetic engineering will also be developed. Among the results there are also people with various physical enhancements and governments take advantage of them to have soldiers and even agents such as the ERD ones with some superhuman physical abilities.

The story has a pace that’s fast from the start and further accelerates in the second half. Nevertheless, “Nexus” is more than just an action novel or a cyberpunk novel, as it’s labeled. This is the result of thirty years of evolution of the cyberpunk subgenre so there are no hackers who use electronic computers but neuroscientists who program human minds.

However, in my opinion the true strength of the novel lies in the fact that Ramez Naam not only includes the possible development of biotechnology he described in his essay but also the ethical reflections on their use. “Nexus” is not a trivial story of good against evil but a complex story where nothing is black or white but many shades of gray.

The world in which “Nexus” is set is the direct projection of the present one where governments are the first to be involved in dirty activities. Ramez Naam makes an explicit comparison between the war on Nexus and that on drug, which led to the emergence of powerful cartels, and that on terrorism, which led to the emergence of ISIS.

Ramez Naam presents Nexus as a technology that can be used in a positive or negative way, like any other technology developed since the time of the Australopithecines. It’s humans’ will that can be good or bad and the ethical issues are linked to the possibility of avoiding harmful uses of Nexus or other biotechnologies developed in the coming decades.

Kade is an idealist who’d like to spread Nexus to allow people to use its potential in a positive manner but is aware of its dangers. The US government pursues those who use Nexus but his agents normally uses it in their activities. In general, the novel’s governments are like today’s ones so they tend to be viewed in a negative way while among the characters there’s a great variety of positions.

In the story’s development, Ramez Naam is great in adding all the ethical reflections through arguments between characters and their inner doubts without weighing down the plot. At the same time, this also allows to develop properly at least the protagonists so that the reader discovers elements of their history and motivations.

The various very interesting elements that are well blended in my opinion make “Nexus” an extraordinary novel that offers various interpretations about ethics and technologies already under development. It’s the first of a trilogy but has an ending so you can read it withoug feeling forced to buy its sequels. For these reasons I highly recommend reading it.