GIANT STEPS

Somewhere between speculative philosophy and futurist psychology, this work is structured around John Coltrane’s jazz masterpiece, Giant Steps. It tackles the nature of what it means to fit in with a society that may not recognise your existence.

Bobo Bolden is a synthetic humanoid using illegal algorithms to help him pass a Sapient Certification test. If he can pass the test before the law enforcement find out what he is doing, he will retain ownership of his thoughts and memories and inherit his late owner’s estate. If he keeps failing, then the extreme changes he is making to his mind may render him broken in the eyes of society. Just when he is sure he has the perfect formulae, the test seems to change. Is the test changing or is he becoming more human?  A local detective and a charismatic algorithm dealer both unwittingly compel Bobo to take the chance and find out.