Da Vinci visits the University of Washington while answering questions
about a photo that is changing on Nick's computer
Teachers and Students
Good fiction should engage, entertain, and inform readers while sparking imagination. CHRONOS was written with this in mind.
The story steers clear of graphic violence, bad language, and lewd behavior. Instead, it seeks to fascinate readers by bringing history, philosophy, artificial intelligence, and human decision processes to life. Through characters such as Leonardo Da Vinci, Sigmund Freud, April Falk, Nick Pappas, and others, the novel moves across Europe and the United States while exploring questions that are becoming increasingly important in the real world.
At this moment in history, it is fair to say that we are all students and teachers of artificial intelligence. The scope of AI is too broad for any one person to understand completely, and the pace of innovation means we are all learning in real time.
For students, CHRONOS offers a story-driven way to think about technology, ethics, history, government, trust, and the future. For teachers, it provides an opportunity to begin meaningful classroom discussions about artificial intelligence, not simply as a technical subject, but as a human one.
The novel takes readers beyond the current AI headlines — distorted imagery, job loss, privacy problems, and disruption. It encourages them to consider how artificial intelligence works, why it matters, and its wider implications for government, society, and human progress.
Computing digitized the world. It turned paper into data, transformed slow processes into instant transactions, and gave humanity new speed, scale, and reach. Artificial intelligence goes further. It discovers relationships hidden in complexity, and begins to suggest solutions across medicine, government, finance, security, education, and human life. The central question of CHRONOS is not simply what artificial intelligence can do. It is what artificial intelligence should do—and who gets to decide?
With their pioneering imagination piqued, students of all disciplines may begin to investigate how they can use their own skills to understand, shape, and responsibly leverage AI, just as a previous generation considered the same possibilities of computing in its infancy.
Da Vinci’s response to uncertainty, disagreement, and doubt offers students a useful model. He approaches each conversation deliberately, relying on reason, evidence, and patience rather than emotion or force. When he defends an idea, he does so carefully, with a willingness to listen and adjust. He is willing to accept differences without requiring alignment with his own views. If he is wrong, he accepts accountability and changes course. His example gives students an opportunity to examine how they respond when their own beliefs are questioned, when they face uncertainty, or when they must defend a point of view.
These questions belong to all of us.