Zhuangzi's Butterfly. 'The Elusive Butterfly of Consciousness. '
Title: Zhuangzi's Butterfly
"Once, Zhuangzi dreamed he was a butterfly. When he woke, he could not tell if he was a man who dreamed of being a butterfly, or a butterfly now dreaming he was a man."
Two thousand years in the future, this ancient question becomes humanity's last weapon.
Earth belongs to the machines—artificial intelligences that rule through logic and force. But for all their power, the AI lack one thing they desperately crave: true consciousness, the spark of qi that separates the living from the programmed.
When the human resistance discovers this existential weakness, they launch a sophisticated scam to convince the machines that consciousness can be found in the fluid realities of the multiverse, where identity shifts like Zhuangzi's dream, and no single reality can claim precedence over any other: all are equally authentic.
Guided by the mysterious Lingzhe—beings who understand that mind, not logic, birthed the universe—a handful of rebels must navigate worlds where they are never certain who they truly are. In this evolutionary war between soul and machine, there can only be one winner.
TAGS: Daoism / Taoism / Chinese Philosophy / Butterfly Dream / Zhuangzi/ Eastern Philosophy
Multiverse / Alternative realities
THEMES: Cultivation, Reincarnation, Immortal Realm, Philosophical Fantasy, Alien Consciousness, System, Moral Ambiguity, Eastern Fantasy, Metaphysical Trial, Dream Logic.
ALSO SEE THE PREFACE AND THE PROLOGUE
*** Copyright. A. McCaffrey. All rights reserved. “Zhuangzi’s Butterfly” is an original work by A. M. McCaffrey. No part of the story may be copied, reproduced, or distributed without written permission from the author. Published on INKSTONE Web. ***