Join Robert Edward Grant and Michael Ashley in this thought-provoking conversation, they explore the potential impact on society if governments were to use the power of AI to control narrative, movement, and our ability to speak freely. Using recent examples of Western governments moving in that direction, they highlight the disturbing actions of Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau when he created a false narrative around the Canadian trucker convoy and subsequently froze the bank accounts of anyone involved or seen to support it.
Is your smartphone a shackle?Will self-driving cars restrict you?Is your data being exploited?Are digital IDs a trap?Will you be locked down again?
Never before has so much (technological) power rested in the hands of so few. A digital curtain has descended upon humanity: technocracy.
Show and Tell
When our phones become keys to access everything, will our lives be more convenient or more at the mercy of whoever can hack into our devices? Will self-driving cars maximize our time, getting us to our destination more safely, or will they erode the freedom we feel from driving ourselves? What happens if—or when—the government, in the name of public health, gains access to the data in our handy trackers—excuse us, smartphones—and uses it to reward or punish us?
In Neuromined, data sovereignty advocate Robert Edward Grant and prolific tech author Michael Ashley team up to explore our crisis. Each chapter imagines a near-future dystopia via a riveting fictional tale (show) with a companion analysis (tell), connecting the story to our present reality.
Entertaining and provoking, Neuromined proves how so much technology promising a lifetime of convenience is the worst kind of double-edged sword.
Razor sharp and pointed at us, it promises to constrain the people in a hellscape even George Orwell could scarcely imagine.
But all hope is not lost. Neuromined demonstrates how technology, when viewed through a different ethos and used by a conscientious public, can instead provide greater autonomy and more access to liberation.
The only way out is through.
Like any hero up against insurmountable odds, we must plunge forward—into the danger. The good news? You’re not alone. We’re not alone. And every action we take can be another spark inspiring someone. Then the next person. And the next—until we emerge from this nightmare triumphant.
That can be our happy ending—if we just change the story we tell.
The Authors
Robert Edward Grant
Coauthor
Robert Edward Grant is a successful entrepreneur, best-selling author of PHILOMATH, author of new release POLYMATH & author of pre-release Neuromined, inventor, founder of several corporate enterprises, and the host of ‘Code X’, an original television series on Gaia and Amazon Prime. He is an artist, sculptor, music theorist, musician, and author of numerous research and patent publications spanning biology, DNA combinatorics, number theory, geometry, and physics.
As an entrepreneur, he is the founder of Crown Holdings, Evolus Inc., AEON BioPharma Inc., ALPHAEON Credit Inc., AccessElite Corp, CEYEBER Corp, Crown Sterling Limited LLC, and Theon Technology LLC. His companies, like his interests, span healthcare, security, blockchain, cleantech, smart optic technologies, AR/VR and fintech.
Robert has lived in nine countries and fluently speaks Japanese, Korean, German and French. Robert’s mission is to integrate innovation, mathematics, natural sciences, artistic design & entrepreneurship into balanced creations intended to benefit all.
Michael Ashley
Coauthor
Michael Ashley is a former Disney screenwriter and the author of more than forty books on numerous subjects. He coauthored Own the A.I. Revolution, which launched at the United Nations and was named by Soundview as one of 2019’s top business books.
A columnist for Forbes, Entrepreneur, and Becker’s Hospital Review, Michael serves as a member of City AI, an organization enabling the responsible development and application of artificial intelligence. An in-demand keynoter, he is also an official speaker for Vistage.
Michael taught screenwriting as a professor at Chapman University. His writing has been featured on KTLA and Fox Sports Radio and in Entertainment Weekly, The Federalist, HuffPost, Newsbase, Fast Company, the National Examiner, the United Nation’s ITU News Magazine, the Orange County Business Journal, the California Business Journal, and the Orange County Register.
Brittany Kaiser | (Foreword)
Brittany Kaiser is the Co-Founder of the Own Your Data Foundation. She is also a Co-Founder of the Digital Asset Trade Association (DATA), a nonprofit lobbying firm advancing legislative reform protecting the rights of individuals to control their digital assets. To raise awareness of data rights, she co-founded the Own Your Data Foundation to promote digital literacy education. Brittany is also the primary subject of the Netflix Original documentary The Great Hack which premiered at the Sundance Film Festival, and the author of Targeted published by Harper Collins.
Praise
“Brilliant perspective of a beautiful world ahead for many generations to enjoy and thrive, while highlighting certain threats for our society to avoid by taking clever actions now.”
— Toufi Saliba
Author Toda/IP and Global Chair IEEE International Protocols For AI Security
“Triumphing over Technological Tyranny touches on the most important topic of our time: digital technologies have enslaved users to serve corporate objectives over their own self interests, and in the process eradicated the ability of millions of people to apply critical thinking skills against the weaponization of tech to the detriment of public discourse on a global level.”
— Christian Kameir
Managing Partner Sustany Capital, Chair of the Decentralized Identity Foundation’s Banking and Finance Initiative
“Neuromind is a MUST READ! This book will inspire the masses to wake up and regain their technological sovereignty. We need leaders in this field like Robert Grant and Michael Ashley to help guide humanity in the right direction.”
— Billy Carson
Two Time Best-Selling Author of Compendium Of The Emerald Tablets and Woke Doesn’t Mean Broke
“Our freedoms are at risk and everyone is being put in a technical prison by Big Tech, but they are so clever that no one is aware of what is happening. The scariest part is that by the time everyone becomes aware, it will be too late. Fortunately, there are true freedom fighters like Robert and Michael that are raising the curtain to make everyone aware of what is happening. This book is a must read for anyone with a computer or a smartphone. What makes me so excited about this amazing book is that it not only points out the problem, but gives a clear and effective solution that anyone can apply immediately.”
— Dr. Eric Cole PhD
CEO & Founder of Secure Anchor
“Surveillance capitalism doesn’t have to be our reality. Power belongs in the hands of the individual. If you want to understand our technological threat—and how to overcome it, read Neuromined.”
— Lisa Wood
Co-CEO, Analog Computation Enterprise Inc and CEO, Cognitive World
“Like Virgil in Dante’s Inferno, Neuromined takes us on a tour through the present and possible futures of an unfolding digital hellscape. All the levels of digital enslavement are dramatically portrayed by characters whose fates we are cautioned to avoid. Then, we are told just what could land us in their place. Most importantly, we are shown the way out. A must read for all those who would break their digital shackles in the pursuit of freedom”
— Dr. Michael Rectenwald
Author of The Great Reset and the Struggle for Liberty and Google Archipelago: The Digital Gulag and the Simulation of Freedom
“Neuromined could easily overwhelm readers with a barrage of complex ideas, harming the public’s ability to make sense of our pressing challenge. Instead, Robert and Michael found ingenious ways to connect audiences with the material, both rationally and emotionally. Anyone who encounters this book is bound to be blown away by its power to grip the imagination—while also delivering facts essential to understanding our collective challenge—and opportunity. Both a stunning wakeup call and a rallying cry for needed change, this book is essential reading for everyone, no matter their nationality or politics.”
— Her Majesty Diambi Kabatusuila, Queen of the Bakwa Luntu People of the Democratic Republic of Congo
“Grant and Ashley make for an eye opening, provocative, and thoughtful book of how the power of technology is abused. The ‘Show and Tell’ entertains and provides solutions readily implemented. Good read.”
— Angel L. Iscovich, MD
CEO Inflexion LLC, Board Chair Potentia Analytics
“The tech world has been waiting for a book like this to lay the groundwork for a conversation about the role of big tech and big government and the role they play in of the masses. Written in easily understood parable form, it showcases our dilemma in straightforward terms so there can be no mistaking the challenges we face. The technology is changing at such a rapid pace, and It’s my hope that this book acts as a wake up call for the public as to what they should expect from the companies and governments in which they place inherent trust in.”
— Kevin Castle
Technology Entrepreneur
“In the spirit of books like Brave New World, 1984, and Fahrenheit 451 , NeuroMined: Triumphing Over Technological Tyranny is a must read for those who have missed or forgotten the warnings of those earlier works. In a world where critical thinking has been on the decline and Cancel Culture is used to sacrifice accuracy in stating the truth, this book provides an opportunity for recalibration without being vulnerable to fallacious accusations of conspiracy theories.”
— Chris King
Executive Coach and Founder of Status Flow
“While we have acted as dutiful consumers (under the threat of “cancellation”), parroting the virtues of connectedness and the Internet’s utopian promises, a nightmarish dystopia has descended, replete with government utilization of the surveillance economy to yield a surveillance politic eviscerating basic rights, all in the name of “progress” or “safety.” The private citizen is dead. In its place stands a hollowed out humanity, a predictable consumer unit, utterly dependent, totally subject, and always exposed. Until now. Grant and Ashley boldly lobby for an alternative way to live as authentic human beings by disowning dystopia and recapturing deeply human elements of personal presence. Power down, unplug, and listen to their clarion call into our digital wasteland.”
— Reverend John J Bombaro, PhD, CDR, CHC
US Navy Reserve and Assistant Director of Theological Education at the Luther Academy, Rīga, Latvia.
“Technology is a two-edged sword; it may be used for both good and evil. Authors Grant and Ashley brilliantly show us how to go in the right direction with our shared technological future. This is a must-read book for both techies and non-techies.”
— Mark Victor Hansen
Best-selling Author and Co-Creator of the Chicken Soup Series, Selling ½ Billion Copies Worldwide
“Robert and Michael expose the core challenge of our times in a straightforward and easily understood manner, invoking pop cultural references and historical examples. Insightful and entertaining, it presents sound arguments against technocratic control based on considerable research and expertise in this subject. I would recommend this book to anyone who wants to know what’s really happening in the world today and the many dangers to come should we not respond to our shared threats.”
— George R. Wentz
Managing Partner at MAD Energy
“A revelatory handbook for the restoration of reason, sanity, and humanity. Read it to survive and thrive in these transformational times. But most of all, to affirm, embody, and celebrate the indomitable human spirit of Life, Liberty, Health and Happiness.”
— Matthew K. Cross
CEO LeadershipAlliance.com; author of Be Your Own President
“From the very first chapter, “The Smartphone Shackle”, Neuromined pulls you in like a thousand “likes” on your latest Insta post. Today’s tech is both indispensable and inescapable. Most of us can’t imagine a day without our iPhone. Or how such addictive devices are already manipulating us.
Grant and Ashley’s vision for our future—should we not heed their warning—is reminiscent of Benjamin Franklin’s 225-year-old quote: “Those who would give up essential liberty to purchase a little temporary safety deserve neither liberty nor safety.” The liberty we are clicking away to mega-tech is more than just a little scary. It is downright ‘WTF are we thinking’?
The relinquishment of liberty Franklin warns against may be found in the fine print of Facebook and other social media’s user agreements. Akin to metaphoric frog-in-the-boiling-water syndrome, it’s enabling big government and big tech to freely discriminate against those who do not fall in lockstep with the “New Normal.” To avoid such a fate, tell everyone you know to read this book.”
— Paul J. Nelson, ESQ / CFLS
Founding and Managing Partner of Nelson Kirkman Family Law Attorneys and Advisors
“I have said for years that a book needs written about the evolution of our society and how it has been drastically altered by the “Smartphone” and the related technologies it fostered. It has become a calculated intrusion into every aspect of life, from time management to effectively modeling personal identity and driving behavior from predetermined algorithms. Digital domains fashion our beliefs, behaviors, and outcomes. Technology is facilitating the most successful power-play in history. We’ve not only willfully embraced it, but celebrated its every intrusion as a necessity. Can our world sustain this? Finally a well written book characterizing this era correctly and daring the reader to recognize the risks and crisis we face in this technological tyranny.”
— Scott Bledsoe
High-Tech CEO, Composer, Land Steward…Dad
“As a polymath, Robert Grant is particularly well suited to diagnose the dystopian cultural dilemma with maximum breadth and precision. This book is a devastating blow to the tyranny of our tech-fueled corporatocracy.”
— Aubrey Marcus
Podcaster, Entrepreneur
“More than any other book in recent memory, Neuromined makes the persuasive case for decentralizing technology to solve our many crises. If you weren’t already convinced that blockchain, crypto, and other decentralized innovations hold the promise to combat big tech and big government collusion, you will be by the time you’re done reading it. Knowledgeable thought leaders with a passion for this subject, Grant and Ashley demonstrate the importance of data sovereignty in the age of surveillance capitalism, digital cancel culture, shadow banning, and financial deplatforming. If you want to talk intelligently about what’s really going on in the zeitgeist, you’d better get familiar with this eye-opening material.”
— Dustin Plantholt
Founder, MonteCrypto & Crypterns; Forbes Monaco Editor, and Award Winning MetaVerse/NFT Advisor
“I have been a fan of Michael Ashley’s books for the last 5 years, but especially now after reading Neuromined: Triumphing Over Technological Tranny. I believe Michael and coauthor Robert Edward Grant have given us a book so many Americans will read and say, “This is exactly how I feel about the current situation between the government, the corporate world, and everyone else caught up in an almost unimaginable crisis.” I truly hope this effort by Ashley and Grant gets the response it deserves. More than any other book out there, it provides the reader with an insider’s view of what’s happening everyday in the tech world, why they should care, and more importantly, how we fix it.”
— James G. Jalet
lll, President & CEO of JNR Incorporated
“Grippingly entertaining, yet terrifying at the same time, Grant and Ashley raise the core issues of our day. Spoiler alert: they are not the cultural wedge-issues the media insists we focus on. Instead, the two authors tap into the perils of technocracy, threatening to destroy our way of life—and our children’s. Written in a unique, novelistic style and packed with facts, Neuromined fearlessly exposes centralized abuses of power that are not in some far-reaching future dystopia—but instead—are right around the corner.”
— Kurt Busch CEO
SYNTIANT