The ChinGen

The idea of the ChinGen—a wearable all-purpose electronic advisor—was an isolated idea I had more than thirty years ago. The name is an abbreviation for “I-Ching Generator.” The concept of the ChinGen was to provide advice for decisions, sourced from classic Chinese wisdom. It became an element of some earlier fiction that was never published, and I forgot about it. While writing Scientica, I revived the idea of the ChinGen not only as a personal advisor, but as a critical link to the supercomputer that governs Harmonia. The widespread use of the ChinGen in this story, combined with constant oversight from Scientica, cultivates an unsettling environment of digital monitoring. The device is ubiquitous. The ChinGen provides guidance while you travel, it can communicate with other wearers, it can present data points using holographic image projection, and, of course, it provides games for the citizens to help them pass time. It complements Scientica’s other surveillance technologies but has one vulnerability when it comes to surveillance. There are small places—little known and mostly outdoors—that cannot transmit surveillance signals. Because ChinGens depend on data transmission to communicate with Scientica, they, too, become quiet in such locations. This leads to opportunities for the characters in this story. (Thom Holmes)

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