The story takes place in the year 2034, two years after the events in Ghost in the Shell: S.A.C. 2nd GIG. Female cyborg Major Motoko Kusanagi has left Public Security Section 9, an elite counter-terrorist and anti-crime unit specializing in cyber-warfare, which has expanded to a team of 20 field operatives with Togusa acting as the field lead.

Set on a remote island in a post-apocalyptic, plague-ridden world, this electrifying novel is destined to become a modern classic. Anax thinks she knows her history. She'd better. She's now facing three Examiners, and her grueling all-day Examination has just begun. If she passes, she'll be admitted into the Academy--the elite governing institution of her utopian society. But Anax is about to discover that for all her learning, the history she's been taught isn't the whole story. And that the Academy isn't what she believes it to be. In this brilliant novel of dazzling ingenuity, Anax's examination leads us into a future where we are confronted with unresolved questions raised by science and philosophy. Centuries old, these questions have gained new urgency in the face of rapidly developing technology. What is consciousness? What makes us human? If artificial intelligence were developed to a high enough capability, what special status could humanity still claim? Outstanding and original, Beckett's dramatic narrative comes to a stunning close. This perfect combination of thrilling page-turner and provocative novel of ideas demands to be read again and again.

Defining the limits of computer technology, the authors make a compelling case that binary logic will always be inferior to human intuitive ability. A stunning reaffirmation of human intelligence.

The most famous challenge to the aims of cognitive science and artificial intelligence is the philosopher John Searle's 1980 'Chinese Room' argument. Nineteen essays by leading scientists and philosophers assess, renew, and respond to this crucial challenge--fascinating reading for anyone interested in minds and computers.