About
My name is Andrew G. Berger.
I have always loved reading and storytelling, whether captivating an audience or weaving tales for my sons. Eventually, this passion led me to embark on a journey I had long envisioned: writing a novel. The topic had been simmering in my mind for years—the consequences of AI’s triumph and its profound impact on humanity.
How would the rise of AI and a fully digital world reshape us as individuals? Would it alter our humanity? And what if a sudden catastrophe wiped out all digital tools in one devastating moment? What would remain of us as human beings if we were thrust back into a “digital Stone Age”, left to rely solely on ourselves?
These questions drove the creation of my science fiction novel, THE SUPERFLARE. It’s a story born from my fascination with the intersection of technology, human nature, and the fragility of the digital age.
A bit about me: I have a background in German Literature, Political Science, and History. Today, I live and work in Berlin, where I share my life with my wife and our two children.
Inside the Mind - Andrew G. Berger
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What inspired you to start writing?
THE SUPERFLARE is my latest book, published also in German as DER SONNENSTURM. The initial idea was to consider what would actually happen if all digital devices stopped working overnight. We are becoming more and more dependent on AI and countless digital helpers – smartphones, navigation devices, laptops, iPads, tablets, smart TVs, smartwatches, Alexa, Siri, Cortana, smart homes, Google, the Internet, etc. But what if all those helpers suddenly stopped working? A worldwide EMP, triggered by a gigantic solar storm, could do the trick. Based on this idea, I started to design possible scenarios that branched out and condensed more and more during the writing process.
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Can you tell us a little about your latest book?
The fear of machines, robots, and artificial intelligence has been as old as humanity’s longing to simplify their lives, enhance their capabilities, or even – as “homo deus” – create a new life form: Artificial Intelligence. Professor Yuval Noah Harari describes this process and its potential consequences in his book “Homo Deus: A Brief History of Tomorrow.” His concern is that artificial intelligence might not make humans all-powerful but rather render them obsolete. When I began writing THE SUPERFLARE several years ago, these thoughts were on my mind as I developed the character of TRON, an artificial super-intelligence that plays a central role in my novel.
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