Black Maven interviews Steven Wood Collins (4th since 2014)

Google AI synopsis: Puramore – The Lute of Pythagoras

16 February 2026

This is the fourth in a series of interviews conducted by Black Maven with Mr. Collins, the last of which was conducted nearly eight years ago

Thank you again for sharing your extraordinary life with me, which led to your first novel, Puramore – The Lute of Pythagoras, and later, The Patricians: A Genealogical Study.

I am glad to extend the invitation to you for a more in-depth inquiry about my life and the influences that have shaped my literary offerings. Moreover, while there’s not much room for improvement in my estimation as to my writing style, my literary representations should be subject to review by those who want to know the source, perhaps serving to cultivate a kindred spirit with my form of ascendant communication. Moreover, the novel more than represents a bleak fiction; hopefully, it conveys a sense of awe and wonder, often tragically, of life in a dystopian setting created through my unique literary imagination.

Since the completion of the manuscript more than fifteen years ago, have there been any societal-cultural developments that significantly altered your dystopian vision of mankind’s future, given the scientific and technological transformations posited?

On the secular side, the concurrent progression and acceleration of the development of AGI, nanotechnology, quantum computation, and bioengineering still remains intact as projected throughout the 20th-21st century timeline. At some point in the not-too-distant future, it appears likely that a confluence of these technologies will engulf mankind into one quantum consciousness, perhaps shortly after the Singularity event projected by some, such as Ray Kurzweil, to occur within the next 50 years. Before the apotheosis occurs, the present state of mortal being is seen to adopt a cyborg iteration that will begin approximate the potential of the scientifically-engineered transhumans that will surely ensue shortly thereafter. We're already witnessing the telltale initial phases of this development with the advent of cyborg technologies, such as Neuralink and AI robotics.

Moreover, today's radical displacement of human labor and intelligence across the board by superior AI resources is a testament to the transformational causes that may well lead to the functional obsolescence of mankind to effectively manage its temporal affairs in an ever-increasingly complex world affected by AI technology. And there may well come a day after AGI takes over completely, when humans are relegated to the status of “superfluous appendages” as a consequence. Only cyborgs will continue to possess transitional relevance in a virtual state of being defined as the Simulation, which even Elon Musk has concluded is our reality. Bill Gates opines that humans will be largely supplanted by AI within the next 10 years. China is already employing AI to manage state government, starting with most civil service functions.

Fifteen years ago, anyone, including highly respected futurists, positing such a scenario would have been seen by contemporary scientists as delusional at the very least. Given the rapid technological advances in these fields since then, however, the scenario may not be too far-fetched to be considered at least as entertaining science fiction at present. So, my dystopian thesis remains valid as previously explained. Be that as it may, as expressed thematically in the novel, my personal prognostications in that regard, or any other for that matter, are still a source of existential fascination in my innocuous role as an economist, securities investor, and free-range existential spirit.

Your prescience is duly noted. What’s more remarkable is that, as a novelist with no recognized scientific training or background, you nevertheless crafted a novel that not only incorporates futuristic scientific advancement but also In a highly engaging literary story of exceptional grace and eloquence, particularly in a fascinating “time and space” in the history of planet Earth, perhaps at or near an apotheosis event triggered by Singularity.

What is your current view of the future of AI as a potential panacea to cure the ills of the current frailties in the management of human affairs?

I view it as somewhat of a mixed blessing. For instance, in the field of preventive medicine, there's no doubt in my mind that coursing nanobots through the human bloodstream to continuously monitor health parameters and provide wide-ranging medical treatment as needed will serve to greatly enhance overall medical health conditions. However, there's a clear danger of AI overstepping the boundaries of that potentially salubrious paradigm to affect, say, neurophysical consciousness in an invasive manner to effect behavior modification in the form of mind control, though done in support of beneficial medical care in the best case. In the worst case, as a consequence, the human imagination could possibly suffer from even an unintentionally intrusive regimen as such.

It should be noted that you incorporated nanobot technology as a fascinating stage prop towards the end of the story.

Given your professional career in marketing and sales after graduation from college, what was your motivation in choosing to write a novel after you retired early, aged 48?

Actually, there weren’t many options to choose from at the time, especially as I was growing weary of scuba diving, my main preoccupation at the time, in the Cayman Islands. Since authoring a novel was always at the top of my bucket list of things to do before I die, even before retirement, I mulled over the prospect of considering an appropriate genre to explore, especially in light of my longstanding interest in futurism as an economist.

After soul-searching in that regard for a number of months, I finally experienced an epiphany that left no doubt in my mind that I was destined to be an author. Actually, from childhood, I always thought I would one day pursue a career as a novelist, mainly because of my prodigious imagination and love of storytelling (both literary qualities, however, I had to sublimate for the most part in order to function without a literary license in the prosaic world). Moreover, during the last seven years of my financial services career, as a recognized maven in the field, I was paid well by top-level executive management to write reports and generate correspondence that addressed concerns and issues in conducting business with the firm (which, alas, only seldomly rose to the level of literary imagination).

So, resolute in your choice of a calling in retirement, why did you choose the dystopian sci-fi genre for your first literary project?

In retrospect, the choice was made clear after reading Ray Kurzweil’s The Singularity is Near in 2005. formed the thematic backdrop for the novel, mainly due to the scientific and technological prognostications as previously cited. Plus, since reading British dystopian novels during my adolescence, I’ve always been fascinated with social science fiction of the dystopian variety.

As an economist by education (A.B. 1975, Cal-Berkeley), I’ve always maintained an avid interest in macro-economic modeling, primarily as studied through the discipline of econometrics. Coupling this personal affinity for the predictive value of the social science study with Mr. Kurzweil’s widely recognized prescience in scientific and technological development opened the door for the exploration and development of a dystopian social science storyline.

While there’s an obvious thematic comparison to be drawn with Aldous Huxley’s Brave New World, Puramore is far more wide-ranging in socio-technical scope. The blending of metaphysical factors, such as shamanism and quantum mysticism, the dystopian fate of humanity, however, isn’t portrayed as necessarily condemned to a perpetual state of mortal misery and misfortune as Brave New World represents. Instead, mankind is given the option to escape the spiritual malaise of the Matrix, mainly by embracing a cyborg paradigm. There's also another avenue presented, but it's probably not glaringly evident to the reader, that is, through the adoption of shamanistic metaphysics. Juan Aguilla, the Yaqui shaman who plays a clandestine role as the protagonist's spirit guide, stands at the ready to intercede in influencing his spiritual development, but instead allows him to pursue his free will as a Druid protégé.

Comprehending The Singularity is Near in its entirety is a major intellectual achievement even for the lay scientist. Did you comprehend the scientific and technical concepts proffered?

Yes, but mainly in the broad brush sense. Otherwise, much of the technical discussion was geared toward the scientific community. Nevertheless, I noted the advent parameters promulgated as forming a storyline I chose to develop as a fictional novel.

Were there times when you first began composing the manuscript when you felt inadequately qualified for the job at hand? In other words, you lacked a formal education in English composition and, as such, were at a disadvantage in composing a literary work in the traditional practice.

I did indeed realize an initial jolt of inadequacy when I first put words to the composition. However, as an autodidact of longstanding, I was undeterred and sensed that I would eventually grasp at least the rudiments of English literary composition in a meaningful fashion for the job at hand.

Can you cite an example of a literary style that affected the development of your own on an ad hoc basis as you composed the manuscript?

Well, if I had one before, it would have been latent in acquisition in reading virtually all of Ian Fleming’s novels during my dissolute adolescence. There are several indications of his literary influence on me throughout the novel. Ken Follett was also the premier influence on my literary style.

The novel reads as though written by an Englishman. What was your motive for adopting British English? It must have been a frightfully involved convention to employ throughout the entire manuscript.

Yes, British English added a layer of complexity to the composition style, ostensibly for a dramatic staging effect. The intention, however, was to seamlessly juxtapose the novel with other British 20th-century dystopian novels.

Was it your initial intention to author a dystopian novel that has as its historical focal point the British Isles and cultural influence on mankind over time, perhaps leading to an undisclosed apocalyptic role in the future?

I can unequivocally state that I had no such intention when I started contemplating the project in 2001 as a Caribbean beachcomber.

The early drafts, first published as works-in-progress in 2003, then dealt with the emergence of a private academy high school basketball team whose players possessed overwhelming athletic skills and physical stature due to bioengineering experimentation. I took the adaptation of Huxley’s dystopian thesis as a dystopian political statement as far as I could before reading The Singularity is Near in 2005.

The thesis that evolved from the reading proffered the potential end of humanity through the metaphysical intervention of enlightened beings who completely reengineered the human genome to produce a template for the conception and birth of mass-produced transhumans. Not only were these star children individually endowed with God-like powers to manipulate and control every aspect of their material existence, but they were also spiritually linked with one another and the universe through quantum consciousness.

So, what was the sacrifice in return? The total expungement of individual and past ego identity appears to be a likely outcome. Moreover, the knowledge of human history will become arcane and superfluous to cyborgs after the advent of AGI in any event.

Puramore is a fictional talisman that was gifted to humanity by the Creators after the race was deemed viable for evolution into an advanced intergalactic civilization. The universal concept of free will bars divine intervention to either preserve or protect evolving civilizations after a certain point of initial development. Each new civilization created, however, receives lifeline protection through the talisman, which serves as a guardian to ward off potential extinction by alien predators while the race is subject to pernicious exploitation during its “infancy”.

The talisman is wielded by the most exemplary being of the race, who knows full well its supernatural power as well as the limited number of times (13) it can be summoned to defeat an existential threat to the survival of the race. In the instance of Puramore, it has been summoned twelve times and thus can be employed only once more to save humanity from potential annihilation by malevolent aliens.

How would you describe Puramore as a physical entity?

In portable form, it’s imagined to be in the shape and size of an ice hockey puck. In a transmutable state, it could be in the shape of a sword (such as the Sword of Solomon or Excalibur) or Noah’s Ark, for instance. As a solid geometric image, it’s a fractal of the Lute of Pythagoras.

El Laúd de Pitágoras

The story quite often departs from the seriously ominous tone of the narrative to include interludes of many zany subplots. Was this done to render it a page-turner?

Though guilty as charged, the book wasn’t written as an ominous dystopian warning as to the potential course of humanity. Instead, it’s actually a parody to that effect, which was my original undisclosed intention.

As to the manuscript, what inspired you most in terms of character and plot development?

In the main, simple lifetime experiences as translated through vivid imagination served to instill inspiration for either character or plot development across the board. I won’t rule out, however, the unconscious influence of Jungian intuition in staging many plot aspects, which were both in and of themselves so remote from my normative experience and imagination as to have been surreal in manifestation.

Was this your first experience of a Jungian existential nature?

Yes, the very first one that could be classified as such. One that stands out most is the similarity between Puramore, the fictional Andean country created by the protagonist, and Bensalem, the fictional country created by Sir Francis Bacon in his unfinished utopian novel entitled New Atlantis. Both are enclaves of enlightened scientists engaged in scientific research for the betterment of mankind. I discovered the latter by happenstance several years after first publishing my novel in 2010.

An absolutely mindboggling coincidence.

Indeed. There are many other instances portrayed in the novel that are of a mysterious nature, primarily of a surreal source of Jungian intuition. I'd further elaborate on that phenomenon, but in the interest of non-disclosure of possible spoilers, I won't, except to allude that several prescient implications of quantum cosmology are woven thematically into the storyline.

Fair enough.

At this juncture, therefore, let's entertain the factors at play in the development and publication of The Patricians, A Genealogical Study.

As you wish. Please proceed.

Firstly, what was your initial motivation in embarking on the genealogical research project?

Well, I spent most of my life completely unaware of my ancestral genealogical heritage. Then one day, many years ago, my sister casually said to me, “I sometimes wonder about our family background.” And so my quest to discover our genealogical roots commenced in 2010.

I started developing my family tree with basic relationships, starting with my grandparents. My main research tool at the time was Ancestry.com. As I learned about other genealogical databases and how to utilize them, my progress sped up. Today, The Patricians! Family Tree contains over 123,000 individual names and spans 135 generations, of which 5,800 are direct ancestors. The resulting GEDCOM file is a formidable 80MB in size.

The Collins ancestral lineage proved to be the most problematic research endeavor. Finally, after several years of fruitless effort, my American forefathers were found to be descendants of Englishmen who immigrated from Bramford, Suffolk, England, to the Massachusetts Bay Colony during The Great Puritan Migration to New England (1620 – 1640). After that, I finally succeeded in tracing their forefathers’ ancestry. They were of Norwegian extraction who immigrated from their ancient homeland to settle in Orkney, Scotland, during the early 9th century. My branch of the Viking lineage remained there before resettling in Donegal, Ireland, during the early 12th century.

The blog articles that evolved over time are meant to share interesting genealogical data and anecdotal reflections that elicited stories about our ancestors and related cousins. Therein lies the fascinating part of genealogical history, at least for me.

Inclusion of representational artwork, such as oil paintings and illustrations, was designed to enhance the nature and character of the subject under both historical and genealogical review (for example, Louis XIV de Bourbon (1638 – 1715), King of France and Navarre). This was an intensely laborious undertaking, but one I felt compelled to undertake for no other reason than the artwork lent a graphic image of the august monarch that no words could adequately convey (the proverbial “picture is worth a thousand words”).

The compilation is published as links to individual WordPress blog articles, mainly to facilitate revisions that arise from further genealogical research without changing the essence of the story. Thus, the publication is always current in representing the state of research.

That's amazing. I doubt that few individual researchers have ever accomplished such a herculean feat, both as a genealogical research milestone and companion literary accomplishment over such a relatively short span of time.

There's no doubt about that. But, since I had the time and inclination, I put my rather prodigious attention span to productive use for nearly everyday for over ten years, totally absorbed in building out the family tree as it exists today. Having reached the productive limit of how far it could be efficiently taken, I ceased the effort, meaning that I had exhausted nearly all direct ancestral relationships with me as far back in time as even legendary ancestral pedigrees allowed. So, not wanting to waste my time, I disengaged from that aspect of the project over five years ago. Today, I mainly fine-tune, so to speak, existing relationships on an ad hoc basis whenever deemed appropriate, usually conducted in a thorough review of a subject's genealogical background prior to the composition of literary commentary.

Did you enjoy the experience?

I enjoyed it immensely, primarily because the discovery of historically renown personages with whom I'm either directly or closely-related as cousins proved to be a continual source of astonishment. Along the way, I also conducted in-depth historical research on a select number of them that resulted in the literary composition of WordPress articles (over 360) as presented in the published compilation. Moreover, it proved to be a salubrious learning experience, both in furtherance of my genealogical research acumen and a significant expansion of my knowledge of world history.

In retrospect, is it possible that you were subject to Jungian intuition that may have guided you in the process in the selection of the ancestors you chose to feature in authoring a WordPress blog article?

Yes, it's more than possible, and I can cite numerous examples of apparently unconscious Jungian force(s) at play that both initiated and influenced the authorship of articles, such as previously mentioned in the instance of the Sir Francis Bacon example. I won't cite other examples, however. mainly because they're rife in possible demonstration of a seemingly transcendental manifestation.

If you would be so kind, please cite just one more for our edification on that score, Steven.

Okay.

Well, the Sir William le Marshal, 1st Earl of Pembroke (1146 – 1219) article represents an example of one. For some unknown reason, I devoted an exceptional amount of time and effort in research and composition of the article, almost to the point that it inexplicably took a life of its own on me all the while. Nevertheless, my genealogical relationship with him as my ancestor is so profound as to constitute a possible spiritual connection between us if I'm not judged to be delusional in profferment.

Very good, Steven. Personally, I wouldn't accuse you of being delusional for suggesting that proposition.

I'm glad to hear that, Black Maven. Still, every once in awhile, I feel the urge to look over my shoulder when I'm writing these articles to see if anyone of a spiritual nature is watching, including yourself.

Quite drole.

Thank you for your time in extending us this opportunity to learn about you and your novel, Puramore - The Lute of Pythagoras, and The Patricians, A Genealogical Study.  

It was my pleasure, Black Maven. I hope to see you soon again. We also need to talk offline about the next novel I'm considering writing about you. You're indeed quite a stimulating character in your own right.

I'm flattered, and we shall.