Czarne oceany

Czarne oceany

Polish edition cover
Author	Jacek Dukaj
Original title	Czarne oceany
Translator	not translated
Cover artist	Tomasz Bagiński
Country	Poland
Language	Polish
Genre	Science fiction novel
Publisher	Supernowa
Publication date	2001
Media type	(Hardback & Paperback)
Pages	494 pp
ISBN
OCLC	63517009

Czarne oceany (Polish: Black Oceans) is a novel written in 2001 by Jacek Dukaj, Polish science fiction writer and published in Poland by Supernowa. The novel fits in the hard science fiction genre, describing the late-21st century Earth facing technological singularity. The novel received the prime Polish award for sci-fi literature, Janusz A. Zajdel Award, for 2001.

The year is around 2060. United States is still a leading power, but European and Asian powers are trailing close behind it. Technology has advanced, with biotechnological implants allowing people control over computers via brain-computer interfaces. Full immersion virtual reality is common, as well as 'Orto Virtual Reality' - mixing virtual reality with our reality, in effect 'skinning' our reality in a form of augmented reality. Much of the elite is genetically engineered as well, with AIs being increasingly common. In many ways this is a dark, cyberpunk-kind of a world.

However, the conflicts of this future era rely more on economics and market forces than sophisticated military hardware. In this world the is the new battleground for nations and megacorps.

Technological trends are far from only ones explored by Dukaj in his book. He portrays the futuristic bureaucracy, political power struggles behind private sector, government and the military, and changes in culture. Dukaj extrapolates from the current trend of increasing lawsuits and political correctness: in his world many people willingly live under constant surveillance of the New Etiquette (NEti), which registers all their actions so that they couldn't be falsely accused of some "personal offense crime".