When we started writing Jonathan Chambers: Deception, we didn’t just want to tell a good story. We wanted to explore an idea that’s haunted humanity for centuries:
What is the soul — and can science ever explain it?
Beneath the novel’s conspiracy and psychological drama lies a deeper layer: a speculative dive into soul science — the merging of neuroscience, metaphysics, and artificial intelligence. The Ankh Institute might be fictional, but the questions it poses are anything but.
🌀 The Pineal Gland: Portal or Placebo?
The Ankh Institute’s controversial research centres around the pineal gland — a tiny organ nestled deep in the brain, once called “the seat of the soul” by philosopher René Descartes.
In the novel, it becomes the focus of experimental surgeries, psychic events, and ultimately… something far more dangerous.
In real life? The pineal gland regulates melatonin, yes — but its mystical reputation stretches back to ancient Egypt and persists today in New Age and fringe science circles. Is it just biology? Or a biological antenna?
We’re not saying it’s the truth.
But Deception plays in the space between.
♻️ Reincarnation, Backed by Data
At the Ankh Institute, reincarnation isn’t a belief — it’s a program.
The institute’s scientists aren’t burning incense or chanting mantras. They’re building databases, tracking anomalies in children’s memories, EEG readings at death, and quantum consciousness simulations.
Fiction, yes. But inspired by real-world research like:
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Ian Stevenson’s case studies of children remembering past lives
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Dr. Jim Tucker’s follow-up work at UVA
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Emerging theories in quantum consciousness (Penrose & Hameroff)
We took it a step further: What if a soul could be copied, transferred… or sold?
🤖 Ethical AI and Data-Driven Morality
At its core, Deception asks:
Can machines make moral decisions? And should they?
Within the Ankh Institute, AI is used not just for analytics, but as a moral arbiter — calculating “ethical worth” using biometric, psychological, and behavioural data. Think credit score meets karma.
If that sounds dystopian, good. It’s meant to.
But we based it on trends already underway: predictive policing, AI hiring tools, emotion recognition. Today’s data economy is already quantifying human behaviour. In Deception, we just took it to its logical — and terrifying — conclusion.
🧬 Why It Matters
All of these elements — the pineal gland, soul transfer, reincarnation tech, ethical AI — might sound like sci-fi. But the heart of the book isn’t technology.
It’s people.
Their fears. Their choices. Their need to know who they really are.
Whether you believe in the soul or not, Deception invites you to question the stories we tell ourselves — about death, identity, and control.
Want to go deeper?
👉 [Explore the Ankh Institute]
👉 [Meet the Characters]
👉 [Read an Excerpt]
This is fiction on the edge of something real.
Stay curious,
— Nick