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Mindscan
Robert J. Sawyer's Hominids , the first volume of his bestselling Neanderthal Parallax trilogy, won the 2003 Hugo Award, and its sequel, Humans , was a 2004 Hugo nominee. Now he's back with a pulse-pounding, mind-expanding standalone novel, rich with his signature philosophical and ethical speculations, all grounded in cutting-edge science.
Jake Sullivan has cheated he's discarded his doomed biological body and copied his consciousness into an android form. The new Jake soon finds love, something that eluded him when he was encased in he falls for the android version of Karen, a woman rediscovering all the joys of life now that she's no longer constrained by a worn-out body either.
But suddenly Karen's son sues her, claiming that by uploading into an immortal body, she has done him out of his inheritance. Even worse, the original version of Jake, consigned to die on the far side of the moon, has taken hostages there, demanding the return of his rights of personhood. In the courtroom and on the lunar surface, the future of uploaded humanity hangs in the balance.
Mindscan is vintage Sawyer -- a feast for the mind and the heart.
Jake Sullivan has cheated he's discarded his doomed biological body and copied his consciousness into an android form. The new Jake soon finds love, something that eluded him when he was encased in he falls for the android version of Karen, a woman rediscovering all the joys of life now that she's no longer constrained by a worn-out body either.
But suddenly Karen's son sues her, claiming that by uploading into an immortal body, she has done him out of his inheritance. Even worse, the original version of Jake, consigned to die on the far side of the moon, has taken hostages there, demanding the return of his rights of personhood. In the courtroom and on the lunar surface, the future of uploaded humanity hangs in the balance.
Mindscan is vintage Sawyer -- a feast for the mind and the heart.
304 pages, Hardcover
First published March 10, 2005
41 people are currently reading
1330 people want to read
About the author
Robert J. Sawyer
227 books2,484 followersRobert J. Sawyer is one of Canada's best known and most successful science fiction writers. He is the only Canadian (and one of only 7 writers in the world) to have won all three of the top international awards for science fiction: the 1995 Nebula Award for The Terminal Experiment, the 2003 Hugo Award for Hominids, and the 2006 John W. Campbell Memorial Award for Mindscan.
Robert Sawyer grew up in Toronto, the son of two university professors. He credits two of his favourite shows from the late 1960s and early 1970s, Search and Star Trek, with teaching him some of the fundamentals of the science-fiction craft. Sawyer was obsessed with outer space from a young age, and he vividly remembers watching the televised Apollo missions. He claims to have watched the 1968 classic film 2001: A Space Odyssey 25 times. He began writing science fiction in a high school club, which he co-founded, NASFA (Northview Academy Association of Science Fiction Addicts). Sawyer graduated in 1982 from the Radio and Television Arts Program at Ryerson University, where he later worked as an instructor.
Sawyer's first published book, Golden Fleece (1989), is an adaptation of short stories that had previously appeared in the science-fiction magazine Amazing Stories. This book won the Aurora Award for the best Canadian science-fiction novel in English. In the early 1990s Sawyer went on to publish his inventive Quintaglio Ascension trilogy, about a world of intelligent dinosaurs. His 1995 award winning The Terminal Experiment confirmed his place as a major international science-fiction writer.
A prolific writer, Sawyer has published more than 10 novels, plus two trilogies. Reviewers praise Sawyer for his concise prose, which has been compared to that of the science-fiction master Isaac Asimov. Like many science fiction-writers, Sawyer welcomes the opportunities his chosen genre provides for exploring ideas. The first book of his Neanderthal Parallax trilogy, Hominids (2002), is set in a near-future society, in which a quantum computing experiment brings a Neanderthal scientist from a parallel Earth to ours. His 2006 Mindscan explores the possibility of transferring human consciousness into a mechanical body, and the ensuing ethical, legal, and societal ramifications.
A passionate advocate for science fiction, Sawyer teaches creative writing and appears frequently in the media to discuss his genre. He prefers the label "philosophical fiction," and in no way sees himself as a predictor of the future. His mission statement for his writing is "To combine the intimately human with the grandly cosmic."
http://us.macmillan.com/author/robert...
Robert Sawyer grew up in Toronto, the son of two university professors. He credits two of his favourite shows from the late 1960s and early 1970s, Search and Star Trek, with teaching him some of the fundamentals of the science-fiction craft. Sawyer was obsessed with outer space from a young age, and he vividly remembers watching the televised Apollo missions. He claims to have watched the 1968 classic film 2001: A Space Odyssey 25 times. He began writing science fiction in a high school club, which he co-founded, NASFA (Northview Academy Association of Science Fiction Addicts). Sawyer graduated in 1982 from the Radio and Television Arts Program at Ryerson University, where he later worked as an instructor.
Sawyer's first published book, Golden Fleece (1989), is an adaptation of short stories that had previously appeared in the science-fiction magazine Amazing Stories. This book won the Aurora Award for the best Canadian science-fiction novel in English. In the early 1990s Sawyer went on to publish his inventive Quintaglio Ascension trilogy, about a world of intelligent dinosaurs. His 1995 award winning The Terminal Experiment confirmed his place as a major international science-fiction writer.
A prolific writer, Sawyer has published more than 10 novels, plus two trilogies. Reviewers praise Sawyer for his concise prose, which has been compared to that of the science-fiction master Isaac Asimov. Like many science fiction-writers, Sawyer welcomes the opportunities his chosen genre provides for exploring ideas. The first book of his Neanderthal Parallax trilogy, Hominids (2002), is set in a near-future society, in which a quantum computing experiment brings a Neanderthal scientist from a parallel Earth to ours. His 2006 Mindscan explores the possibility of transferring human consciousness into a mechanical body, and the ensuing ethical, legal, and societal ramifications.
A passionate advocate for science fiction, Sawyer teaches creative writing and appears frequently in the media to discuss his genre. He prefers the label "philosophical fiction," and in no way sees himself as a predictor of the future. His mission statement for his writing is "To combine the intimately human with the grandly cosmic."
http://us.macmillan.com/author/robert...
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 249 reviews
January 13, 2024
Every time I read a Robert Sawyer book I always wonder the same thing: what kind of amazing novel would come out of a collaboration between Sawyer, who has great ideas about theme and plot, and another writer, who can write good characters and dialogue? Yes, Mindscan kept me reading: the premise is compelling and thought provoking. But like so many of Sawyer's novels, it's full of ham-handed author intrusion. The characters are so obviously loaded down with the pet peeves, knowledge and thoughts of the author, displaying them at every opportunity (and so many scenes seem to be contrived to create those opportunities) that it's distracting and I find it inhibits the development of emotional connection with his characters and his story. Yes, Mindscan is worth a read, however I can't help feeling cheated of the pleasure of reading the great novel it could have been had the characters been allowed to be themselves. And this is usually how I feel after finishing one of Sawyer’s book. On the other hand, regardless of that, I continue to read his work, so that says something.
April 21, 2011
What happened to Calculating God happened to this book as well. Sawyer tried to build a story around some complex questions, and the only way he could was to have characters flat out ask them.
The basic premise of the story is illogical. Why the hell would anybody agree to copy their mind into a robotic body when they know it’ll be the robot that gets to be immortal and not them!? Nothing will change for them; they’ll still be in their aging, frail bodies, so this procedure does nothing to help the biological person.
It made me wonder what Jacob expected. He knew ahead of time that he was copying his consciousness into a robotic body, and that he, himself, would not be in that body. I shook my head thinking you idiot, you knew this was going to happen, and it’s your own damn fault you’re in this mess now. It probably would’ve been easier to believe (and even more dramatic to debate) if the company destroyed the original, biological person as soon as the robotic one started up. Then they could’ve debated whether or not the copy is the same person, it would’ve been an even finer line to argue, and it would’ve given the characters reason to believe that they’d be the same person.
But this book isn’t about the characters—in terms of actual story it’s very thin. Mindscan is about the debate over what life and consciousness is. The story is an excuse to present the questions, and Sawyer couldn’t think of a better way to present them than in a courtroom, which allowed him to ask the questions from both sides. I would’ve liked it to be presented in a story instead of orated in court.
I’ve always thought a courtroom trial is a cliché because Star Trek took this exact same question to court several times, ending with the same decide-for-yourself conclusion. (See ST-TNG: “The Measure of A Man,” and ST-VOY: “Author, Author.”) The book is not boring, for the questions it proposes are entertaining in their own right, but readers looking for a satisfying story will feel lost in an ocean of hair-splitting cross examinations. The bulk of the book is the cross examinations themselves, and very little becomes of them. There has to be a more engaging way to present this. I wonder if he gave too much thought to the research (he did a hell of a lot, and it shows) and not enough to the story. The meaning of life is contained in these pages…and science has a way of making it depressingly biological.
The basic premise of the story is illogical. Why the hell would anybody agree to copy their mind into a robotic body when they know it’ll be the robot that gets to be immortal and not them!? Nothing will change for them; they’ll still be in their aging, frail bodies, so this procedure does nothing to help the biological person.
It made me wonder what Jacob expected. He knew ahead of time that he was copying his consciousness into a robotic body, and that he, himself, would not be in that body. I shook my head thinking you idiot, you knew this was going to happen, and it’s your own damn fault you’re in this mess now. It probably would’ve been easier to believe (and even more dramatic to debate) if the company destroyed the original, biological person as soon as the robotic one started up. Then they could’ve debated whether or not the copy is the same person, it would’ve been an even finer line to argue, and it would’ve given the characters reason to believe that they’d be the same person.
But this book isn’t about the characters—in terms of actual story it’s very thin. Mindscan is about the debate over what life and consciousness is. The story is an excuse to present the questions, and Sawyer couldn’t think of a better way to present them than in a courtroom, which allowed him to ask the questions from both sides. I would’ve liked it to be presented in a story instead of orated in court.
I’ve always thought a courtroom trial is a cliché because Star Trek took this exact same question to court several times, ending with the same decide-for-yourself conclusion. (See ST-TNG: “The Measure of A Man,” and ST-VOY: “Author, Author.”) The book is not boring, for the questions it proposes are entertaining in their own right, but readers looking for a satisfying story will feel lost in an ocean of hair-splitting cross examinations. The bulk of the book is the cross examinations themselves, and very little becomes of them. There has to be a more engaging way to present this. I wonder if he gave too much thought to the research (he did a hell of a lot, and it shows) and not enough to the story. The meaning of life is contained in these pages…and science has a way of making it depressingly biological.
February 15, 2011
Put yourself in the following situation: You are a young person in the prime of your life when you are told that you are terminally ill. You will be able to spend the rest of your life in peace and quiet provided you agree to live on the moon while your clone replaces you at work (you are a productive person after all). While on the moon colony for the terminally ill, you find out that the disease you have has been cured, but the clone refuses to give up what he has on Earth and the rules forbid your return. Sure, they'll cure you, but you cannot come home. What would you do? That is exactly what happens in this interesting novel by one of Canada's premier SF writers.
July 19, 2020
Mindscan takes one of the oldest science fiction tropes, transferring a human consciousness into an artificial body in order to prolong life, and examines the concept in detail from a legal and moral and scientific viewpoint. Captain Future's pal Simon never had it like this! And it's still a popular framing device, as witness the recent Lock In novels by John Scalzi. Mindscan doesn't have the far-ranging scientific speculation of much of Sawyer's other work, but it has some of his more poignant characterization. It's a worthwhile novel.
July 28, 2020
This was an okayish read.
I had bought this book on a whim, back when those booksales happened, and we got notified instantly in a facebook group that I'm still a part of. Everyone was buying it because it was priced so low, so took the chance. Years later, I finally thought of ditching ebooks for a while, and finish up those books piling up on my bookshelf. Hence, this.
Okay, ditching all roundabout stories. Getting to the review proper.
Mindscan is set in a dystopian world, where advanced technology makes it possible to transfer consciousness from a person into another humanoid form, called an upload or a Mindscan , who is superior to the original in terms of a score of qualities, both physically and mentally, added to which is immortality. A presigned contract assigns the Mindscan all the rights to personhood after the uploading; he would take over the place of the original person and get to live that life, while the original shed skin would be taken away to Lunar Farside, which is the perfect vacation resort, designed on the moon.
There were certain things about the story that I liked. Sawyer hints at some issues with a philosophical tangent, as can be seen when legal issues arise in one of the uploads', Karen's life, regarding her personhood.
If you had a say in it, whom would you call the real Karen?
Yes, when I ask you this, you would obviously point towards the one vacationing on the moon, made of all flesh and blood.
Not the upload, even if he or she is an exact plastic replica of the original, borne of the exact experiences that made her Karen too. Honestly, I had somewhat a similar opinion too. But by the end of this book, I started questioning my own judgement. I love books that give me a fresh perspective, or challenge my existing ones. It's a redundant life, if you do not open yourself to possibilities and answers outside of your own sanctuary of opinions.
The writing was fast paced. But I found the character building to be done in haste. I couldn't picture the protagonist in my head- his personality, his whims, his lifestyle, nothing. All I knew was that he belonged to a crazy-rich family who made a fortune out of a brewery chain and that his father had a stroke, which put him in a vegetative for the rest of his life. Nothing else. Not even much about how he feels about that major event in his life, when he also discovers the Katerinsky bomb hidden inside him.
The main plot concerning the mindscan process felt like being disclosed way too soon and suddenly, without using gradual progression or appropriate plot timing to achieve the desired effect. It just fell flat there.
Got to admit, the plot had a lot of promise. Despite all the predictability and straightforward writing, it could have worked out better, if there was some more thought put into it.
Overall 3 stars.
I had bought this book on a whim, back when those booksales happened, and we got notified instantly in a facebook group that I'm still a part of. Everyone was buying it because it was priced so low, so took the chance. Years later, I finally thought of ditching ebooks for a while, and finish up those books piling up on my bookshelf. Hence, this.
Okay, ditching all roundabout stories. Getting to the review proper.
Mindscan is set in a dystopian world, where advanced technology makes it possible to transfer consciousness from a person into another humanoid form, called an upload or a Mindscan , who is superior to the original in terms of a score of qualities, both physically and mentally, added to which is immortality. A presigned contract assigns the Mindscan all the rights to personhood after the uploading; he would take over the place of the original person and get to live that life, while the original shed skin would be taken away to Lunar Farside, which is the perfect vacation resort, designed on the moon.
There were certain things about the story that I liked. Sawyer hints at some issues with a philosophical tangent, as can be seen when legal issues arise in one of the uploads', Karen's life, regarding her personhood.
If you had a say in it, whom would you call the real Karen?
Yes, when I ask you this, you would obviously point towards the one vacationing on the moon, made of all flesh and blood.
Not the upload, even if he or she is an exact plastic replica of the original, borne of the exact experiences that made her Karen too. Honestly, I had somewhat a similar opinion too. But by the end of this book, I started questioning my own judgement. I love books that give me a fresh perspective, or challenge my existing ones. It's a redundant life, if you do not open yourself to possibilities and answers outside of your own sanctuary of opinions.
The writing was fast paced. But I found the character building to be done in haste. I couldn't picture the protagonist in my head- his personality, his whims, his lifestyle, nothing. All I knew was that he belonged to a crazy-rich family who made a fortune out of a brewery chain and that his father had a stroke, which put him in a vegetative for the rest of his life. Nothing else. Not even much about how he feels about that major event in his life, when he also discovers the Katerinsky bomb hidden inside him.
The main plot concerning the mindscan process felt like being disclosed way too soon and suddenly, without using gradual progression or appropriate plot timing to achieve the desired effect. It just fell flat there.
Got to admit, the plot had a lot of promise. Despite all the predictability and straightforward writing, it could have worked out better, if there was some more thought put into it.
Overall 3 stars.
October 12, 2024
Parte da alcune idee transumaniste e prova a immaginarne conseguenze e relative situazioni. Si dilunga un po' troppo in una sezione legal drama nella seconda metà, che diventa un veicolo per l'esposizione di un dibattito filosofico sulla natura della coscienza. Però nel complesso rimane un romanzo di fantascienza gradevole e senza dubbio stimolante. Lettura gemella al saggio divulgativo Artificial You, che infatti lo cita.
February 14, 2015
I've read several of Sawyer's books, and I've always enjoyed them. Some reviewers here don't like his prose, but I find it perfectly serviceable. Sawyer writes in a thriller, page-turner style; it's not fancy, it's not poetic, but it gets the job done. I even like the corny jokes.
Most of his books are basically novel-length philosophical thought experiments, which is especially the case with Mindscan. In this case, the thought experiment is this: what if there were an exact copy of your mind in another body? Would that other "you" be you? Sawyer's not a philosopher by training so he can be forgiven for not bringing up John Locke's work on personal identity, although I am impressed that more recent work by Daniel Dennett, David Chalmers, and John Searle are mentioned in the book. But this is mostly a book that Locke would love. More on the philosophical bits over at my blog: http://examinedworlds.blogspot.com/20...
As for the story, there's a lot of interesting stuff here, including a dramatic trial (somewhat reminiscent of the trial in the Star Trek: The Next Generation episode "The Measure of a Man"). The trial drags on a little bit toward the end (sometimes I wish the lawyers would get to the point!), but it does a good job of keeping the tension going and bringing up the issues while the rest of the story takes place. The main character, Jake, wasn't entirely likable (or at least one version of him wasn't), but I did like Karen a lot. Did I forget to mention the quantum entanglement? That's always fun for science fiction writers to wheel out to "explain" weird stuff. I'm not sure I liked the way the main story wrapped up, but the epilogue was fun.
Most of his books are basically novel-length philosophical thought experiments, which is especially the case with Mindscan. In this case, the thought experiment is this: what if there were an exact copy of your mind in another body? Would that other "you" be you? Sawyer's not a philosopher by training so he can be forgiven for not bringing up John Locke's work on personal identity, although I am impressed that more recent work by Daniel Dennett, David Chalmers, and John Searle are mentioned in the book. But this is mostly a book that Locke would love. More on the philosophical bits over at my blog: http://examinedworlds.blogspot.com/20...
As for the story, there's a lot of interesting stuff here, including a dramatic trial (somewhat reminiscent of the trial in the Star Trek: The Next Generation episode "The Measure of a Man"). The trial drags on a little bit toward the end (sometimes I wish the lawyers would get to the point!), but it does a good job of keeping the tension going and bringing up the issues while the rest of the story takes place. The main character, Jake, wasn't entirely likable (or at least one version of him wasn't), but I did like Karen a lot. Did I forget to mention the quantum entanglement? That's always fun for science fiction writers to wheel out to "explain" weird stuff. I'm not sure I liked the way the main story wrapped up, but the epilogue was fun.
December 7, 2017
A great read that really makes you question the meaning of personhood and consciousness!
December 30, 2021
2.5. Going feral because of the ending.
January 29, 2024
Canadian Robert J. Sawyer is one of the most readable sci-fi authors publishing today. The plots are clearly laid out the ideas are fantastic and original. This one is an excellent example of what he does best. Not once have I read anything from Sawyer that I would not recommend. As usual, with much of his work, however, this one is loaded with examples of his tendency to get really preachy about certain issues, and what’s even more unusual, is his slightly anti-American attitudes. I am also a proud Canadian, but cringe every time he takes an unnecessary shot at my good friends south of the border. I realize that he is simply pointing out generalizations of Canadians perhaps being arguably more liberal overall than in parts of the USA, and since the time this book was published (2005) things seem to have become even more divisive - this is also happening in Canada as well, as it is in most western countries. Interesting, however, that he rightly speculates, among other specific items, the turn of the Row vs Wade case on more than one occasion in this novel.
July 16, 2014
A book that I both loved and hated at the same time, "Mindscan" nonetheless makes for a very interesting read in terms of the questions it proposes, but where it truly falls flap is the characters and the actual delivery of the plot, making it a good read and only that.
It's rare for me to read a book and debate it at the same time, especially if there's an actual argument going on in the book. However that's exactly what I was doing as the court case was put forth against Karen by her son, Tyler. But in this case I was on the losing side and though I (sort of) understand what the argument of Karen and Jake were, I couldn't agree with them at all.
I hated Karen's character. There was no sympathy or understanding for her logic, which I felt was driven by greedy motives, ironic considering that that's what she ended up accusing her son of when he decided to sue her. Even the way the author attempted to make her seem like a calm, collected, and pleasant character that was rather like your typical reasonable human being, this only made me grit my teeth. Her reasoning about why she chose upload as a Mindscan and her discussions about an author's rights and her desire to keep on writing solidified by impression of her as a very shallow person who wanted to escape old age and keep her own work under her wing to keep making more money. Perhaps this was done on purpose, or this is only my viewing of her character, but either way this is what I took out of it and every time she appeared in the book I viewed her as an example of a problematic person.
Jake came across as naive and somewhat stupid, to be honest. It's understandable that him and Karen were born a large chunk of time apart (1960 for her vs 2001 for him), and that they grew up in different centuries, in that case, with a different mindset and different influences, but still, when Tyler mentioned what history topics he covered with his students and Jake's thoughts said he didn't know what WWII was, I lost it. It's different if one doesn't know what a Nebula or Hugo is, the way he also says when he looks at Karen's bookcases of awards. Heck I myself didn't know until several years ago, but for something as important and truly groundbreaking as WWII to be neglected? I find that too far fetched, even for a future generation. Jake's character was dumbed down much more than he should've been, and the way the original Jake on the moon behaved made it much harder for an even playing field, I think, considering that very few people would be rooting for someone who took hostages. Yet that was me, because the duo of Mindscan Jake and Mindscan Karen was infuriating in their closed mindedness, despite them telling, or TRYING to tell, the reader otherwise.
The jargon and lengthy scientific descriptions got a bit too complex to follow at times yet for that I blame myself as I'm not an expert and perhaps didn't devote as much focus and patience to those sections as I could've. That's why I think this book will be much more appreciated with several rereads, as well as much more understood.
I will though complain, finally, about the plotline, the court case which grew somewhat boring and repetitive quickly and didn't have the same spark as the summary led me to believe. But the most memorable criticism I had was for the ending, the logic (again) of Jake and Karen to , I remembered the model UN I attended in the spring and how the topic of the settlement of Mars came up. The delegate of Russia voiced his opinion by saying that humans have the right to move on once they, to put it into nicer terms, pollute whatever habitat they live in right now. In the case of the Mindscans though this was more of a belief that they were entitled and period, a logic which doesn't fly in our current society and aggravates me to see in the future, in what I viewed to be a rather degenerating society. It, again, showed what I viewed as shallow arrogance of people who used the term of "personal rights" in a way that meant they were entitled and could do what they wanted.
The book wasn't what I expected, definitely not as intense as I thought it would be, and the pacing was off I felt, too much time devoted to the first half rather than the second, and issues like Jake's discussion about testing on copies of the conscience being briefly glazed over in around 5 pages. I think it could've been better, definitely, but I still enjoyed the topic that was brought up as well as the way in which this argument was spun, with the whole concept of two copies and sending the original to the moon, etc. It's my own "fault" for not agreeing with many of the ideas the author put forth, and maybe with a few more rereads and some time my opinion will change, but as of right now my verdict is that this book had promise and a good premise that was swallowed up and overshadowed by arrogant characters and a plot line that could've been given more patience and tweaking.
It's rare for me to read a book and debate it at the same time, especially if there's an actual argument going on in the book. However that's exactly what I was doing as the court case was put forth against Karen by her son, Tyler. But in this case I was on the losing side and though I (sort of) understand what the argument of Karen and Jake were, I couldn't agree with them at all.
I hated Karen's character. There was no sympathy or understanding for her logic, which I felt was driven by greedy motives, ironic considering that that's what she ended up accusing her son of when he decided to sue her. Even the way the author attempted to make her seem like a calm, collected, and pleasant character that was rather like your typical reasonable human being, this only made me grit my teeth. Her reasoning about why she chose upload as a Mindscan and her discussions about an author's rights and her desire to keep on writing solidified by impression of her as a very shallow person who wanted to escape old age and keep her own work under her wing to keep making more money. Perhaps this was done on purpose, or this is only my viewing of her character, but either way this is what I took out of it and every time she appeared in the book I viewed her as an example of a problematic person.
Jake came across as naive and somewhat stupid, to be honest. It's understandable that him and Karen were born a large chunk of time apart (1960 for her vs 2001 for him), and that they grew up in different centuries, in that case, with a different mindset and different influences, but still, when Tyler mentioned what history topics he covered with his students and Jake's thoughts said he didn't know what WWII was, I lost it. It's different if one doesn't know what a Nebula or Hugo is, the way he also says when he looks at Karen's bookcases of awards. Heck I myself didn't know until several years ago, but for something as important and truly groundbreaking as WWII to be neglected? I find that too far fetched, even for a future generation. Jake's character was dumbed down much more than he should've been, and the way the original Jake on the moon behaved made it much harder for an even playing field, I think, considering that very few people would be rooting for someone who took hostages. Yet that was me, because the duo of Mindscan Jake and Mindscan Karen was infuriating in their closed mindedness, despite them telling, or TRYING to tell, the reader otherwise.
The jargon and lengthy scientific descriptions got a bit too complex to follow at times yet for that I blame myself as I'm not an expert and perhaps didn't devote as much focus and patience to those sections as I could've. That's why I think this book will be much more appreciated with several rereads, as well as much more understood.
I will though complain, finally, about the plotline, the court case which grew somewhat boring and repetitive quickly and didn't have the same spark as the summary led me to believe. But the most memorable criticism I had was for the ending, the logic (again) of Jake and Karen to , I remembered the model UN I attended in the spring and how the topic of the settlement of Mars came up. The delegate of Russia voiced his opinion by saying that humans have the right to move on once they, to put it into nicer terms, pollute whatever habitat they live in right now. In the case of the Mindscans though this was more of a belief that they were entitled and period, a logic which doesn't fly in our current society and aggravates me to see in the future, in what I viewed to be a rather degenerating society. It, again, showed what I viewed as shallow arrogance of people who used the term of "personal rights" in a way that meant they were entitled and could do what they wanted.
The book wasn't what I expected, definitely not as intense as I thought it would be, and the pacing was off I felt, too much time devoted to the first half rather than the second, and issues like Jake's discussion about testing on copies of the conscience being briefly glazed over in around 5 pages. I think it could've been better, definitely, but I still enjoyed the topic that was brought up as well as the way in which this argument was spun, with the whole concept of two copies and sending the original to the moon, etc. It's my own "fault" for not agreeing with many of the ideas the author put forth, and maybe with a few more rereads and some time my opinion will change, but as of right now my verdict is that this book had promise and a good premise that was swallowed up and overshadowed by arrogant characters and a plot line that could've been given more patience and tweaking.
December 28, 2021
A bit haunting, a liiiittle bit like science-y fanfiction at times (writing was very simple) but overall pretty good!
May 6, 2013
I haven't read much of Sawyer's work, but what I have has always been very well written, and this is no exception. I found myself giving up on it after only a few chapters though, because of what to me is fatal flaw in the central concept he actually raises himself but then proceeds to ignore.
The protagonist, who has a congenital condition which leaves him vulnerable to aneurysm, decides to take advantage of new technology which will scan his brain and enable his personality and memories to be installed into an artificial body; he signs his "rights of personhood" over to the new version of himself, and along with the other customers retires from society.
Clearly complications are going to arise down the road, but I couldn't get past the total absurdity: supposedly his motivation is terror of the inevitable brain bleed leaving him mentally damaged, as happened to his father. But of course this scheme does nothing to reduce the likelihood of this: he will still experience whatever happens to the original flesh and blood version of himself, and the fact that an android version will remain alive and unaffected has no bearing on how the rest of his own life will feel to him.
I simply didn't believe he would do it, and couldn't get any interest going in the happenings after that. A shame - I'll still be looking up more of his books, since as I say I really like the writing and the problem here is very specific to this plot.
The protagonist, who has a congenital condition which leaves him vulnerable to aneurysm, decides to take advantage of new technology which will scan his brain and enable his personality and memories to be installed into an artificial body; he signs his "rights of personhood" over to the new version of himself, and along with the other customers retires from society.
Clearly complications are going to arise down the road, but I couldn't get past the total absurdity: supposedly his motivation is terror of the inevitable brain bleed leaving him mentally damaged, as happened to his father. But of course this scheme does nothing to reduce the likelihood of this: he will still experience whatever happens to the original flesh and blood version of himself, and the fact that an android version will remain alive and unaffected has no bearing on how the rest of his own life will feel to him.
I simply didn't believe he would do it, and couldn't get any interest going in the happenings after that. A shame - I'll still be looking up more of his books, since as I say I really like the writing and the problem here is very specific to this plot.
April 21, 2016
I was pretty disappointed by this book. There have been much more interesting explorations of uploaded consciousness (see pretty much anything by Charles Stross or the Phoenix series by John C. Wright). This devolved very quickly into a courtroom trial that reminded me of the classic Star Trek TNG episode "The Measure of a Man", which aired in 1989. But without any of the charm! Written sci-fi can and should do much better than TV.
The ending was totally unsatisfying. And the "coda" was enraging. I'm only refraining from going down to one star because it's not a BAD book. It was just too simplistic for my tastes.
The ending was totally unsatisfying. And the "coda" was enraging. I'm only refraining from going down to one star because it's not a BAD book. It was just too simplistic for my tastes.
November 16, 2016
So, the first Sawyer I read, Flashforward, explored the concept of Destiny vs. Free Will. This explores the concept of Consciousness. Not a whole lot of action, some depressing ideas about the direction we're headed in the near future, characters more as role-players and less as authentic people... but still, a heck of a read, imo. I will keep reading Sawyer, as Ideas is what I read SF for.
January 22, 2012
“You know,” said Sugiyama, “there used to be a lot of debate about this, but it’s all evaporated in the last few years. The simplest interpretation turned out to be the correct one: the human mind is nothing but software running on the hardware we call the brain. Well, when your old computer hardware wears out, you don’t think twice about junking it, buying a new machine, and reloading all your old software. What we at Immortex do is the same: the software that is you starts running on a new, better hardware platform.”
“It’s still not the real you,” grumbled someone in front of me.
If he heard the comment, Sugiyama was undaunted. “Here’s an old poser from philosophy class. Your father gives you an ax. After a few years of good service, the wooden handle breaks, and so you replace it. Is it still the ax your father gave you? Sure, why not? But then a few years after that, the metal head breaks, and you replace that. Now nothing of the original is left—it wasn’t replaced all at once, but rather piece-by-piece. Is it still your father’s ax? Before you answer too quickly, consider the fact that the atoms that make up your own body are completely replaced every seven years: there’s not one bit of the you who was once a baby that still exists; it’s all been replaced. Are you still you? Of course you are: the body doesn’t matter, the physical instantiation doesn’t matter. What matters is the continuity of being: the ax traces its existence back to being a gift from your father; it is still that gift. And—” he underscored his next words with a pointing finger “—anyone who can remember having been you before is you now.”
***
Jake Sullivan’s brain is a clock counting down to zero: inevitably, like his now-vegetative father before him, Jake will succumb to a rare arteriovenous malformation called Katerinsky’s syndrome; the arteries and veins in his brain are tangled in such a way that they will one day burst—not quite killing him, but leaving him in a permanent catatonic state. In Toronto, in the year 2045, a lingering threat such as this is dealt with not through surgery, but with a Mindscan—a new and very expensive process that maps every connection in the brain, from basic memories, thoughts, and feelings to the ideas and intangibles that are so frequently identified as being human-only traits.
Though not yet a legal procedure in the United States, where abortion laws have been turned back to once again restrict women’s rights by redefining what is and isn’t considered the earliest state of recognized life (Roe v. Wade was overturned by Littler v. Carvey), the Mindscan process allows for a mind to be replicated and placed in a synthetic body double. Though not so perfectly human in design as to seamlessly blend into the populace, the synthetic bodies offer durability and adaptability, so that the mind and memories they host can, barring some tragic form of destruction, live forever. Meanwhile, the original blueprint—the flesh and blood human—is shuttled off to a paradise hospice on the far side of the moon called High Eden, where they will live out their remaining days as human in being, but no longer on Earth, where their Mindscan doppelganger has accepted control of the life the original had once led.
Robert J. Sawyer’s Mindscan follows two iterations of Jake: the original, organic model that opts to undergo the Mindscan process to extend his life beyond the few remaining years he imagines Katerinsky’s syndrome will give him; and his synthetic counterpart, a not-so-flesh-and-blood man with Jake’s mind, his memories, and his mannerisms, as he struggles to fit in to the life he remembers having led as a human.
It’s clear that Sawyer has a deep interest in what defines a human as “Human.” In an earlier book, The Terminal Experiment, he posited a world in which science discovered the existence of the soul as a wave of energy that abandons the body upon death. With Mindscan, he’s taken this a step further to ask: if we could duplicate our minds, would the second mind be the same? Could it ever be considered the same? Or is something intangible and impossible to define lost the very moment an organic life ends?
The question addressed in Mindscan is not what is it that moves on, rather what is it that’s left behind. Is a duplicated mind still a human mind? Because even though the memories have been replicated, they have not been transferred wholesale—meaning that the original model, the organic man that has copied his consciousness into a synthetic body to ensure that he will go on to experience a life beyond his first, will still have to face death and what, if anything, lies beyond. He won’t live forever—a version of himself that he will never truly know will in fact be the one who lives forever. And neither shall ever experience the ultimate ends of the other.
Instead of travelling down this philosophical rabbit hole (Does the soul exist? If so, does it depart with the original body? Or does it jump ship and move into the synthetic?), Sawyer looks almost exclusively at the legal ramifications to the Mindscan procedure, should something like this ever come to pass. Granted certain philosophical concepts enter into the proceedings, but the bulk of the synthetic Jake’s storyline revolves around a courtroom drama to answer the question of whether or not an individual’s rights to personhood can be transferred to something not deemed entirely human. And from that jumping off point, what is and isn’t human, and what defines the earliest and final forms of life. Meanwhile, in High Eden, the organic Jake has been unexpectedly cured of the syndrome that was expected to take his life, and has taken hostages in an effort to circumvent the contract he signed with Immortex, the company responsibiel for the Mindscan procedure, to coerce them into contacting his synthetic counterpart on the Earth below. Because the organic Jake has been cured, he sees High Eden not as a final destination, but as a prison he must escape, to resume the life he thought he had been forced to pre-emptively give up.
Mindscan is a lot of fun, but its philosophical and legal conceits mask what is in essence a very thin story. As intriguing as the court case is, it usurps control from the more personal stories that we were given only glimpses of—of watching Jake and his lover, Karen (also a Mindscan replicant) fumble their way through friends and family that may or may not accept them; of witnessing the public at large reacting to synthetic humans in their midst; of seeing, beyond the boundaries of the courtroom, actual public expressions of religious and political response to the growing reality of humanity duplicated and extended beyond boundaries that had existed since the dawn of time.
A similar problem of scope existed within The Terminal Experiment: Sawyer is full of grand ideas, but focuses in on them through a very narrow lens. These narratives feel as if they’re taking place on a world the size of an island, where sweeping change crosses a city and not a country or continent. Though I respect the desire to represent Jake and Karen’s synthetic lives through a more personal scope, the limited worldview actually hampers this in that they feel as two unique people amongst a very small populace, not two people on the cusp of change that might affect the entire planet.
Additionally, Sawyer struggles to build an effective futurescape by peppering small social and historical details throughout the story in somewhat clumsy ways. For example:
Deshawn pulled a golden disk out of his pocket. “What’s this, Karen?”
“A Reagan.”
“By which you mean a ten-dollar United States coin, correct? With the American eagle on one side and former president Ronald Reagan on the other, is that right?”
Similar instances occur with name-dropping possible future presidents, court cases that may or may not have happened, social change and historical events, etc. They don’t do any extensive damage to the story, but their obviousness and lack of subtle explanation does hinder the illusion of a genuine future world.
Robert J. Sawyer has some big ideas, and he is an engaging storyteller, but his narratives seem consistently affected by an overall lack of creative subtlety. One can’t help but feel that he wants to take these ideas further than he’s seemingly capable of doing, either mechanically in his writing or stylistically in his construction of character and narrative. It’s as if the ideas are there, but he’s afraid to cut the cord and let all the craziness out. That being said, Mindscan shows a great deal of intelligence—scientific and philosophical—and stylistic growth over his earlier works. Should he continue in this way, science fiction will be the beneficiary.
“It’s still not the real you,” grumbled someone in front of me.
If he heard the comment, Sugiyama was undaunted. “Here’s an old poser from philosophy class. Your father gives you an ax. After a few years of good service, the wooden handle breaks, and so you replace it. Is it still the ax your father gave you? Sure, why not? But then a few years after that, the metal head breaks, and you replace that. Now nothing of the original is left—it wasn’t replaced all at once, but rather piece-by-piece. Is it still your father’s ax? Before you answer too quickly, consider the fact that the atoms that make up your own body are completely replaced every seven years: there’s not one bit of the you who was once a baby that still exists; it’s all been replaced. Are you still you? Of course you are: the body doesn’t matter, the physical instantiation doesn’t matter. What matters is the continuity of being: the ax traces its existence back to being a gift from your father; it is still that gift. And—” he underscored his next words with a pointing finger “—anyone who can remember having been you before is you now.”
***
Jake Sullivan’s brain is a clock counting down to zero: inevitably, like his now-vegetative father before him, Jake will succumb to a rare arteriovenous malformation called Katerinsky’s syndrome; the arteries and veins in his brain are tangled in such a way that they will one day burst—not quite killing him, but leaving him in a permanent catatonic state. In Toronto, in the year 2045, a lingering threat such as this is dealt with not through surgery, but with a Mindscan—a new and very expensive process that maps every connection in the brain, from basic memories, thoughts, and feelings to the ideas and intangibles that are so frequently identified as being human-only traits.
Though not yet a legal procedure in the United States, where abortion laws have been turned back to once again restrict women’s rights by redefining what is and isn’t considered the earliest state of recognized life (Roe v. Wade was overturned by Littler v. Carvey), the Mindscan process allows for a mind to be replicated and placed in a synthetic body double. Though not so perfectly human in design as to seamlessly blend into the populace, the synthetic bodies offer durability and adaptability, so that the mind and memories they host can, barring some tragic form of destruction, live forever. Meanwhile, the original blueprint—the flesh and blood human—is shuttled off to a paradise hospice on the far side of the moon called High Eden, where they will live out their remaining days as human in being, but no longer on Earth, where their Mindscan doppelganger has accepted control of the life the original had once led.
Robert J. Sawyer’s Mindscan follows two iterations of Jake: the original, organic model that opts to undergo the Mindscan process to extend his life beyond the few remaining years he imagines Katerinsky’s syndrome will give him; and his synthetic counterpart, a not-so-flesh-and-blood man with Jake’s mind, his memories, and his mannerisms, as he struggles to fit in to the life he remembers having led as a human.
It’s clear that Sawyer has a deep interest in what defines a human as “Human.” In an earlier book, The Terminal Experiment, he posited a world in which science discovered the existence of the soul as a wave of energy that abandons the body upon death. With Mindscan, he’s taken this a step further to ask: if we could duplicate our minds, would the second mind be the same? Could it ever be considered the same? Or is something intangible and impossible to define lost the very moment an organic life ends?
The question addressed in Mindscan is not what is it that moves on, rather what is it that’s left behind. Is a duplicated mind still a human mind? Because even though the memories have been replicated, they have not been transferred wholesale—meaning that the original model, the organic man that has copied his consciousness into a synthetic body to ensure that he will go on to experience a life beyond his first, will still have to face death and what, if anything, lies beyond. He won’t live forever—a version of himself that he will never truly know will in fact be the one who lives forever. And neither shall ever experience the ultimate ends of the other.
Instead of travelling down this philosophical rabbit hole (Does the soul exist? If so, does it depart with the original body? Or does it jump ship and move into the synthetic?), Sawyer looks almost exclusively at the legal ramifications to the Mindscan procedure, should something like this ever come to pass. Granted certain philosophical concepts enter into the proceedings, but the bulk of the synthetic Jake’s storyline revolves around a courtroom drama to answer the question of whether or not an individual’s rights to personhood can be transferred to something not deemed entirely human. And from that jumping off point, what is and isn’t human, and what defines the earliest and final forms of life. Meanwhile, in High Eden, the organic Jake has been unexpectedly cured of the syndrome that was expected to take his life, and has taken hostages in an effort to circumvent the contract he signed with Immortex, the company responsibiel for the Mindscan procedure, to coerce them into contacting his synthetic counterpart on the Earth below. Because the organic Jake has been cured, he sees High Eden not as a final destination, but as a prison he must escape, to resume the life he thought he had been forced to pre-emptively give up.
Mindscan is a lot of fun, but its philosophical and legal conceits mask what is in essence a very thin story. As intriguing as the court case is, it usurps control from the more personal stories that we were given only glimpses of—of watching Jake and his lover, Karen (also a Mindscan replicant) fumble their way through friends and family that may or may not accept them; of witnessing the public at large reacting to synthetic humans in their midst; of seeing, beyond the boundaries of the courtroom, actual public expressions of religious and political response to the growing reality of humanity duplicated and extended beyond boundaries that had existed since the dawn of time.
A similar problem of scope existed within The Terminal Experiment: Sawyer is full of grand ideas, but focuses in on them through a very narrow lens. These narratives feel as if they’re taking place on a world the size of an island, where sweeping change crosses a city and not a country or continent. Though I respect the desire to represent Jake and Karen’s synthetic lives through a more personal scope, the limited worldview actually hampers this in that they feel as two unique people amongst a very small populace, not two people on the cusp of change that might affect the entire planet.
Additionally, Sawyer struggles to build an effective futurescape by peppering small social and historical details throughout the story in somewhat clumsy ways. For example:
Deshawn pulled a golden disk out of his pocket. “What’s this, Karen?”
“A Reagan.”
“By which you mean a ten-dollar United States coin, correct? With the American eagle on one side and former president Ronald Reagan on the other, is that right?”
Similar instances occur with name-dropping possible future presidents, court cases that may or may not have happened, social change and historical events, etc. They don’t do any extensive damage to the story, but their obviousness and lack of subtle explanation does hinder the illusion of a genuine future world.
Robert J. Sawyer has some big ideas, and he is an engaging storyteller, but his narratives seem consistently affected by an overall lack of creative subtlety. One can’t help but feel that he wants to take these ideas further than he’s seemingly capable of doing, either mechanically in his writing or stylistically in his construction of character and narrative. It’s as if the ideas are there, but he’s afraid to cut the cord and let all the craziness out. That being said, Mindscan shows a great deal of intelligence—scientific and philosophical—and stylistic growth over his earlier works. Should he continue in this way, science fiction will be the beneficiary.
August 12, 2023
3.5 stars. In Mindscan, Robert J. Sawyer explores the ability to copy one's consciousness into an artificial body as a way to prolong one's life. Unfortunately, plot-wise, the story builds towards a courtroom debate on the rights of these artificial clones. This debate is a little dry and is the main exploration of the idea, and is unfortunately followed by a rather unsatisfying ending. Although the discussion of the ideas and the conclusion are disappointing, the journey to them was engaging and made you want to keep reading.
In terms of the characters, it was a little frustrating how some of them at times seemed to be simply mouthpieces for the author's own strong opinions, and I didn't understand and found a little patronising how little Jake knew of history and culture that happened before he was little. He was born in 2001 in Canada and hasn't heard TV shows or celebrities from that time period, let alone major historical events? On the whole, these were minor characterisation issues but they did grate a little with me.
In terms of the characters, it was a little frustrating how some of them at times seemed to be simply mouthpieces for the author's own strong opinions, and I didn't understand and found a little patronising how little Jake knew of history and culture that happened before he was little. He was born in 2001 in Canada and hasn't heard TV shows or celebrities from that time period, let alone major historical events? On the whole, these were minor characterisation issues but they did grate a little with me.
February 19, 2017
A terminally ill man transfers his consciousness to an identical android who takes his place on earth to live forever. It is, once again, a probing into the uncontrollable desire of humans to prolong lives, to approach infinity, and all that in a way that mirrors reality. It is a conundrum whose ethical motives are questioned in Mindscan. Sawyer stands neutrally in an argument about the existence of a soul, and pitches for an adapted consciousness by weighing it against faith. But, that life is composed of man's failures, limitations and conflicts ultimately comes to haunt him and his not-so-farfetched proposal.
March 26, 2017
The basic idea of the story about people who decide to have their minds uploaded into fabricated durable bodies is good. The complications that happen were interesting. The story was told in a rather dry fashion and I didn't care for that. I felt that most of the book was pretty empty. The other Sawyer books I've read have been a bit heavy on philosophy, but this one seemed overly so. I did read it all, so I can't say that it was bad, but to me it was not good either.
October 27, 2019
Interesting concept, but the second half just wasn't convincing after the first half.
June 17, 2019
Una novela muy bien escrita que trae unas interesantes reflexiones sobre las implicaciones legales, éticas y sociales de la creación de androides y de la transferencia mental. Muy interesante esta novela de aventuras de la que he disfrutado un montón.
November 14, 2015
Sawyer siempre tiene historias interesantes que contar, y esta es la prueba. En este caso se trata de trasladarse a un probable (y más que posible) futuro cercano, más concretamente al año 2045, en el que una empresa canadiense, Inmortex, ha logrado lo que parecía imposible: copiar la conciencia de un ser humano para trasladarla a un cerebro de nanogel, que a su vez está acoplado a un cuerpo sintético, pero que posee toda la movilidad de un cuerpo normal. Esta tecnología, llamada mindscan, sólo está al alcance de unos pocos ricos, la gran mayoría de ellos personas muy mayores que están en sus últimos años de vida y que desean que su vida y legado continúe. Pero si se trata de una copia de tu mente, ¿qué pasa con el original? Inmortex lo tiene todo pensado. Ha creado un hotel de superlujo en la cara oculta de la Luna, fuera de cualquier jurisdicción, donde todas los "originales" pueden pasar sus últimos años como si de unas vacaciones se tratase, sabiendo que van a continuar "viviendo" a través de su otro "yo", y así lo han dejado todo preparado legalmente. Además, al tratarse de un lugar con microgravedad, su salud no se vería nada perjudicada, todo lo contrario.
Este es el escenario en el que se mueve nuestro protagonista, Jacob Sullivan, de 44 años de edad, el cuál sabe que puede morir en cualquier momento, ya que ha heredado una grave enfermedad vasovascular que afecta a su cerebro. Su padre ya la sufrió, pero no ha muerto, sino que vive como un vegetal desde hace años. Ante esta situación, Jacob opta por someterse al mindscan. Los primeros capítulos son muy buenos, porque en ellos asistimos a todo el proceso de copiado, pero no tanto desde una óptica hard, sino desde una visión más personal, en la que vamos sintiendo, junto con Jacob, a todas sus nuevas sensaciones y pensamientos.
La historia me ha gustado bastante, sobre todo la primera parte. Sawyer empieza muy fuerte, pero su novela va de más a menos, y la parte final es menos interesante. Lo mejor es asistir al debate moral y ético que se plantea. La copia, que contiene todas las vivencias hasta el mismo momento de la transferencia, ¿es un ser humano? Es decir, sabiendo que es una mente en el cuerpo de un androide, que no necesita dormir, ni comer, ni beber, ni respirar (es prácticamente inmortal), ¿estaríamos dispuestos a tratarlo como a un ser humano? A lo largo de la novela, se plantean argumentos a favor y en contra, y tú mismo te formas tu propia opinión. Ésto es lo que mejor sabe hacer Sawyer.
Sin duda, se trata de un libro entretenido e interesante.
Este es el escenario en el que se mueve nuestro protagonista, Jacob Sullivan, de 44 años de edad, el cuál sabe que puede morir en cualquier momento, ya que ha heredado una grave enfermedad vasovascular que afecta a su cerebro. Su padre ya la sufrió, pero no ha muerto, sino que vive como un vegetal desde hace años. Ante esta situación, Jacob opta por someterse al mindscan. Los primeros capítulos son muy buenos, porque en ellos asistimos a todo el proceso de copiado, pero no tanto desde una óptica hard, sino desde una visión más personal, en la que vamos sintiendo, junto con Jacob, a todas sus nuevas sensaciones y pensamientos.
La historia me ha gustado bastante, sobre todo la primera parte. Sawyer empieza muy fuerte, pero su novela va de más a menos, y la parte final es menos interesante. Lo mejor es asistir al debate moral y ético que se plantea. La copia, que contiene todas las vivencias hasta el mismo momento de la transferencia, ¿es un ser humano? Es decir, sabiendo que es una mente en el cuerpo de un androide, que no necesita dormir, ni comer, ni beber, ni respirar (es prácticamente inmortal), ¿estaríamos dispuestos a tratarlo como a un ser humano? A lo largo de la novela, se plantean argumentos a favor y en contra, y tú mismo te formas tu propia opinión. Ésto es lo que mejor sabe hacer Sawyer.
Sin duda, se trata de un libro entretenido e interesante.
March 15, 2018
Jake Sullivan est un homme entre deux âges. Il lui resterait plusieurs années à vivre en temps normal, mais il souffre d'une affection au cerveau qui menace de le plonger dans le coma à tout instant. Lorsque le processus du Mindscan fait son apparition, il est dans les premiers à s'inscrire pour le programme. L'idée en soi est assez simple: une copie de son cerveau est insérée dans une machine pouvant être updatée à l'infini, et l'original biologique de sa personne est envoyé dans un vaste complexe de vacances sur la lune jusqu'à sa mort. Les droits individuels sont transférés au Mindscan, qui prend la place de l'original biologique (désormais considéré comme un "shed skin") sur la Terre. Mais, évidemment, les contestations ne tardent pas à arriver, car peut-on réellement considérer un robot comme un humain ?
Mindscan relève, en mon sens, d'une des meilleures adaptations des conceptions religieuses et philosophiques sur ce qui nous rend humain, sur la conscience, dans un contexte de science-fiction. Si une machine possède vos moindres pensées, tous vos souvenirs, qu'est-ce qui vous distingue d'elle ? L'âme ? La capacité à vieillir ? Votre passé du fœtus ? Mindscan s'intéresse aussi à la conception des droits individuels: pourrait-on réellement choisir de les transférer à un objet que l'on considère être soi-même ? Quelle est la valeur d'un tel transfert à l'échelle de l'humanité ? Jusqu'où pourrait-on repousser les limites de ce qui est qualifié de vivant ? La copie robotique de notre conscience peut-elle devenir plus humaine que les humains ? C'est une lecture à la fois remplie de suspense et de réflexions qui suscitent le développement problématique de ces questions. Plusieurs pistes sont abordées pour tenter d'imaginer ce que serait un monde avec des intelligences artificielles, mais également dans une esthétique du post-humain fort intéressante et abordée sous plusieurs points de vue. Les événements auxquels le lecteur est confronté dans ce roman sont si ambivalents qu'il est difficile de se faire une idée claire et sans équivoque de notre conception de l'humanité, et c'est ce qui fait la force de ce roman: on apprend à se penser en tant qu'individu, on amorce la réflexion sur ce qui nous distingue des autres règnes du vivant, mais aucune définition à proprement parler ne nous est imposée.
Lu dans le cadre de mon défi lecture 2015 dans la catégorie "un livre que vous avez, mais que vous n'avez pas lu encore".
Mindscan relève, en mon sens, d'une des meilleures adaptations des conceptions religieuses et philosophiques sur ce qui nous rend humain, sur la conscience, dans un contexte de science-fiction. Si une machine possède vos moindres pensées, tous vos souvenirs, qu'est-ce qui vous distingue d'elle ? L'âme ? La capacité à vieillir ? Votre passé du fœtus ? Mindscan s'intéresse aussi à la conception des droits individuels: pourrait-on réellement choisir de les transférer à un objet que l'on considère être soi-même ? Quelle est la valeur d'un tel transfert à l'échelle de l'humanité ? Jusqu'où pourrait-on repousser les limites de ce qui est qualifié de vivant ? La copie robotique de notre conscience peut-elle devenir plus humaine que les humains ? C'est une lecture à la fois remplie de suspense et de réflexions qui suscitent le développement problématique de ces questions. Plusieurs pistes sont abordées pour tenter d'imaginer ce que serait un monde avec des intelligences artificielles, mais également dans une esthétique du post-humain fort intéressante et abordée sous plusieurs points de vue. Les événements auxquels le lecteur est confronté dans ce roman sont si ambivalents qu'il est difficile de se faire une idée claire et sans équivoque de notre conception de l'humanité, et c'est ce qui fait la force de ce roman: on apprend à se penser en tant qu'individu, on amorce la réflexion sur ce qui nous distingue des autres règnes du vivant, mais aucune définition à proprement parler ne nous est imposée.
Lu dans le cadre de mon défi lecture 2015 dans la catégorie "un livre que vous avez, mais que vous n'avez pas lu encore".
June 2, 2008
I've read several of Robert Sawyer's SF novels, and they have all been consistently entertaining and thought-provoking. This novel is set in 2045, at a time when it has become possible to scan and store one's brain into a new, virtually indestructable android body.
Sawyer thoroughly explores the social and scientific implications of this development, following two characters: a novelist facing the physical frustrations of old age and a man in his late 30s who is genetically prone to strokes. These two characters meet and eventually fall in love, leading to complications in their respective familial and professional lives.
The novel is less a romance, however, than an exploration of the ideas behind such concepts as consciousness, retirement, personality, and the soul. Sawyer's plot mechanisms do become a bit formulaic near the climax of the novel, where the storyline is divided between a court proceeding on inheritance rights and a hostage crisis on the moon (where "retired" physical bodies are sent to die); however, the novel is so packed with fascinating ideas that I found the contrivances of the plot only mildly annoying.
The courtroom debates on the nature of individuality may remind Star Trek fans of similar discussions involving Lt. Data, but Sawyer, like many classic SF writers, grounds his story in plausible scientific developments and theories. While engaging you with the fate of his characters, Sawyer also delivers a compelling overview of consciousness theory (he even includes a bibliography at the end of the book).
This is a novel of ideas more than characters, but that shouldn't diminish one's enjoyment of the story. This is perfect summer fare for readers who enjoy some intellectual stimulation with their potboilers.
Sawyer thoroughly explores the social and scientific implications of this development, following two characters: a novelist facing the physical frustrations of old age and a man in his late 30s who is genetically prone to strokes. These two characters meet and eventually fall in love, leading to complications in their respective familial and professional lives.
The novel is less a romance, however, than an exploration of the ideas behind such concepts as consciousness, retirement, personality, and the soul. Sawyer's plot mechanisms do become a bit formulaic near the climax of the novel, where the storyline is divided between a court proceeding on inheritance rights and a hostage crisis on the moon (where "retired" physical bodies are sent to die); however, the novel is so packed with fascinating ideas that I found the contrivances of the plot only mildly annoying.
The courtroom debates on the nature of individuality may remind Star Trek fans of similar discussions involving Lt. Data, but Sawyer, like many classic SF writers, grounds his story in plausible scientific developments and theories. While engaging you with the fate of his characters, Sawyer also delivers a compelling overview of consciousness theory (he even includes a bibliography at the end of the book).
This is a novel of ideas more than characters, but that shouldn't diminish one's enjoyment of the story. This is perfect summer fare for readers who enjoy some intellectual stimulation with their potboilers.
August 30, 2007
Jake Sullivan has a hereditary, potentially terminal disease. He lives his life in a state of utmost care so as not to trigger it, and knows that he, like his father, will probably die a young man. So when he hears about a new process, called mindscanning, he is intrigued. Immortex claims to be able to make a scan of your brain and duplicate your mind in an artificial body. The new body, the new you, will become the primary you, while the old you will live out the rest of your days in a luxury resort on the moon.
As a mindscan, Jake can finally face a future without the fear of imminent death. And he finds love with another mindscan, Karen.
But things begin to get complicated when Karen’s son sues for his inheritance, claiming that the mindscan is not his mother, his mother is actually dead, and he and his children are entitled to inherit. Now, the future of mindscans’ rights is on the line, as the question is raised: what does it mean to be a human being? To be an individual? What is it that makes us who we are?
This is an interesting book that raises interesting questions, but I felt like there was something lacking. It wasn’t as strong as I wanted it to be, and as the second half of the book focuses almost entirely on the trial, it felt like a science fiction version of Jodi Picoult. Interesting, and though-provoking, but I felt that it didn’t go as far as it might have.
As a mindscan, Jake can finally face a future without the fear of imminent death. And he finds love with another mindscan, Karen.
But things begin to get complicated when Karen’s son sues for his inheritance, claiming that the mindscan is not his mother, his mother is actually dead, and he and his children are entitled to inherit. Now, the future of mindscans’ rights is on the line, as the question is raised: what does it mean to be a human being? To be an individual? What is it that makes us who we are?
This is an interesting book that raises interesting questions, but I felt like there was something lacking. It wasn’t as strong as I wanted it to be, and as the second half of the book focuses almost entirely on the trial, it felt like a science fiction version of Jodi Picoult. Interesting, and though-provoking, but I felt that it didn’t go as far as it might have.
November 21, 2008
This one is a favorite of mine because it includes a fictional version of my publisher, Brian Hades. Rob portrays an interesting legal take on the immortality-via-download issue in it. His sympathies lie with the mindscan versions of the protagonists, but he portrays the shed flesh versions well enough the skeptical can sympathize with them. I am not sure, myself, that we ought to perpetuate our egos in ageless machinery. Or, rather, that we would still be interested in human things if we take this step. Which might be an imporvement by some standards or a nightmare.
July 23, 2008
What if you could exchange your faulty body for one that would never get sick, or age? You could keep all your memories, thoughts, etc. But you would have to send your old body to live out the rest of it's natural life in a nursing home on the dark side of the moon. What if a cure was then found for the terminal disease you had, and the old body wanted to come back?
Lots of questions to think about.
Lots of questions to think about.
December 28, 2014
This is the second Robert J. Sawyer book I've read and I have not figured out if I like his writing so much as I like the ideas he's writing about. The main concept in this book, mindscanning, is really something to wrap my mind around especially as I am a firm believer in my soul but having what I consider to be true or real challenged certainly made this book entertaining. I think I'll have a gander at some of his other novels that are available in my local library.
February 25, 2023
I was hoping for a thought provoking novel but I found the philosophical issues to be too predictable. It was also painfully Canadian but not in a humourous self-deprecating manner... More like an incredibly obnoxious "Hey, we're multicultural forward-thinking liberals! And we also built the Canadarm. DID I MENTION THAT WE'RE MULTICULTURAL?!" kind of way.
March 28, 2023
Spring Break of last year (2022) was the focal point of a dreadful reading drought, so when it came time for this year's vacation, I was careful to pack books that I knew would be highly engaging yet lightweight enough for travelling. Mindscan, my only unread Sawyer (who's one of my favorite authors) on hand, fit the bill perfectly. I'm happy to say that he did not disappoint and that Mindscan not only provided great bang for its buck (I got it in great condition at a used bookstore last summer when visiting a zoo southwest), but it propelled me through a decent enough reading spurt. Good thing, too, since I picked up 24 books on vacation. Sometimes I think I might need an intervention... but never enough to let my family actually carry it out.
This book opens with a teenage boy, our main character, watching his dad turn into a vegetable during an argument due to a blood vessel anomaly that he passed down to our main character. Three decades later and he's a half-hearted playboy attending a presentation by a company creating synthetic copies of their clients - mostly elderly people on the last limbs of their life - that they copy their clients' brains into, cheating death. The 'originals' are then sent to the Moonhaven to live out their lives while their minds go about their eternal business on Earth. Our main character, plus a famous writer named Karen, get the treatment and are sent up to the Moon while their synthetic dopplegangers (or are they just as good as the originals?) carry out their lives on Earth. What could go wrong? Maybe our main character could hear that his faulty blood vessels could be cured and he could live for at least five more decades... while being unable to leave the moon due to his artificial copy running amok on Earth.
It's a great moral quandary, but first, why the use of the word amok? Because . All in all, the plot is pretty well constructed, with characters weaving in and out of different plot strings in just the precise way to make the story work. It's not contrived; it's good storytelling.
I know that you need more than a tight plot to make a good novel; you need to tell it in a cool way. Thankfully, Sawyer does. Mindscan is told from a first-person perspective which flip flops between the organic MC and the synthetic MC. The world also feels real and lived in. There are lots of pop culture references and celebrity quotes, which might sound tacky, but when I'm sent down Google rabbit holes to see which lines Sawyer invented and which exist in the real world, you know he's doing something right. The pop culture crap also makes the book relatable without feeling cheap like, say, Ready Player One. This world may feel relatable in other ways, such as the speculated overturning of Roe v. Wade... coming from 2023, that one made me chortle. There are a lot of Canadian liberal political views in here, as most of Sawyer's work has, but it's less... shallow... and more nuanced due to the courtroom battles later in book. In fact, Sawyer's pension for is finally helpful in terms of the narrative. Miracles never cease.
That being said, this isn't the most brilliant book you'll ever read. The climax where ends pretty weakly. Apparently his . Also, the action is just jarringly framed. This scene probably brought the book down half a point for me. There's also the whole extra-synthetic-copy-quantum-entanglement thing which, while it does have a payoff, didn't seem very necessary and was just a hint out of place. Other people will have issue with Sawyer's self insert character in Karen and some of his soap opera-esque tropes, but I mostly read Sawyer for the Crichton/Clarke-soap opera, so I'm here for it all.
The quantum entanglement subplot's payoff is worth documenting. It takes place . This is called the sense-of-wonder, and it's the reason I read science fiction. Superb little bit here.
My seventh Sawyer novel makes me just as must of a happy customer as I usually am, and I don't hesitate to rate this as an 8.5/10. I'm even tempted to make it a 9! But it probably won't hold up that well... but... you never know! I doubt that Sawyer will be to everyone's taste but I find him comforting yet stimulating, and I encourage everyone reading this to at least pick up a single Sawyer, be it this one or Factoring Humanity or (his best that I've read) Frameshift. There's a reason he's one of my favorites, and why I didn't blink before picking up his early novel Far-Seer during my spring break book haul. Here's to many more Sawyers, and many more prosperous reviews.
This book opens with a teenage boy, our main character, watching his dad turn into a vegetable during an argument due to a blood vessel anomaly that he passed down to our main character. Three decades later and he's a half-hearted playboy attending a presentation by a company creating synthetic copies of their clients - mostly elderly people on the last limbs of their life - that they copy their clients' brains into, cheating death. The 'originals' are then sent to the Moonhaven to live out their lives while their minds go about their eternal business on Earth. Our main character, plus a famous writer named Karen, get the treatment and are sent up to the Moon while their synthetic dopplegangers (or are they just as good as the originals?) carry out their lives on Earth. What could go wrong? Maybe our main character could hear that his faulty blood vessels could be cured and he could live for at least five more decades... while being unable to leave the moon due to his artificial copy running amok on Earth.
It's a great moral quandary, but first, why the use of the word amok? Because . All in all, the plot is pretty well constructed, with characters weaving in and out of different plot strings in just the precise way to make the story work. It's not contrived; it's good storytelling.
I know that you need more than a tight plot to make a good novel; you need to tell it in a cool way. Thankfully, Sawyer does. Mindscan is told from a first-person perspective which flip flops between the organic MC and the synthetic MC. The world also feels real and lived in. There are lots of pop culture references and celebrity quotes, which might sound tacky, but when I'm sent down Google rabbit holes to see which lines Sawyer invented and which exist in the real world, you know he's doing something right. The pop culture crap also makes the book relatable without feeling cheap like, say, Ready Player One. This world may feel relatable in other ways, such as the speculated overturning of Roe v. Wade... coming from 2023, that one made me chortle. There are a lot of Canadian liberal political views in here, as most of Sawyer's work has, but it's less... shallow... and more nuanced due to the courtroom battles later in book. In fact, Sawyer's pension for is finally helpful in terms of the narrative. Miracles never cease.
That being said, this isn't the most brilliant book you'll ever read. The climax where ends pretty weakly. Apparently his . Also, the action is just jarringly framed. This scene probably brought the book down half a point for me. There's also the whole extra-synthetic-copy-quantum-entanglement thing which, while it does have a payoff, didn't seem very necessary and was just a hint out of place. Other people will have issue with Sawyer's self insert character in Karen and some of his soap opera-esque tropes, but I mostly read Sawyer for the Crichton/Clarke-soap opera, so I'm here for it all.
The quantum entanglement subplot's payoff is worth documenting. It takes place . This is called the sense-of-wonder, and it's the reason I read science fiction. Superb little bit here.
My seventh Sawyer novel makes me just as must of a happy customer as I usually am, and I don't hesitate to rate this as an 8.5/10. I'm even tempted to make it a 9! But it probably won't hold up that well... but... you never know! I doubt that Sawyer will be to everyone's taste but I find him comforting yet stimulating, and I encourage everyone reading this to at least pick up a single Sawyer, be it this one or Factoring Humanity or (his best that I've read) Frameshift. There's a reason he's one of my favorites, and why I didn't blink before picking up his early novel Far-Seer during my spring break book haul. Here's to many more Sawyers, and many more prosperous reviews.
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