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14 of 16 people found the following review helpful:
4.0 out of 5 stars
A True Tragedy of the Future, April 7, 2001
This review is from: Genesis (Mass Market Paperback)
In the far future, humans only inhabit the stars as personality simulations, subroutines in vast, powerful artificial intelligencies that form a "galactic brain". One such uploaded mind is Christian Brannock. As an engineer, he helped build the first great works in space and was one of the first to work in intimate symbiosis with the AIs who, rather than man, colonized the stars. On Earth, the reigning intelligence is Gaia, a computer that rules human affairs and also posseses, in its libraries, presevered human minds it uses to ruin elaborate simulations of real and alternate histories.
Millions of years pass in this novel's almost Stapledonian sweep, and the galactic brain becomes concerned about the seeming obsession of Gaia with Earth history, her secretiveness, and her unresponsiveness to their proposal on whether the now geologically ancient Earth should be saved from a bloated sun, a test run for greater galactic engineering to come. A version of the Brannock mind is copied and sent on his way to Earth.
There he, and a slightly different copy, attempt to figure out what Gaia's up to. One version, inhabiting a robot's body, explores the dying Earth. The other engages in talk and travel with Lucinda Ashcroft, a personality inhabiting Gaia.
This novel puts together, in a surprisingly successful way, just about all the strains of Anderson's previous works from the epic sweep of Tau Zero (SF Collector's Edition) (Gollancz SF collector's edition)to his heroic fantasy to the uploaded minds of some of his most recent science fiction to alternate histories and time travel. The novel's sense of true tragedy is not new to Anderson, but, as the title hints, there is an unexpected theological flavor that is rare, but not unknown, in his work.
This novel should not only satisfy any fan of Anderson's but also serve as a good introduction to the rest of his work.
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1 of 1 people found the following review helpful:
4.0 out of 5 stars
Enjoyable speculation, January 15, 2006
This review is from: Genesis (Mass Market Paperback)
This is really a set of short stories, loosely connected byt a story line spanning billions of years. The first vignette shows Christian Brannock exploring the surface of Mercury. The environment is far too harsh for human survival, even with ordinary kinds of environmental support, so Brannock explores as part of a man/metal team with Gadget, a robot with intelligence of its own. His close, even warm relationship with silicon intelligence makes him a unique candidate for the greatest exploration of all - the stars. Even if the distance is too great for the human body to traverse, Brannock's mind is recorded in a robot explorer. As much of a man as ever could reach the stars does.
After a winding and relatively peaceful set of interludes, Brannock, or something like him, returns to Earth. Its planetary intelligence has been acting oddly, in the eyes of the machine minds of nearby stars. The machine intelligence that includes Brannock is sent to investigate. After a billion years or more, they find the one thing they never expected to see ...
... but find out for yourself. This is as good as SF gets: intelligent, based on sound science, and built around characters that I can empathize with. There's nothing spectacular here, just good, thoughtful writing.
//wiredweird
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2 of 3 people found the following review helpful:
4.0 out of 5 stars
emotional view, August 12, 2001
This review is from: Genesis (Mass Market Paperback)
This book deals with the future assimilation of humans into electronic existance ,much like the famed "Tommorow and tommorow" of Charles Sheffield. True ,it's lingering taste is more emotional ,as Gaia trys to give the human-race the choise to live ,because she is more human then all other nodes in the galactic-brain ,but in the science-fictional aspect I feel "T&T" has been more wild ,maybe more ingenius. I've been more dumb-founded by the sheer influence of Drake Merlin on the universe ,Than touched with the understanding of Gaia's motives. Maybe it's only me ,though I'm not a "only hard" sci-fi man ,but I believe "T&T" and "Genesis" investigate the same sector of the future ,and although "Genesis" is an excellent book - "T&T" is better. Still I recommend "Genesis" it as a great read.
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