Mindscan (Hardcover)

by Robert J. Sawyer (Author) "There were perhaps a hundred people in the ballroom of Toronto's Fairmont Royal York Hotel, and at least half of them had only a short..." (more)
Key Phrases: piton gun, synthetic body, artificial body, Karen Bessarian, High Eden, Brian Hades (more...)

Editorial Reviews

From Booklist
Jake Sullivan watched his father, suffering from a rare condition, collapse and linger in a vegetative state, and he's incredibly paranoid because he inherited that condition. When mindscanning technology becomes available, he has himself scanned, which involves dispatching his biological body to the moon and assuming an android body. In possession of everything the biological Jake Sullivan had on Earth, android Jake finds love with Karen, who has also been mindscanned. Meanwhile, biological Jake discovers there is finally another, brand-new cure for his condition. Moreover, Karen's son sues her, declaring that his mother is dead, and android Karen has no right to deprive him of his considerable inheritance. Biological Jake, unable to leave the moon because of the contract he signed, becomes steadily more unstable, until finally, in a fit of paranoia, he takes hostages. Sawyer's treatment of identity issues--of what copying consciousness may mean and how consciousness is defined--finds expression in a good story that is a new meditation on an old sf theme, the meaning of being human. Regina Schroeder
Copyright © American Library Association. All rights reserved

Review
Award-winning Sawyer takes a break from his latest trilogy (Humans, 2003, etc.) with a slow disquisition on consciousness and identity pretending to be an SF novel of ideas. When his father suffers a brain hemorrhage that leaves him in a permanent vegetative state, Jake Sullivan, heir a Canadian brewery fortune, discovers he has the same rare, hereditary disease. Fear of an early death inspires him, at age 40, to undergo a Mindscan, an expensive but apparently fool-proof technique in which the entire brain is scanned and downloaded into a technologically superior mechanical body that doesn't breathe, eat, sleep or sweat and is theoretically immortal. The result? Two Jake Sullivans. In the first of many improbabilities, the flesh-and-blood Jake must make room for his replacement by renouncing all ties to his earthly existence and living out the rest of his days in a deluxe retirement village on the dark side of the moon, from whence he cannot return. En route to his new digs, Jake meets the 85-year-old, thrice-married Karen Bessarian, enormously wealthy best-selling author of a Harry Potter-like fantasy series. Karen makes a younger Mindscan version of herself to preserve her royalties and, perhaps, continue the series. A friendship develops between the mortals on the moon and the immortals: the new and improved Jake and Karen discover their bodies can have sex without fear of disease or pregnancy. Then Sawyer complicates the plot by having the mortal Jake being cured for his illness, but still a prisoner on the moon. The mortal Karen dies, setting off a tedious, histrionic courtroom battle over whether or not the immortal Karen is a person. On top of this, the immortal Jake starts hearing voices that turn out to be thoughts from other Jakes: Could the Mindscan scientists have made unauthorized copies of his brain and be using them for nasty purposes? Lots of prattle about science, philosophical issues and the ironies of contemporary pop culture. For die-hard fans only. (Kirkus Reviews)

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Product Details

• Hardcover: 304 pages
• Publisher: Tor Books; 1st edition (March 10, 2005)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0765311070
• ISBN-13: 978-0765311078
• Product Dimensions: 8.7 x 5.9 x 1.2 inches
• Shipping Weight: 15.8 ounces
• Average Customer Review: 3.8 out of 5 stars See all reviews (32 customer reviews)
• Amazon.com Sales Rank: #836,313 in Books (See Bestsellers in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

7 of 7 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars A fascinating piece of speculative Sci-Fi, April 11, 2005

By	Jeffrey J. Lyons (Pembroke, NH United States) - See all my reviews (REAL NAME)

Robert J. Sawyer's "Mindscan" tackles the human dream of immortality with a twist. Think for a moment what you would do if you could upload your mind, your very being, into a durable, android-like body. In Sawyer's futuristic world, the Immortex Company allows the wealthy to do that. However, your human body is shipped to the dark side of the moon to live out your natural life in luxury. When you die, your uploaded self can live on for an eternity back on earth.

Immortex doesn't bother with informing the uploaded copy that the real one has died. But due to a bizarre coincidence, the death of prominent writer Karen Bessarian (who uploaded her mind due to old age)is reported to her flesh and blood son, who didn't particular care for her uploaded form. He forces the matter into Probate Court for the reading of the will. The uploaded Karen says, "No way, I'm still alive" and the matter becomes what amounts to the trial of the 21st Century.

In the meantime Jake Sullivan uploads his mind because he had a rare, incurable disease. Wouldn't you know it? They find a cure and he demands to go back to Earth and continue his life but Immortex puts the kibosh on that idea.

Sawyer writes great Science Fiction and presents it in such a way that it sounds almost plausible. His characters are real and believable. His plots move along smoothly and are easy to read. The trial scene is gripping. It's no wonder that he has won Hugo's and Aurora's and has been nominated for Nebulas. "Mindscan," which is actually an embellished version of his Analog short story "Shed Skin," fits right into the award-winning category. Highly recommended.

18 of 22 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Copying consciousness courts confusion, April 17, 2005

By	Stephen A. Haines (Ottawa, Ontario Canada) - See all my reviews (TOP 100 REVIEWER)    (REAL NAME)

This book shows why Robert Sawyer is today's pre-eminent science fiction writer. Always keeping speculation in tight rein, he nevertheless exhibits a wide-ranging imagination. His stories are always a good read, yet filled with information. He understands the human condition, displaying that insight with a variety of characters. Even the protagonist-narrator isn't entirely predictable. Others, who seem understandable [but never a stereotype!], spring surprises. He builds the episodes of this story with finesse - no small feat given the characters are 400 thousand kilometres apart.

Jake Sullivan, scion of a Toronto brewery fortune, has a problem. The blood vessels in his brain might unexpectedly explode. It happened to his father during a family fight. The result isn't terminal. It leaves the victim in a vegetative state. Jake decides to take advantage of a new technology to bypass the threat. He'll have his mind scanned and his consciouness copied into an almost indestructible artificial body. Immortality, that quest so long followed by fragile humanity, may be imminent. His "shed skin", the original, flawed body, will be shipped to the far side of the Moon to live luxuriously until "natural causes" prevail. The relocation abandons a lonely dog, a confused girlfriend and a concerned mother.

As might be expected, a threat looms. Give a lawyer an opening and another courtroom drama enfolds. What says the law on two minds of one person? Sawyer has done courtroom scenes before in "Illegal Alien". He surpasses himself with this one as the concepts of consciousness are thoroughly explored by the contending sides. Sawyer is at his best in having characters explain philosophical or scientific stances. Thankfully, in this examination of determining who we are, Sawyer manages to shift the issue of the "soul" out of the hands of the clergy. His defender of that concept would seem inappropriate, but the character expresses the idea fervently.

The resolution of these issues is, amazingly, left for the reader. Sawyer has always avoided absolutes. He has his passions - the Toronto Blue Jays and enjoying Fate's gift of being Canadian, among others. While those are important and worthy of admiration and satisfaction, the issue of humanity in general looms significantly in his work. He is outstanding in dealing with controversies in a balanced narrative. And the story line itself will keep you reading to the end. A true "page-turner". [stephen a. haines - Ottawa, Canada]

9 of 11 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Exploring existential entanglements , August 17, 2005

By	Friederike Knabe (Ottawa, Ontario Canada) - See all my reviews (TOP 1000 REVIEWER)    (REAL NAME)

Imagine a future where you don't need sleep, where you don't lose any part of your memory, your body doesn't age and you are never prone to any disease. You keep all your mental and intellectual capacities, even your emotional ones. You can still identify your "self". All this is achieved by having your mind "uploaded" into a perfect body of chosen age and live happily ever after. You have become a Mindscan. Not, so fast, though! What about your consciousness, your "soul"? Can it really be copied? And what is going to happen to the original biological self? What about the reactions of family and friends; how do they take this technological wonderwork?

What drives people to take this extreme step? The two protagonists make this choice for different reasons. Karen Bessarian, a highly successful writer in her eighties, doesn't accept the fast approaching end of her life. She has more books to write and life to enjoy, so she chooses a younger body. Jake, the rich forty-something heir to a Canadian brewery, carries his father's genetic marker for a brain defect. The older Sullivan collapsed into a vegetative state after a row between father and son when Jake was 17. Jake had put his life on hold to avoid stress and other triggers for brain damage. Meeting at a sales event for the Mindscan technology, Karen and Jake develop their relationship in different ways - as biological selves and as mind "instantiations" with new perfect bodies.

Once the "uploads" have passed their first examinations they are let loose on their family and community with varying results. Tongue in cheek, Sawyer cannot resist some small political stabs contrasting US society at the time [as projected from present conditions] with an increasingly broadminded and left-leaning Canadian one. Jake doesn't fare well as an uploaded new self. His mother refuses to accept his new identity, his love doesn't even look at him. Sawyer presents a realistic scenario for his exploration of the reaction of the "loved ones" resulting in most of the story playing out in and around a US court room. Karen's son, expecting a rich inheritance, challenges the "thing" that has taken over from her. "I don't care whether copied consciousnesses are in fact persons in their own right. The issue is whether they are the same person as the original." His lawyer, of course, argues that "it" is not and brings various scientists as witnesses. The other side also has ample expertise on its side and a lot riding on success.

Sawyer has created an intriguing speculative fiction world some 40 years hence where mind scans are possible. In his version of 2045, the technology for cloning humans has not been mastered. Instead, the brain is copied - completely and accurately - in a moment of "quantal entanglement" of the biological brain. The process creates a quantum fog that congeals into one artificial replacement brain. The new "you" takes over from that point. To avoid the problems of sudden doubles or clones, the original, now a "shed skin", has to disappear. Conveniently, lunar explorations have advanced so that a retirement home can provide for the cast-offs - most of whom are old and expect to die within a short span of time anyway. They are mostly rich and content with their lot. Given the costs involved in the whole process, overcrowding is not a problem and any luxury desired can be provided. However, Jake is not finished with earth life yet...

The subject of consciousness and individual self is not a new one for Sawyer. This time, though, he has expanded the complexities beyond what he did, for example, in Factoring Humanity. Using the present-day hot debates around new findings in brain research and the challenges they pose to our understanding of human individuality and functioning into the near future, he confronts our perceptions and belief systems. This opens a new dimension for the philosophical/scientific debate on human consciousness and identity. Professionals as well as interested laypersons grapple with the dividing line between neuron pathways as a result of biochemical reactions and brain functions as expression of thought, argument or emotion, the "soul".

Mindscan, while deeply philosophical, is an absorbing, well written and highly enjoyable story. Current scientific research and its impact on our future societies are front and centre of this novel, yet, it doesn't overwhelm the reader and moves easily along with the narrative's flow. Sawyer has created a complex and very human tale of individuals thriving for their own, unique, personally fulfilling lives. Star Trek: TNG's Data, who always thrives to become more human, would find good role models in the android versions of Karen and Jake.
[Friederike Knabe]