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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)
4.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (4 customer reviews)

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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


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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 death: 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 flesh: 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 &mdash a feast for the mind and the heart.
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2 of 2 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars Copying consciousness courts confusion, Jan 18 2007
By Stephen A. Haines (Ottawa, Ontario Canada) - See all my reviews
(TOP 10 REVIEWER)    (REAL NAME)   
This review is from: Mindscan (Mass Market Paperback)
"Science fiction", once about aliens and high-tech weapons or interstellar travel, is now about real people in plausible situations. The "fiction" is no different than "mainstream" writing and the science is just down the road in time. This book shows why Robert J. 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 well, displaying that insight with a variety of characters. Even the protagonist-narrator isn't entirely predictable. Others, who seem understandable [but are never a stereotype!], spring surprises. Sawyer 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 consciousness copied into an almost indestructible artificial body. Immortality, that quest so long engaged in by a 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 leaves behind a lonely dog, a confused girl friend and a concerned mother.

As might be expected, a new threat emerges. Give a lawyer an opening and yet another courtroom drama enfolds. What says the law on two minds of one person? Which is the "person", the "mind" or the body? Where Canadian and United States laws differ, which predominates when one person is two? 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. He even parodies himself in "Mindscan" by creating an author widely known and applauded for her "DinoWorld" books - a transparent reference to Sawyer's own Quintaglio series. While these traits 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]
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5.0 out of 5 stars Exploring existential entanglements, Jan 17 2007
By Friederike Knabe (Ottawa, Ontario Canada) - See all my reviews
(TOP 50 REVIEWER)    (REAL NAME)   
This review is from: Mindscan (Mass Market Paperback)
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]
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3.0 out of 5 stars A Review of "Mindscan", Aug 25 2006
By Jody Cairns "Steel White Table" (NB, Canada) - See all my reviews
(TOP 1000 REVIEWER)   
This review is from: Mindscan (Mass Market Paperback)
This science-fiction novel is about people who have their consciousness copied and transferred into artificial brains, and then artificial bodies to complete the package, which makes them essentially immortal. There are then two copies of the person: the flesh and blood version, and the artificial one, but both with the same thoughts and consciousness. The story brings up lots of interesting issues: what is consciousness, what makes someone human, when is life defined the author tackles interesting questions and provides succinct answers to some; however, the story suffers from the heavy issues: this is a quick read, like all of Sawyer's stories; it's compelling, making you want to see how it will conclude, but it's TOO quick. Sawyer tries to give the characters depth, but his attempt falls short due to scientific mumbo-jumbo or cliches. As I've mentioned in other reviews of his books, his writing gets annoying with pop culture references and advertisements for Toyota or whatever company he APPEARS to be deliberately promoting. I think he needs a better editor.
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3.0 out of 5 stars Could have been so much better...
This could have been one of the all-time best science fiction novels. You want ideas? It's got them, in spades. You want touching moments? Read more
Published on Jan 4 2006 by Ken Breadner

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