The Downloaded--Science fiction with a sense of reality

Science fiction has for many people a sense of unreality.  Some of it is mere fantasy, but done well it is a useful tool to understand life.  Picasso once said  "Art is the lie that shows us the truth".  In reality Robert J. Sawyer does a lot of research to make his stories realistic or believable.   While you read about weird fantasy people and events you will be struck with perspectives regarding our current real situation.

The frame is setup with one group of astronauts being put cryonically "asleep" for a long voyage while a group of convicts were also put asleep, but in a sense to to speed up time to make their criminal sentences shorter.  As sometimes happens, an earthly disaster brought them awoken in Waterloo (a major computer center in today's Canada) roughly 500 years after.

Sawyer ridicules early attempts at cryogenics by pointing out that it is not enough to freeze the body, but must consider the mind as well.  For this novel he uses the concept of uploading a human mind and later downloading.  Seems a bit far fetched, but it is a useful tool for the novel's plot.

Weird?  Sets up some interactions.  To intensify the situation one of the astronaut scientist announces that a huge meteorite is headed that threatens to obliterate the world in seven years.

Decisions are required with actually interesting options.   One option was to go back to their uploaded status where they could live in a drug like induced obliviousness.  Another was to travel to Mars, a relatively new colony.  A few of the astronauts thought they could carry on with the original mission decided some 500 years before to a far distant star.  Some opted to live as best they could on earth until the meteor crashed. 

An alternate life style is presented by Mennonites who have lived in that area since the 1800's.  Somehow they survived the earthly disaster.  A few points are made:  no modern technology, non violent using shunning as a tool against unacceptable behavior and a random system of choosing their church leaders.  This inclusion had some personal meaning for me:  see   http://www.therealjohndavidson.com/2012/07/biggest-surprise-in-my-family-tree.html

Politics, philosophy, psychology and sociology figure in the decision process (not everyone chooses the same option).  The author has set it up so that short chapters convey the perspectives of a range of people (and robots).  There are lots of references to movies, poems and science fiction that many will remember.  Some issues touched upon include transgenders and artificial intelligence.

 I am reminded of some speculation from Carl Sagan.  He thought the reason we have not heard from other intelligent beings is that no civilization had the ability to communicate across the wide spaces because they tend to blow themselves up beforehand.   Read more...http://www.therealjohndavidson.com/2012/10/carl-sagan-and-our-future.html

 In my opinion Robert J. Sawyer is as profound a thinker as almost anyone I am familiar with.  See two earlier blog posts on him.

http://www.therealjohndavidson.com/2011/09/conversion-can-sneak-up-on-you-too.html 

http://www.therealjohndavidson.com/2012/04/memories-of-robert-j-sawyer.html