Mindscan is a Science Fiction book set in the not too distant future when a corporation called Immortex discovers how to copy the human consciousness from your mind into a robotic body. Essentially creating an exact replica of you that can live for centuries. A guy named Jacob Sullivan, who was born with a terminal illness, is among the first people to undergo the procedure. After which his original self gets shipped off to a retirement home the far side of the moon and his Mindscan self meets another Mindscan, Karen Bessarian, who is an incredibly wealthy writer. Her son decides to sue her claiming that she isn’t in fact his real mother. Which I suppose she isn’t because his real mother dies on the other side of the moon where they send all the original people to live in a sort of utopia retreat once they have had their mind scanned. The remainder, or rather the majority, of the book deals with the trial that ensues.
I like that Robert J Sawyer is trying to address the ethical, moral and legal dilemmas that may arise in a futuristic society as technology constantly opens up new opportunities not available to us in today’s world. I also found this book flowed quite well and I read it in about three readings which is rare for me because I’m a slow reader. I loved the beginning and the trial was intriguing, but my favourite part was probably the last 50 pages which filled me with more sense of wonder than the rest of the book put together because that’s when something’s actually happening.
My main grievance with Mindscan was that so much of it is based around the trial. It was still interesting to read but let’s face it if I’ve just woken up and found out that I’m a sentient copy of a person in an almost indestructible body that doesn’t need to sleep, I’m going to be doing just about everything I can think of that no human has ever done before (insert your own imagination here). Also I do wonder how many people would actually have a Mindscan done in real life if the option were available, when really it’s not prolonging your life at all but rather creating a brand new sentient being with your memories and experience that will live for centuries in your place while you go away to the moon waiting to die, never seeing your friends or family EVER AGAIN… Can’t say I’d be tempted.
Overall: 72%
A good read with a great ending that left me wanting to read more Robert J Sawyer but ultimately I think Science Fiction should be more about the unknown than a court room drama.