“Is not God in the height of heaven? And behold the height of the stars, how high they are. And thou sayest, How doth God know? Can he judge through the dark cloud? Thick clouds are a covering to him, that he seeth not; and he walketh in the circuit of heaven.”pg 14
Humanity has created a computer program that can contain a person’s soul within its code. The programmers have made a new world — one without disease, violence or hunger, where those who leave their bodies behind and enter it, can live forever.
Prior to this breakthrough, programmers learned how to implant portions of people’s personalities into biological bodies, to work as laborers and earn money for the ultimate project of building the new paradise. They called these creations, “constructs”.
Not everyone, including some leftover constructs, have chosen to take advantage of this “heaven” and entered the program. Religious fundamentalists and those who have other objections to entering have remained behind. However, society has broken down without the leaders, who entered the program along with billions of other souls. Food is hard to come by and wild packs of dogs roam the streets.
Nemo, for reasons he can’t totally explain even to himself, has chosen not to enter the program (commonly called ‘the Bin’) to be with his parents. But on a recent visit, he meets a beautiful woman and his life will never be the same.
Justine is a recent arrival to the Bin. But her memories are confused and she can’t remember where she has been for the past few weeks. Is it a programming error or indicative of a bigger problem with the Bin itself?
There were scare stories about people going into the Bin and breaking up like a virtual in a thunderstorm, that there were flaws in the crystalline structure of the Bin, and you could find yourself in nightmarish worlds that made no sense, completely alone.” pgs 12-13
I enjoyed the science fiction portions of this story and contemplating the power that humanity could one day potentially wield over life and death. With computers advancing the way they are, it’s not too hard to imagine that someone someday will figure out how to code a personality or soul. And that raises a whole host of other questions, doesn’t it.
What about the psychological effects of everything you could ever want being available at the touch of a button? What does it mean when a mother can program herself to look younger than her children? And what about children in a world without death? Should babies be uploaded immediately into the Bin or programmed from pure code without ever having existed in the real world?
The dilemmas go on and on. Beyond considering the hypothetical moral questions, I had a few problems with this book.
The characterizations were weak. A few of the major plot twists were clear well before they happened. But there was one, a big one, that I didn’t expect and it was pretty messed up. Then, the characters just seemed to get over it and move on. They had a few conversations and that was that. To be honest, it took me awhile longer. (No spoilers, but if you read this one, I’m certain you’ll know exactly what I’m talking about.)
Then the ending, when it came, was too rushed, which was rather a shame. So, that’s why I gave this a middling review. The premise was fantastic. Then it devolved into a so-so science fiction.
Thanks for reading!
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