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The Terminal Experiment
To test his theories of immortality and life after death, Dr. Peter Hobson has created three electronic simulations of his own personality. The first has all knowledge of physical existence edited out, to simulate life after death. The second is without knowledge of aging or death, to simulate immortality. The third is unmodified, a control. Now they are free. One is a killer.
333 pages, Paperback
First published May 1, 1995
54 people are currently reading
3,528 people want to read
About the author
Robert J. Sawyer
214?books2,424?followersRobert J. Sawyer is one of Canada's best known and most successful science fiction writers. He is the only Canadian (and one of only 7 writers in the world) to have won all three of the top international awards for science fiction: the 1995 Nebula Award for The Terminal Experiment, the 2003 Hugo Award for Hominids, and the 2006 John W. Campbell Memorial Award for Mindscan.
Robert Sawyer grew up in Toronto, the son of two university professors. He credits two of his favourite shows from the late 1960s and early 1970s, Search and Star Trek, with teaching him some of the fundamentals of the science-fiction craft. Sawyer was obsessed with outer space from a young age, and he vividly remembers watching the televised Apollo missions. He claims to have watched the 1968 classic film 2001: A Space Odyssey 25 times. He began writing science fiction in a high school club, which he co-founded, NASFA (Northview Academy Association of Science Fiction Addicts). Sawyer graduated in 1982 from the Radio and Television Arts Program at Ryerson University, where he later worked as an instructor.
Sawyer's first published book, Golden Fleece (1989), is an adaptation of short stories that had previously appeared in the science-fiction magazine Amazing Stories. This book won the Aurora Award for the best Canadian science-fiction novel in English. In the early 1990s Sawyer went on to publish his inventive Quintaglio Ascension trilogy, about a world of intelligent dinosaurs. His 1995 award winning The Terminal Experiment confirmed his place as a major international science-fiction writer.
A prolific writer, Sawyer has published more than 10 novels, plus two trilogies. Reviewers praise Sawyer for his concise prose, which has been compared to that of the science-fiction master Isaac Asimov. Like many science fiction-writers, Sawyer welcomes the opportunities his chosen genre provides for exploring ideas. The first book of his Neanderthal Parallax trilogy, Hominids (2002), is set in a near-future society, in which a quantum computing experiment brings a Neanderthal scientist from a parallel Earth to ours. His 2006 Mindscan explores the possibility of transferring human consciousness into a mechanical body, and the ensuing ethical, legal, and societal ramifications.
A passionate advocate for science fiction, Sawyer teaches creative writing and appears frequently in the media to discuss his genre. He prefers the label "philosophical fiction," and in no way sees himself as a predictor of the future. His mission statement for his writing is "To combine the intimately human with the grandly cosmic."
Robert Sawyer grew up in Toronto, the son of two university professors. He credits two of his favourite shows from the late 1960s and early 1970s, Search and Star Trek, with teaching him some of the fundamentals of the science-fiction craft. Sawyer was obsessed with outer space from a young age, and he vividly remembers watching the televised Apollo missions. He claims to have watched the 1968 classic film 2001: A Space Odyssey 25 times. He began writing science fiction in a high school club, which he co-founded, NASFA (Northview Academy Association of Science Fiction Addicts). Sawyer graduated in 1982 from the Radio and Television Arts Program at Ryerson University, where he later worked as an instructor.
Sawyer's first published book, Golden Fleece (1989), is an adaptation of short stories that had previously appeared in the science-fiction magazine Amazing Stories. This book won the Aurora Award for the best Canadian science-fiction novel in English. In the early 1990s Sawyer went on to publish his inventive Quintaglio Ascension trilogy, about a world of intelligent dinosaurs. His 1995 award winning The Terminal Experiment confirmed his place as a major international science-fiction writer.
A prolific writer, Sawyer has published more than 10 novels, plus two trilogies. Reviewers praise Sawyer for his concise prose, which has been compared to that of the science-fiction master Isaac Asimov. Like many science fiction-writers, Sawyer welcomes the opportunities his chosen genre provides for exploring ideas. The first book of his Neanderthal Parallax trilogy, Hominids (2002), is set in a near-future society, in which a quantum computing experiment brings a Neanderthal scientist from a parallel Earth to ours. His 2006 Mindscan explores the possibility of transferring human consciousness into a mechanical body, and the ensuing ethical, legal, and societal ramifications.
A passionate advocate for science fiction, Sawyer teaches creative writing and appears frequently in the media to discuss his genre. He prefers the label "philosophical fiction," and in no way sees himself as a predictor of the future. His mission statement for his writing is "To combine the intimately human with the grandly cosmic."
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 273 reviews
January 5, 2023
A murder mystery that deals with the very definition of life and death!
Robert J Sawyer has never been an author to think small and he certainly didn't start in THE TERMINAL EXPERIMENT! Soul-searching (literally) provocative discussions on the nature and the very definition of death, immortality, spirituality, morality, love, compassion, hatred, infidelity and more are what elevates Sawyer's novel from the realm of a mere hard sci-fi murder mystery into the class of a Nebula Award winner! He even goes so far as to touch upon the existence of a soul and its effect upon religious beliefs and global events.
Dr Peter Hobson, a successful businessman and bio-technology engineer, has created an EEG orders of magnitude more sensitive than all of the machines currently available. When he uses his scanner to detect an electrical field leaving the body after death, which he calls the "soul wave", he then collaborates with his best friend, an AI specialist, to create three computer simulations of his own brain - one modified to represent the spirit, or life after death; a second, modified to have no concept of death or aging, representing immortality; and the third left untouched as a scientific control. The self-determining simulations escape from the confines of the AI lab's computers into the world wide net and the murders begin. One of them is a murderer but the question, of course, is which one, why and how to stop it?
Sawyer's clever literary device of using snippets from newscasts and magazine or newspaper articles is not only entertaining but it places the issues he has chosen to address in his novel into a global context and hypothesizes on the effects that these types of discoveries would have on a worldwide scale ... at once thought provoking, amusing, sobering and educational!
On a complete aside, I was also grateful to Sawyer for using his story as an example of what Charles Dickens was trying to convey in his famous opening paragraph in A TALE OF TWO CITIES - you know the one, "It was the best of times. It was the worst of times ...". Until Sawyer illustrated the idea using his own story, I was always foggy about this ambiguous juxtaposition of complete opposites. But Sawyer switched on the light bulb for me.
Highly recommended!
Paul Weiss
Robert J Sawyer has never been an author to think small and he certainly didn't start in THE TERMINAL EXPERIMENT! Soul-searching (literally) provocative discussions on the nature and the very definition of death, immortality, spirituality, morality, love, compassion, hatred, infidelity and more are what elevates Sawyer's novel from the realm of a mere hard sci-fi murder mystery into the class of a Nebula Award winner! He even goes so far as to touch upon the existence of a soul and its effect upon religious beliefs and global events.
Dr Peter Hobson, a successful businessman and bio-technology engineer, has created an EEG orders of magnitude more sensitive than all of the machines currently available. When he uses his scanner to detect an electrical field leaving the body after death, which he calls the "soul wave", he then collaborates with his best friend, an AI specialist, to create three computer simulations of his own brain - one modified to represent the spirit, or life after death; a second, modified to have no concept of death or aging, representing immortality; and the third left untouched as a scientific control. The self-determining simulations escape from the confines of the AI lab's computers into the world wide net and the murders begin. One of them is a murderer but the question, of course, is which one, why and how to stop it?
Sawyer's clever literary device of using snippets from newscasts and magazine or newspaper articles is not only entertaining but it places the issues he has chosen to address in his novel into a global context and hypothesizes on the effects that these types of discoveries would have on a worldwide scale ... at once thought provoking, amusing, sobering and educational!
On a complete aside, I was also grateful to Sawyer for using his story as an example of what Charles Dickens was trying to convey in his famous opening paragraph in A TALE OF TWO CITIES - you know the one, "It was the best of times. It was the worst of times ...". Until Sawyer illustrated the idea using his own story, I was always foggy about this ambiguous juxtaposition of complete opposites. But Sawyer switched on the light bulb for me.
Highly recommended!
Paul Weiss
June 9, 2016
The Terminal Experiment: A Substandard Crichton-style thriller
Originally posted at
Robert J. Sawyer is a very popular Canadian SF author, with many novels under his belt and several major awards, including the 1995 Nebula Award for The Terminal Experiment, 2003 Hugo Award for Hominids, and 2006 John W. Campbell Award for Mindscan. I hadn¡¯t read anything of his so I decided to give The Terminal Experiment a try. It¡¯s about an engineer who creates three artificial copies of his consciousness, and one of them becomes a killer. It is narrated by the very competent Paul Hecht, and is an easy listen. But how well does it hold up as an award winner?
I¡¯ll freely admit I am not a big fan of ¡°techno-thrillers¡± in SF. Generally I find this a flimsy plot device to move a mediocre story forward quickly. Usually a shadowy and sinister organization or super-villain is up to no good, and the intrepid hero and his clever sidekick and/or love interest race against time to defeat the badguy(s) and prevent a terrible calamity. The heroes are usually are scientists, engineers, detectives, private investigators, or scholars. Sometimes they produce massive runaway best-sellers that explore the secret history of Christianity and became Hollywood blockbusters starring Tom Hanks and Audrey Tatou, flitting from one gorgeous European location to the next, usually with a trail of dead bodies left behind.
Well, The Terminal Experiment isn¡¯t quite that bad, but it hardly breaks any new ground or provide insight into the nature of AIs and human consciousness. I recently read Greg Egan¡¯s Permutation City, and that book dives into those ideas in such depth and complexity it was almost overwhelming. In contrast, The Terminal Experiment goes down way too easily, following a by-the-numbers thriller plot. Dr. Peter Hobson is the biomedical engineer who invents a machine that can detect brain patterns as they leave the body after death, which many interpret as proof of a human soul.
After creating much hoopla in the media and religious circles, he decides with the help of his friend Sardar Muhammed, an AI programming expert (very convenient, don¡¯t you think?) to create three AI simulations of Peter¡¯s consciousness, in order to test some theories about the afterlife and soul.
So three simulations are created: 1) Spirit, a version of Peter in which all physical desires and urges are removed, allowing for a pure intellect unburdened by worldly concerns; 2) Ambrotos, who has all fears of aging and death removed to simulate the conditions of an immortal being; and 3) a control version of Peter, with no special modifications.
Initially all three simulations take to their existence positively, exploring the Internet of 1995 with enthusiasm and curiosity. The book really betrays its age with some very dated descriptions of ¡°cutting-edge¡± technology of the nascent web, and there are numerous laughable details about information technology, etc. Over time the simulations get frustrated with their limited virtual environs and break out into the larger global IT network. They also start to develop some aggressive behavior, seemingly triggered by Peter¡¯s subconscious feelings.
What ensures is a thoroughly unexciting thriller as they try to outsmart the simulations and prevent them from getting out of control. This idea has been done to death many times before. I found it hard to care about either the characters, plot, or even the philosophical questions the book raised, not because they questions themselves are not important (they are), but due to the amateur way in which they are presented to the reader. The writing is pedestrian but unthreatening - exactly what you would expect from a ¡°mainstream thriller¡±.
What this book illustrates is the problem with near future techno-thrillers winning major awards like the Nebula or Hugo. While they may seem fairly innovative or cutting edge at the time, it only takes 5-10 years to make them hopelessly outdated or wrong in their predictions. Books about the far future, alternate histories, or fantasies are less likely to age badly.
In 1995 it beat John Barnes Mother of Storms, Nancy Kress¡¯ Beggars and Choosers, Paul Park¡¯s Celestis, Walter Jon Williams¡¯ Metropolitan, and Gene Wolfe¡¯s Calde of the Long Sun, and while I haven't read those books, I find it very hard to believe this was the best SF book of that year. In the end you can never please everyone when choosing the ¡°best¡± SF or fantasy novel, since taste plays such a major role, but voters should consider how well a given book is likely to stand the test of time, so when someone picks up an award winner from a previous decade they can be confident it¡¯s at least well-written and thought-provoking.
Originally posted at
Robert J. Sawyer is a very popular Canadian SF author, with many novels under his belt and several major awards, including the 1995 Nebula Award for The Terminal Experiment, 2003 Hugo Award for Hominids, and 2006 John W. Campbell Award for Mindscan. I hadn¡¯t read anything of his so I decided to give The Terminal Experiment a try. It¡¯s about an engineer who creates three artificial copies of his consciousness, and one of them becomes a killer. It is narrated by the very competent Paul Hecht, and is an easy listen. But how well does it hold up as an award winner?
I¡¯ll freely admit I am not a big fan of ¡°techno-thrillers¡± in SF. Generally I find this a flimsy plot device to move a mediocre story forward quickly. Usually a shadowy and sinister organization or super-villain is up to no good, and the intrepid hero and his clever sidekick and/or love interest race against time to defeat the badguy(s) and prevent a terrible calamity. The heroes are usually are scientists, engineers, detectives, private investigators, or scholars. Sometimes they produce massive runaway best-sellers that explore the secret history of Christianity and became Hollywood blockbusters starring Tom Hanks and Audrey Tatou, flitting from one gorgeous European location to the next, usually with a trail of dead bodies left behind.
Well, The Terminal Experiment isn¡¯t quite that bad, but it hardly breaks any new ground or provide insight into the nature of AIs and human consciousness. I recently read Greg Egan¡¯s Permutation City, and that book dives into those ideas in such depth and complexity it was almost overwhelming. In contrast, The Terminal Experiment goes down way too easily, following a by-the-numbers thriller plot. Dr. Peter Hobson is the biomedical engineer who invents a machine that can detect brain patterns as they leave the body after death, which many interpret as proof of a human soul.
After creating much hoopla in the media and religious circles, he decides with the help of his friend Sardar Muhammed, an AI programming expert (very convenient, don¡¯t you think?) to create three AI simulations of Peter¡¯s consciousness, in order to test some theories about the afterlife and soul.
So three simulations are created: 1) Spirit, a version of Peter in which all physical desires and urges are removed, allowing for a pure intellect unburdened by worldly concerns; 2) Ambrotos, who has all fears of aging and death removed to simulate the conditions of an immortal being; and 3) a control version of Peter, with no special modifications.
Initially all three simulations take to their existence positively, exploring the Internet of 1995 with enthusiasm and curiosity. The book really betrays its age with some very dated descriptions of ¡°cutting-edge¡± technology of the nascent web, and there are numerous laughable details about information technology, etc. Over time the simulations get frustrated with their limited virtual environs and break out into the larger global IT network. They also start to develop some aggressive behavior, seemingly triggered by Peter¡¯s subconscious feelings.
What ensures is a thoroughly unexciting thriller as they try to outsmart the simulations and prevent them from getting out of control. This idea has been done to death many times before. I found it hard to care about either the characters, plot, or even the philosophical questions the book raised, not because they questions themselves are not important (they are), but due to the amateur way in which they are presented to the reader. The writing is pedestrian but unthreatening - exactly what you would expect from a ¡°mainstream thriller¡±.
What this book illustrates is the problem with near future techno-thrillers winning major awards like the Nebula or Hugo. While they may seem fairly innovative or cutting edge at the time, it only takes 5-10 years to make them hopelessly outdated or wrong in their predictions. Books about the far future, alternate histories, or fantasies are less likely to age badly.
In 1995 it beat John Barnes Mother of Storms, Nancy Kress¡¯ Beggars and Choosers, Paul Park¡¯s Celestis, Walter Jon Williams¡¯ Metropolitan, and Gene Wolfe¡¯s Calde of the Long Sun, and while I haven't read those books, I find it very hard to believe this was the best SF book of that year. In the end you can never please everyone when choosing the ¡°best¡± SF or fantasy novel, since taste plays such a major role, but voters should consider how well a given book is likely to stand the test of time, so when someone picks up an award winner from a previous decade they can be confident it¡¯s at least well-written and thought-provoking.
June 19, 2018
Just okay. 4 of 10 stars
August 20, 2021
Who else writes like Sawyer nowadays? This is thoughtful and engaging, sometimes even thrilling, as I've come to expect from him. I love all the different ideas sprinkled through, the predictions of possible near-future politics, culture, and technology. I love the 'exoticism' to me of the Canadian setting (and the view from there of the US).
But this particular book isn't perfect, because it hasn't aged well, SF-wise. We still have VCRs, but can create fully sentient and self-aware AI. We have smart-homes, but not smart phones (not even cell phones, it seems!). Of course Sawyer isn't a prophet and he's not to blame, but reading such 'errors' does pull me out of the story.
Still, a read I didn't want to put down. Sawyer's work reminds me of why I liked the best of . I will def. continue to read more Sawyer and welcome recommendations.
edit: This review has seven 'likes' and yet nobody offered recommendations for readalikes. People, please! :)
But this particular book isn't perfect, because it hasn't aged well, SF-wise. We still have VCRs, but can create fully sentient and self-aware AI. We have smart-homes, but not smart phones (not even cell phones, it seems!). Of course Sawyer isn't a prophet and he's not to blame, but reading such 'errors' does pull me out of the story.
Still, a read I didn't want to put down. Sawyer's work reminds me of why I liked the best of . I will def. continue to read more Sawyer and welcome recommendations.
edit: This review has seven 'likes' and yet nobody offered recommendations for readalikes. People, please! :)
July 29, 2020
The Terminal Experiment is perhaps my favorite Sawyer novel. Published in 1995, it's a near-future (2011) story of artificial intelligence and immortality and murder and life after death wrapped up in a mystery with thought provoking and challenging speculations on religion and medical ethics and scientific procedure. Sawyer always keeps the story at the forefront and produces really convincing and sympathetic characters-- even the proverbial and literal ghost in the machine! It's not a light read, but an enriching one, in the manner of Connie Willis's Passages. Good stuff!
January 31, 2010
4.0 to 4.5 stars. Excellent read. Well thought out premise that was very well executed. Highly engaging, original story. Recommended
Winner: Nebula Award for Best Science Fiction Novel (1996)
Nominee: Hugo Award for Best Science Fiction Novel (1996)
Nominee: Locus Award for Best Science Fiction Novel (1996)
Winner: Nebula Award for Best Science Fiction Novel (1996)
Nominee: Hugo Award for Best Science Fiction Novel (1996)
Nominee: Locus Award for Best Science Fiction Novel (1996)
September 4, 2024
Check out my full, spoiler free, video review
This is a thriller with some speculative science fiction technology elements. Peter, the main character, invents a device to see a soul as it leaves the body upon death. His friend has cutting edge tech to copy and simulate a human inside a computer. Due to reasons, they make 3 copies of Peter with different traits, and the copies get loose in the interwebs of 2011 and do bad stuff.
The good; fast paced, short chapters, interesting premise/ideas and he accurately predicts some future tech. The bad; horribly written characters and dialog, very flat/shallow characters and a mystery that I didn¡¯t care about. So one of the 3 copies did bad things, who cares, get rid of them all, lol. I¡¯m ok with unlikable characters but I think Sawyer wants the reader to like these characters in the end, but I didn¡¯t like them or care what happened to them at all.
After reading Hominds and the entire Neanderthal Parallax trilogy and not being too impressed by it, I was hoping this Nebula award-winning novel would change my mind on Sawyer¡¯s writing. Sad to say it hasn¡¯t yet and this one reminded me of what I didn¡¯t like about the Neanderthal trilogy. I¡¯m not giving up on him yet though because these fast-paced thrillers can be fun and entertaining without having to use your brain too much. Maybe Calculating God next?
This is a thriller with some speculative science fiction technology elements. Peter, the main character, invents a device to see a soul as it leaves the body upon death. His friend has cutting edge tech to copy and simulate a human inside a computer. Due to reasons, they make 3 copies of Peter with different traits, and the copies get loose in the interwebs of 2011 and do bad stuff.
The good; fast paced, short chapters, interesting premise/ideas and he accurately predicts some future tech. The bad; horribly written characters and dialog, very flat/shallow characters and a mystery that I didn¡¯t care about. So one of the 3 copies did bad things, who cares, get rid of them all, lol. I¡¯m ok with unlikable characters but I think Sawyer wants the reader to like these characters in the end, but I didn¡¯t like them or care what happened to them at all.
After reading Hominds and the entire Neanderthal Parallax trilogy and not being too impressed by it, I was hoping this Nebula award-winning novel would change my mind on Sawyer¡¯s writing. Sad to say it hasn¡¯t yet and this one reminded me of what I didn¡¯t like about the Neanderthal trilogy. I¡¯m not giving up on him yet though because these fast-paced thrillers can be fun and entertaining without having to use your brain too much. Maybe Calculating God next?
April 2, 2016
Always with that contrived ripped-from-the-headlines-plugged-into-a-thriller feel and the distracting sense that Sawyer's characters are just cameos of folks he met while researching his book, but you would think that after 50+ years of SF exploring the ramifications of AI and afterlife, Sawyer would come up with something more perceptive than just murderous AIs and a completely imaginary proof of soul-life. Another example of hailed Hard sci-fi that relies on arbitrary fantasy tools and measurements that are just as fuzzy as any magic spell. As a nineties novel, it can be valued for its projections of the current form of the digital age, though most interesting is the happy ending arc for his highly flawed protagonist. Given Sawyer's commercial success and formulaic approach, it's hard not to wonder if he and his readers have overlooked the fact of the protagonist's abominable behavior. But surely...
February 6, 2020
This Nebula and Aurora winner is one of Canadian sf writer Robert J. Sawyer's first novels, originally published in installments in Analog magazine. It's a near future story of a very likable biomedical engineer who discovers scientific evidence of an afterlife, who with his best friend cook up some artificial intelligence variations on himself, that take on a life of their own. It also becomes a thriller/murder mystery as some folks who have wronged him begin to turn up dead. Along the way, Sawyer dabbles in philosophical/theological questions raised by the discoveries, which I always love. This book is better than some of the Sawyer's more recent work, although I can't claim to have read them all (yet).
February 12, 2019
Solo he le¨ªdo dos libros del autor: este, malo y "Recuerdos del futuro", mucho mejor.
October 12, 2021
3.5 stars Interesting read and very fast paced couldn't put it down. But
I very much preferred his WWW trilogy.
I very much preferred his WWW trilogy.
June 13, 2009
I loved Flashforward by Sawyer. This book was good, but not quite up to the same quality as that one. Still I enjoyed it a lot.
The Terminal Experiment took a little while to set up the story. The beginning wasn't uninteresting, just not specifically about what it proposed to be about. It did weed its way into that about halfway through and I ended up being satisfied.
This book begins with a scientist in Canada who develops technology to assess when a person actually dies (not just when the doctors say they do)to assuage his fears after a traumatic organ harvesting experience. Surprisingly, this new technique captures the soul of his terminal participant leaving her body. The existence of a verifiable soul shakes the world.
In the meantime, the scientist also teams up with a friend of his, an expert in artificial intelligence, to conduct another experiment. Obsessed with immortality and life after death, the scientist copies his own mind into a computer. One copy is removed of all neural connections that have to do with fear of death or aging. This copy simulates what it would be like to be immortal. The second copy is removed of all connections having to do with physical sensations and preoccupations. This simulates life after death. The thrid copy remains an exact copy of the scientist to act as a control.
Pretty soon, things go awry when people start turning up dead. The three simulations have escaped into the vast expanse of the internet and one of them is a killer.
Like Sawyer's other book that I've read, there runs a common theme of how science can dramatically change the world. What things would change if people knew scientifically that a soul was real and that it left your body at death to go somewhere? Abortion issues? Religion? Animal Rights? And what would happen if there was a version of yourself that felt immortal? Or felt detached from the physical world?
Props to Sawyer, he's very good at exploring socially significant scientific issues in an engaging way.
The Terminal Experiment took a little while to set up the story. The beginning wasn't uninteresting, just not specifically about what it proposed to be about. It did weed its way into that about halfway through and I ended up being satisfied.
This book begins with a scientist in Canada who develops technology to assess when a person actually dies (not just when the doctors say they do)to assuage his fears after a traumatic organ harvesting experience. Surprisingly, this new technique captures the soul of his terminal participant leaving her body. The existence of a verifiable soul shakes the world.
In the meantime, the scientist also teams up with a friend of his, an expert in artificial intelligence, to conduct another experiment. Obsessed with immortality and life after death, the scientist copies his own mind into a computer. One copy is removed of all neural connections that have to do with fear of death or aging. This copy simulates what it would be like to be immortal. The second copy is removed of all connections having to do with physical sensations and preoccupations. This simulates life after death. The thrid copy remains an exact copy of the scientist to act as a control.
Pretty soon, things go awry when people start turning up dead. The three simulations have escaped into the vast expanse of the internet and one of them is a killer.
Like Sawyer's other book that I've read, there runs a common theme of how science can dramatically change the world. What things would change if people knew scientifically that a soul was real and that it left your body at death to go somewhere? Abortion issues? Religion? Animal Rights? And what would happen if there was a version of yourself that felt immortal? Or felt detached from the physical world?
Props to Sawyer, he's very good at exploring socially significant scientific issues in an engaging way.
November 9, 2016
4 stele pentru ideea ini?ial?, 2 pentru realizare.
Senza?ia c? Sawyer a combinat dou? romane diferite ?ntr-unul singur. Premisa SF e exploatat? doar ca intrig? poli?ist?, o intrig? sl?bu??, facil? ?i destul de previzibil?.
Premisa e foarte bun?. ?ncerc?nd s? dovedeasc? ?tiin?ific momentul ?n care creierul nu mai are activitate ?i omul moare, un cercet?tor descoper? o und? de energie care str?bate ambii lobi ?i iese la propriu din craniu. Acea und? e numit? unda sufletului ?i pare s? fie primul semn spre a dovedi c? exist? ceva dup? moarte ?i c? exist? suflet dincolo de activitatea neuronal?.
Povestea se deplaseaz? de la punctul ini?ial ?nspre a identifica cum arat? via?? de dup? moarte ?i cercet?torul nostru ??i transfer? sub form? de copii 3 imagini ale propriului creier ?n calculator, imagini alterate, m?car unele dintre ele, pentru a ob?ine reac?iile prognozate. Via?a sa, ?ns?, nu e una at?t de fericit? ?i c?teva nepl?ceri ?n familie determin? ca una dintre cele 3 personalit??i ?nchise ?n calculator s? preia conducerea evenimentelor. ?i de aici urmeaz? un roman poli?ist, tributar lui Philip K. Dick, construit dup? o schem? narativ? simplist? ?i f?r? mari surprize.
Atuutile c?r?ii ?in de ideile ini?iale ?i de crearea unei lumi apropiate de a noastr?, cu mici diferen?e tehnologice. Mi-a pl?cut extrem de mult descrierea reac?iilor din pres? ?i din lumea ?ntreag? la aflarea ve?tii c? sufletul exist? etc. Reac?ia grupurilor extremiste, ale Vaticanului, problema avortului sau a sufletului avut sa nu de c?tre animale etc. E o p?ine bun? de m?ncat aici, ?ns? Robert J. Sawyer a preferat ipoteza dublului criminal, fie el ?i cyber. P?cat.
Senza?ia c? Sawyer a combinat dou? romane diferite ?ntr-unul singur. Premisa SF e exploatat? doar ca intrig? poli?ist?, o intrig? sl?bu??, facil? ?i destul de previzibil?.
Premisa e foarte bun?. ?ncerc?nd s? dovedeasc? ?tiin?ific momentul ?n care creierul nu mai are activitate ?i omul moare, un cercet?tor descoper? o und? de energie care str?bate ambii lobi ?i iese la propriu din craniu. Acea und? e numit? unda sufletului ?i pare s? fie primul semn spre a dovedi c? exist? ceva dup? moarte ?i c? exist? suflet dincolo de activitatea neuronal?.
Povestea se deplaseaz? de la punctul ini?ial ?nspre a identifica cum arat? via?? de dup? moarte ?i cercet?torul nostru ??i transfer? sub form? de copii 3 imagini ale propriului creier ?n calculator, imagini alterate, m?car unele dintre ele, pentru a ob?ine reac?iile prognozate. Via?a sa, ?ns?, nu e una at?t de fericit? ?i c?teva nepl?ceri ?n familie determin? ca una dintre cele 3 personalit??i ?nchise ?n calculator s? preia conducerea evenimentelor. ?i de aici urmeaz? un roman poli?ist, tributar lui Philip K. Dick, construit dup? o schem? narativ? simplist? ?i f?r? mari surprize.
Atuutile c?r?ii ?in de ideile ini?iale ?i de crearea unei lumi apropiate de a noastr?, cu mici diferen?e tehnologice. Mi-a pl?cut extrem de mult descrierea reac?iilor din pres? ?i din lumea ?ntreag? la aflarea ve?tii c? sufletul exist? etc. Reac?ia grupurilor extremiste, ale Vaticanului, problema avortului sau a sufletului avut sa nu de c?tre animale etc. E o p?ine bun? de m?ncat aici, ?ns? Robert J. Sawyer a preferat ipoteza dublului criminal, fie el ?i cyber. P?cat.
December 26, 2023
This was pretty mediocre. How it could have won a Nebula over and is a bit mysterious, even if 1996 wasn't a stellar year in sci-fi.
The idea here is about storing copies of human psyche into AI and in this case the tragic consequences of an experiment gone very wrong. I felt that, as I felt in his , the character development was slipshod and superficial, the writing was overbearing and rife with stereotypes and sexism. I guess the idea of the three copies of the protagonist was interesting, but the development of the plot left me unsatisfied.
Of the three big sci-fi prizes, I think the one with the weakest winners is the Nebula for decisions such as this one.
The idea here is about storing copies of human psyche into AI and in this case the tragic consequences of an experiment gone very wrong. I felt that, as I felt in his , the character development was slipshod and superficial, the writing was overbearing and rife with stereotypes and sexism. I guess the idea of the three copies of the protagonist was interesting, but the development of the plot left me unsatisfied.
Of the three big sci-fi prizes, I think the one with the weakest winners is the Nebula for decisions such as this one.
Read
October 21, 2007[return][return]This is not quite as bad a book as I had been led to believe. The prose is often leaden - in particular, the cringe-worthy opening passage which I think should be used as a model of how not to write in classes for impressionable young writers, and the numerous info-dumps idicating that the characters have read all the available scientific literature up to 1994 (which is a shame as most of the book is set in 2011). What appears to be the killer idea of the first half of the book - that science can detect the soul leaving the body at death - is simply forgotten for the last third of the narrative, which plays the rogue-AI's in the net cliche as a murder mystery, leading to an unconvincing resolution. The detective character herself violates standard operating procedure by burbling her theories about the crime to one of the key suspects.[return][return]But apart from that, the characters were not too unbelievable and the exploration of the issues of artificial intelligence and the scientific basis of the soul not too undergraduate (with all due respect to my undergraduate readers). And he does predict a future Pope Benedict XVI. (Of course, whether the present Pope will still be there in 2011 is another matter.)[return][return]Still, it is pretty surprising that this won the 1995 Nebula Award for Best Novel. I confess I haven't read any of the other nominees, and if this was voted better than them I don't really intend to. (Actually, I may have read Beggars and Choosers by Nancy Kress - I know I read one of the later books in the series, and was seriously unimpressed.) The Hugo for the equivalent year went to Bujold's Mirror Dance, which is the start of the superb four-book climax to the Vorkosigan saga (as continued in Memory, Komarr, and A Civil Campaign).[return][return]This is not the worst Nebula-winning novel I have read - that title goes to either The Quantum Rose by Catherine Asaro or The Gods Themselves by Isaac Asimov - but it is certainly in the bottom four. I can't decide if I like it less than Neuromancer, because I can't remember anything about the Gibson book, even though I know I have read it several times.
August 17, 2017
As Robert J. Sawyer seems to be able to do so effortlessly; taking a series of very human circumstances, complex philosophical questions, futuristic ideas, and ties it all together to create an intellectually stimulating page-turner.
Shelved as 'did-not-finish'
November 23, 2020DNF'd for a *second* time, at about 15%. This book just makes me rage quit because of the misogynistic attitude. Second time around, I also noticed how leaden the writing is. And the main character is pretty loathsome.
May 8, 2019
Hilariously bad.
Kept reading bits out to my girlfriend who was in pieces.
If this can win a major award, anyone can!
Kept reading bits out to my girlfriend who was in pieces.
If this can win a major award, anyone can!
June 1, 2024
Sawyer won the 1995 Nebula Award with this novel. It felt like two novels to me as the plot seemed to take a turn a ways in from the original idea presented. It was set in the year 2011 or 16 years in the future so it was interesting to take in how Sawyer projected our technological progress from 1995, when the internet was just getting going, to current times.
The story centers around brain scientist Peter Hobson, his cheating wife Cathy, and his computer genius friend, Sarkar. Peter develops an EEG machine which detects an electrical impulse leaving the brain as a person dies which is deemed the "soulwave", since this wave is interpreted the soul leaving the body, to the delight of all who believe in life after death. He explores how this discovery changes society.
Then, Peter and Sarkar use Peter's technology and Sarkar's to create three AI versions of Peter. In the meantime, Peter's wife Cathy gets drunk and sleeps with a coworker, which she claims was a mistake but apparently hooks up him two more times on separate occasions. Peter's AI triplets have access to everything on the net and pretty soon mischief happens to those close to Cathy and the novel turns in to a crime whodunit.
The novel was based on some interesting premises which opened up all kinds of philosophical and moral dilemmas. A good read if not a bit dated.
I listened to this on Audible, and the chapter breaks in the audio file were random and did not match the narration. This has happened a number of times with Audible. Irritating.
The story centers around brain scientist Peter Hobson, his cheating wife Cathy, and his computer genius friend, Sarkar. Peter develops an EEG machine which detects an electrical impulse leaving the brain as a person dies which is deemed the "soulwave", since this wave is interpreted the soul leaving the body, to the delight of all who believe in life after death. He explores how this discovery changes society.
Then, Peter and Sarkar use Peter's technology and Sarkar's to create three AI versions of Peter. In the meantime, Peter's wife Cathy gets drunk and sleeps with a coworker, which she claims was a mistake but apparently hooks up him two more times on separate occasions. Peter's AI triplets have access to everything on the net and pretty soon mischief happens to those close to Cathy and the novel turns in to a crime whodunit.
The novel was based on some interesting premises which opened up all kinds of philosophical and moral dilemmas. A good read if not a bit dated.
I listened to this on Audible, and the chapter breaks in the audio file were random and did not match the narration. This has happened a number of times with Audible. Irritating.
December 19, 2013
The thing I like about Robert J Sawyer books, at least the two that I've read, is that he follows his premise through unflinchingly and to the end. I may not agree with all of the ramifications of the premise, but at least he doesn't look back. He writes this story that is possible from this premise.
The premise, in this case, is "what if there was proof of a soul?" The book can't be completely boiled down to that, there are other big questions explored, such as the afterlife, the nature of morality, and the nature of human experience, but it all starts at the proof of a soul. Someone more shrewd than myself would probably be able to read this and ferret out where Mr Sawyer himself stands on the topic, but he avoids being preachy (except, perhaps, on the topic of monogamy) enough for my eyes to stay rooted to the page rather than rolling around in exasperation.
If you liked this book will be up your alley. If you like "what if we had proof of..." premises, I recommend checking out .
The premise, in this case, is "what if there was proof of a soul?" The book can't be completely boiled down to that, there are other big questions explored, such as the afterlife, the nature of morality, and the nature of human experience, but it all starts at the proof of a soul. Someone more shrewd than myself would probably be able to read this and ferret out where Mr Sawyer himself stands on the topic, but he avoids being preachy (except, perhaps, on the topic of monogamy) enough for my eyes to stay rooted to the page rather than rolling around in exasperation.
If you liked this book will be up your alley. If you like "what if we had proof of..." premises, I recommend checking out .
September 30, 2011
Reading Robert J. Sawyer's other work helped convince me of problems with the Hugo process. Since I was happier with the Nebulas I was surprised to see one of his novels on that list.
I will give the Nebulas this -- they gave the award to a 2-star book rather than a 1-star one. But, man, this guy can't write as well as he thinks he can.
"Pseudo was about fifty, and as slim as the Leafs' chances in the Stanley Cup."
Not so good stuff.
I will give the Nebulas this -- they gave the award to a 2-star book rather than a 1-star one. But, man, this guy can't write as well as he thinks he can.
"Pseudo was about fifty, and as slim as the Leafs' chances in the Stanley Cup."
Not so good stuff.
March 18, 2015
Peter Hobson creates a scanner that can map the neural nets of the brain, and in the process discovers the soulwave. His wife reveals an affair she had. Hobson and his best friend Sarkar scan Peter's brain and develop three AIs to study immortality and life after death. Now, one of the AIs is behaving very badly. How can it be stopped?
Sawyer makes me think of John Scalzi. His writing isn't too good, but the story is entertaining.
Sawyer makes me think of John Scalzi. His writing isn't too good, but the story is entertaining.
November 19, 2022
En esta segunda lectura me ha parecido a¨²n m¨¢s flojo que en la primera. La premisa es interesante, pero el contenido no tanto. El autor tiene t¨ªtulos mejores.
November 26, 2014
Nobody does courtroom drama like Sawyer. Although there's a fair bit of technological misfiring (wasn't this 1995?) It's surprisingly cogent and enjoyable. Ending is very typical, though.
April 27, 2023
This is a very entertaining novel, helped in large part by Sawyer's taut prose and no bullshit narrative momentum. The premise here involves a doctor by the name of Peter Hobson attempting to summon consciousness after death, but not counting upon LIFE being given extra consciousness in the course of his experiments. The book flits between 1995 and 2011, with Hobson's marriage with Cathy very much on the rocks in the later time period. And this nimble parallel -- of consciousness beyond death and consciousness WITHIN two different periods of living -- hasn't quite been done like this in fiction before. Sawyer also sends up the media landscape (Phil Donahue's failed presidential campaign) and is thoughtful enough to include a Muslim associate for Hobson. However, I don't think the murder mystery or the Philo stuff worked very well. Sawyer may have tossed one too many balls up into the air. But this is a minor ding on an otherwise vivacious book written by an admirably subtle Canadian eccentric. I definitely need to read more from this guy!
December 22, 2022
A strange read, I can definitely why Sawyer is such an important name in sci fi, especially in Canada, but so many things definitelydated the book, both thematically and narratively.
But all in all it was very engaging, I enjoyed the worldbuilding (even though the action described in the blurb basically happens in the last 100 of the 700-page ebook...), and I thought it had some interesting messages to share about what the early 90s expected the future to be like, which was fun. Some of the social commentary made me cringe, but not enough to make me stop reading. It definitely makes me want to try more of his work.
Also I thoroughly enjoy the roasting given to Ottawa because yeah, everything Sawyer said is true lol.
But all in all it was very engaging, I enjoyed the worldbuilding (even though the action described in the blurb basically happens in the last 100 of the 700-page ebook...), and I thought it had some interesting messages to share about what the early 90s expected the future to be like, which was fun. Some of the social commentary made me cringe, but not enough to make me stop reading. It definitely makes me want to try more of his work.
Also I thoroughly enjoy the roasting given to Ottawa because yeah, everything Sawyer said is true lol.
March 3, 2024
This is a book written but a brilliant mind, which dives into concepts of soul, after-life and intertwines it with a compelling narrative of how a well intentioned experiment spirals out of control into a murder mystery. Combination of deep questions on life and death, and what technological advances in AI do to us as a species if we ignore their power and reach, is the key backbone of this book and it has been very well written indeed for sci-fi fans to get hooked. I read this on mobile for two weeks whenever I found the time, but always felt it interesting enough to go back and read a few more pages. Worth a read. Looking forward to picking up more of Robert J. Sawyer¡¯s books.
January 18, 2025
Entertaining enough for 4 stars. As the author notes in the later edition, the computer technology is a bit dated for what supposedly happened in 2011, but interesting to see what he thought the available technologies would be by then.
The premise of computer versions of a brain seems a bit overused, given that Pohl had "vasting" in a book decades earlier. But I guess interesting with the 3 versions of the main character's personality.
The premise of computer versions of a brain seems a bit overused, given that Pohl had "vasting" in a book decades earlier. But I guess interesting with the 3 versions of the main character's personality.
June 8, 2022
A very interesting book. Consciousness and mind is a subject that has been interesting me recently and this book has opened up new perspectives. I wish I had read it before, it would have been very useful for my philosophy projects hahahahahaha
Also, It's quite funny how the author sees the world in 201; 11 years later we still don't have those advances.
Also, It's quite funny how the author sees the world in 201; 11 years later we still don't have those advances.
September 26, 2017
If I were to say that TERMINAL EXPERIMENT is typical of Robert J. Sawyer, I could not be paying it a higher compliment. You see, Sawyer (who won the Nebula award for this novel) gives me exactly what I want from sci-fi: heady, provocative concepts framed within a believable plotline. I¡¯m not worried about literary turns of phrases or heart-thumping action scenes. No, in fact, the writers I like so much in this genre ¨C Arthur C. Clarke, Ray Bradbury, Robert C. Wilson, Joe Haldeman, as well as many others ¨C are quite usually writers who work with great concepts and continually prod and provoke those topics for what they can tell us. Yes, they do at the same time often have a framework of something thrilling happening, like the police angle in this one. But what I really like best is the fact that they constantly provide me with something ¨C or many things ¨C I never knew.
So, yes, the more salient topic here is of course the murder aspect: if you¡¯ve read the book¡¯s promotional blurb you know the plot concerns itself with a computer program that in essence comes ¡°alive¡± and is quite literally killing flesh-and-blood characters out there in the real world. And yes, I¡¯m aware this topic has been out there already; the book was published 20 years ago. But like a great sporting event you¡¯ve seen before, the book handles its certainly ¡°trope-ic¡± topic in a way that is innovative and fresh and lets us see its concept in a new and stimulating light.
certain aspects from two of them: the first will represents life after death; the second, an immortal mind; and finally, the third will be a ¡°control,¡± or unaltered copy. And yes, one copy seems to be For instance, the artificial intelligence(s) is not the initial focus of central character Peter Hobson: when he is a young medical grad student he has the opportunity to fulfill credit hours by observing a doctor and his team harvesting organs from a motorcycle crash victim¡¯s dead body. Hobson¡¯s early enthusiasm for the procedure is given a horrible shock when he observes the victim¡¯s body go through very life-like -seizures, and afterward the post grad comes up with the idea of creating a neural net not unlike a shower cap that will map the brain¡¯s activity of dying patients. It is through this procedure that he begins to notice a recurrent phenomenon: a small amount of electrical energy seems to ¡°escape¡± the body and travel onward.
It is because of this phenomenon that Hobson decides to investigate whether there is indeed an afterlife, and wonders if he can mimic it by creating three copies of his brain by cleverly removing
guilty of murder¡ first one, then two, and then, well¡.
For me, the suspense is merely a by-product of a great topic; it¡¯s not why I read Sawyer. No, he ¡°sells¡± his book from the first words on. Though THE TERMINAL EXPERIMENT is certainly suspenseful, I don¡¯t feel Sawyer is necessarily merely hoping we will nail-bite our fingers while sitting up all night to read the next page. No, I believe it¡¯s more that TERMINAL is asking us to look at what it is that makes up the human soul, to wonder if there is indeed a ¡°life¡± thereafter¡ and, in fact, whether there might be a God. While many might argue that this is not a proper topic for sci-fi ¨C that in fact, this is a better topic for religious books like THE SHACK (by William P. Young) ¨C it¡¯s not one he shies away from: in fact, a decade later this is a KEY factor in Sawyer¡¯s excellent novel CALCULATING GOD (which was nominated for a Hugo award).
Though TERMINAL¡¯s topic is really the soul, it¡¯s handled with Sawyer¡¯s typically wry and clever approach. It¡¯s not just through Hobson¡¯s life that we see things develop...for instance, the story frequently steps back and let us see the topic through a variety of clips from the media. For instance:
¡°The suicide rates on Native reserves in the United States in Canada, and in the three largest ghettos in the US, were at a five-year high this past month. One suicide note, from Los Angeles, typified a recurrent theme: ¡®Something beyond this life exists. It can¡¯t be worse than being here.¡¯¡±
In essence, Sawyer does what those other great sci-fi authors do: he writes well enough to let his provocative ideas sell the story. In fact, the author drives us to do what we must do with ALL literature, particularly sci-fi, and that is to suspend our disbelief by taking frankly difficult topics and building them step by step. We accept what we are reading because the authors let characters behave like people do, and by melding science fiction with the actions of everyday people and proceeding onward. I have read almost Sawyer¡¯s entire collection and can hardly wait for his next.
A little factoid I¡¯ll throw in here for those who care: I was in near seventh heaven when Hobson relates to us that he is beginning to enjoy what was for him a new author: mystery writer Robert B. Parker¡¯s SPENSER series¡which is one of my favorites. Sadly, Mr. Parker passed on a short while ago, though his character(s) live on through other author¡¯s penning new books. I can only hope Robert J. Sawyer is here for decades to come.
So, yes, the more salient topic here is of course the murder aspect: if you¡¯ve read the book¡¯s promotional blurb you know the plot concerns itself with a computer program that in essence comes ¡°alive¡± and is quite literally killing flesh-and-blood characters out there in the real world. And yes, I¡¯m aware this topic has been out there already; the book was published 20 years ago. But like a great sporting event you¡¯ve seen before, the book handles its certainly ¡°trope-ic¡± topic in a way that is innovative and fresh and lets us see its concept in a new and stimulating light.
certain aspects from two of them: the first will represents life after death; the second, an immortal mind; and finally, the third will be a ¡°control,¡± or unaltered copy. And yes, one copy seems to be For instance, the artificial intelligence(s) is not the initial focus of central character Peter Hobson: when he is a young medical grad student he has the opportunity to fulfill credit hours by observing a doctor and his team harvesting organs from a motorcycle crash victim¡¯s dead body. Hobson¡¯s early enthusiasm for the procedure is given a horrible shock when he observes the victim¡¯s body go through very life-like -seizures, and afterward the post grad comes up with the idea of creating a neural net not unlike a shower cap that will map the brain¡¯s activity of dying patients. It is through this procedure that he begins to notice a recurrent phenomenon: a small amount of electrical energy seems to ¡°escape¡± the body and travel onward.
It is because of this phenomenon that Hobson decides to investigate whether there is indeed an afterlife, and wonders if he can mimic it by creating three copies of his brain by cleverly removing
guilty of murder¡ first one, then two, and then, well¡.
For me, the suspense is merely a by-product of a great topic; it¡¯s not why I read Sawyer. No, he ¡°sells¡± his book from the first words on. Though THE TERMINAL EXPERIMENT is certainly suspenseful, I don¡¯t feel Sawyer is necessarily merely hoping we will nail-bite our fingers while sitting up all night to read the next page. No, I believe it¡¯s more that TERMINAL is asking us to look at what it is that makes up the human soul, to wonder if there is indeed a ¡°life¡± thereafter¡ and, in fact, whether there might be a God. While many might argue that this is not a proper topic for sci-fi ¨C that in fact, this is a better topic for religious books like THE SHACK (by William P. Young) ¨C it¡¯s not one he shies away from: in fact, a decade later this is a KEY factor in Sawyer¡¯s excellent novel CALCULATING GOD (which was nominated for a Hugo award).
Though TERMINAL¡¯s topic is really the soul, it¡¯s handled with Sawyer¡¯s typically wry and clever approach. It¡¯s not just through Hobson¡¯s life that we see things develop...for instance, the story frequently steps back and let us see the topic through a variety of clips from the media. For instance:
¡°The suicide rates on Native reserves in the United States in Canada, and in the three largest ghettos in the US, were at a five-year high this past month. One suicide note, from Los Angeles, typified a recurrent theme: ¡®Something beyond this life exists. It can¡¯t be worse than being here.¡¯¡±
In essence, Sawyer does what those other great sci-fi authors do: he writes well enough to let his provocative ideas sell the story. In fact, the author drives us to do what we must do with ALL literature, particularly sci-fi, and that is to suspend our disbelief by taking frankly difficult topics and building them step by step. We accept what we are reading because the authors let characters behave like people do, and by melding science fiction with the actions of everyday people and proceeding onward. I have read almost Sawyer¡¯s entire collection and can hardly wait for his next.
A little factoid I¡¯ll throw in here for those who care: I was in near seventh heaven when Hobson relates to us that he is beginning to enjoy what was for him a new author: mystery writer Robert B. Parker¡¯s SPENSER series¡which is one of my favorites. Sadly, Mr. Parker passed on a short while ago, though his character(s) live on through other author¡¯s penning new books. I can only hope Robert J. Sawyer is here for decades to come.
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