一位遊戲公司的創始人兼董事長Richard“Dodge”Forthrast在一次醫療事故中過世，但過世意味著完結嗎？
不，他的故事才正要開始。
Dodge的事業、財富和親情兼收，生活完美，並與他的姪女Zula和姪孫女Sophia的關係緊密。他意外逝世之後，其朋友兼遺囑執行人Corvallis Kawasaki發現了他的願望，Dodge希望死後能夠保留他的大腦，直到科技足夠先進將他的意識上傳到電腦中，用另一種形式留在世界上。
最終他的遺體交給了一個神祕的科技企業家Elmo Shepherd所擁有的人體冷凍公司，即使法律面仍存在疑慮，Dodge的家人還是遵照遺囑將他的大腦掃描並將其數據上傳且處存在雲端中。
未來幾年，科技足以進步到擁有技術能夠重新開啟Dodge的大腦，但這種成就將是對死亡本身的一種破壞。一個永恆的世界Bitworld被創造出來，而人類，將永遠作為數據存在於世上。
Neal Stephenson在這部小說中，觸及正在改變未來樣貌的科技革新，並對人類的「存在」提出深刻的質疑。(文/博客來編譯)
The #1 New York Times bestselling author of Seveneves, Anathem, Reamde, and Cryptonomiconreturns with a wildly inventive and entertaining science fiction thriller—Paradise Lost by way of Philip K. Dick—that unfolds in the near future, in parallel worlds.
In his youth, Richard “Dodge” Forthrast founded Corporation 9592, a gaming company that made him a multibillionaire. Now in his middle years, Dodge appreciates his comfortable, unencumbered life, managing his myriad business interests, and spending time with his beloved niece Zula and her young daughter, Sophia.
One beautiful autumn day, while he undergoes a routine medical procedure, something goes irrevocably wrong.
Dodge is pronounced brain dead and put on life support, leaving his stunned family and close friends with difficult decisions. Long ago, when a much younger Dodge drew up his will, he directed that his body be given to a cryonics company now owned by enigmatic tech entrepreneur Elmo Shepherd. Legally bound to follow the directive despite their misgivings, Dodge’s family has his brain scanned and its data structures uploaded and stored in the cloud, until it can eventually be revived.
In the coming years, technology allows Dodge’s brain to be turned back on. It is an achievement that is nothing less than the disruption of death itself. An eternal afterlife—the Bitworld—is created, in which humans continue to exist as digital souls.
But this brave new immortal world is not the Utopia it might first seem . . .
Fall, or Dodge in Hell is pure, unadulterated fun: a grand drama of analog and digital, man and machine, angels and demons, gods and followers, the finite and the eternal. In this exhilarating epic, Neal Stephenson raises profound existential questions and touches on the revolutionary breakthroughs that are transforming our future. Combining the technological, philosophical, and spiritual in one grand myth, he delivers a mind-blowing speculative literary saga for the modern age.
Review
“Stephenson devotees with a taste for Tolkienesque fantasy will revel in the author’s imaginative world building . . . . Still, there are enough futuristic, envelope-pushing ideas here, especially related to AI and digital consciousness, to keep even nonfans and science buffs intrigued.” (Booklist [starred review])
“Those ready for an endlessly inventive and absorbing story are in for an adventure they won’t soon forget. An audacious epic with more than enough heart to fill its many, many pages.” (Kirkus Reviews [starred review])
不，他的故事才正要開始。
Dodge的事業、財富和親情兼收，生活完美，並與他的姪女Zula和姪孫女Sophia的關係緊密。他意外逝世之後，其朋友兼遺囑執行人Corvallis Kawasaki發現了他的願望，Dodge希望死後能夠保留他的大腦，直到科技足夠先進將他的意識上傳到電腦中，用另一種形式留在世界上。
最終他的遺體交給了一個神祕的科技企業家Elmo Shepherd所擁有的人體冷凍公司，即使法律面仍存在疑慮，Dodge的家人還是遵照遺囑將他的大腦掃描並將其數據上傳且處存在雲端中。
未來幾年，科技足以進步到擁有技術能夠重新開啟Dodge的大腦，但這種成就將是對死亡本身的一種破壞。一個永恆的世界Bitworld被創造出來，而人類，將永遠作為數據存在於世上。
Neal Stephenson在這部小說中，觸及正在改變未來樣貌的科技革新，並對人類的「存在」提出深刻的質疑。(文/博客來編譯)
The #1 New York Times bestselling author of Seveneves, Anathem, Reamde, and Cryptonomiconreturns with a wildly inventive and entertaining science fiction thriller—Paradise Lost by way of Philip K. Dick—that unfolds in the near future, in parallel worlds.
In his youth, Richard “Dodge” Forthrast founded Corporation 9592, a gaming company that made him a multibillionaire. Now in his middle years, Dodge appreciates his comfortable, unencumbered life, managing his myriad business interests, and spending time with his beloved niece Zula and her young daughter, Sophia.
One beautiful autumn day, while he undergoes a routine medical procedure, something goes irrevocably wrong.
Dodge is pronounced brain dead and put on life support, leaving his stunned family and close friends with difficult decisions. Long ago, when a much younger Dodge drew up his will, he directed that his body be given to a cryonics company now owned by enigmatic tech entrepreneur Elmo Shepherd. Legally bound to follow the directive despite their misgivings, Dodge’s family has his brain scanned and its data structures uploaded and stored in the cloud, until it can eventually be revived.
In the coming years, technology allows Dodge’s brain to be turned back on. It is an achievement that is nothing less than the disruption of death itself. An eternal afterlife—the Bitworld—is created, in which humans continue to exist as digital souls.
But this brave new immortal world is not the Utopia it might first seem . . .
Fall, or Dodge in Hell is pure, unadulterated fun: a grand drama of analog and digital, man and machine, angels and demons, gods and followers, the finite and the eternal. In this exhilarating epic, Neal Stephenson raises profound existential questions and touches on the revolutionary breakthroughs that are transforming our future. Combining the technological, philosophical, and spiritual in one grand myth, he delivers a mind-blowing speculative literary saga for the modern age.
Review
“Stephenson devotees with a taste for Tolkienesque fantasy will revel in the author’s imaginative world building . . . . Still, there are enough futuristic, envelope-pushing ideas here, especially related to AI and digital consciousness, to keep even nonfans and science buffs intrigued.” (Booklist [starred review])
“Those ready for an endlessly inventive and absorbing story are in for an adventure they won’t soon forget. An audacious epic with more than enough heart to fill its many, many pages.” (Kirkus Reviews [starred review])