Permutation City (Magill’s Guide to Science Fiction and Fantasy Literature)
At a glance:
- Author: Greg Egan
- First Published: 1994
- Type of Work: Novel
- Type of Plot: Science fiction—artificial intelligence
- Time of Work: 2045-2052
- Setting: Australia and Permutation City
- Genres: Long fiction, Science fiction
- Subjects: Suicide, Future, Twenty-first century, Identity, Artificial intelligence, Australia or Australians, Parallel universes or alternate dimensions
- Locales: Australia
The Plot
Paul Durham awakes and realizes that he is a Copy, a software simulation recorded from his previous physical self, living in a computer-generated world. Such Copies and their environments are vastly simplified models. There is philosophical argument as to whether Copies are “really” conscious, but they believe themselves to be. Copies can interact with the physical world but are slowed relative to it. Many rich people have Copied themselves, then let their original bodies die. The Copies remain in control of their originals’ property, though they fear political...
[The entire page is 1019 words long]
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