"Altered Carbon" by Richard Morgan

"Altered Carbon" by Richard Morgan

"Human personalities can be stored digitally and downloaded into new bodies, called sleeves. Most people have stacks in their spinal columns that store their memories. If their body dies, their stack can be stored indefinitely."

I don't particular like how the book is written, but there is something in the plot that makes me think the is one of the best contemporary science fiction novels. In his interview he explains how the idea of the book first developed.

"It started out from an argument I was having with a Buddhist. The point of conflict was the karma system. He was arguing any suffering you undergo in this life is a direct result of something bad you did in a previous life, which sounds fair until you realise that you can't actually remember any of your previous lives. Then, it suddenly starts to sound existentially pretty fucking unfair. After all, if you can't remember a previous life then to all intents and purposes that life was lived by another person. And why should you be paying for someone else's crimes?"

I don't think Morgan's understanding of the Buddhist's conception of karma is complete, but I still like how he is trying to explore different nuances of the idea and implication of it for the society. Hi view of the later is quite gloomy though.

"Society is, always has been and always will be a structure for the exploitation and oppression of the majority through systems of political force dictated by an élite, enforced by thugs, uniformed or not, and upheld by a willful ignorance and stupidity on the part of the very majority whom the system oppresses."

Well, I understand this sentiment, but I personally have slightly brighter view.

Before I started writhing this note I had not known that there was going to be the "Altered Carbon" film. As well there is a couple of follow-up books, Broken Angels and Woken Furies . I might spend time reading them.