But Will I LIke It: Deus X

Deus X by Norman Spinrad

The atmosphere has terminally thinned; the flood waters have risen; the long-term survival of humanity is slim-to-none. However, technology offers a popular way to dodge the bullet: upload yourself – your thoughts, memories, reasoning, your soul – onto the net. For a reasonable fee, online-you (your ‘successor entity’) will live on in a virtual world, no matter what happens to the planet.

Great!

But.

Is it really possible to upload a soul to the net? Can a computer programme of ‘you’ truly live? Can it/you be self-aware and independently motivated? And, whether it can or not, how could you possibly prove it?

You can find more of Norman Spinrad’s books via his Author page on the Gateway website and read about him in his entry in The Encyclopedia of Science Fiction.