It spotlights the work of Ray Kurzweil, a Futurist whose accurate predictions earned him the spotlight. In 2000, Kurzweil predicted that mind-uploading-scanning your brain and living after your physical death in Virtual Reality–would be a reality.
I read Kurzweil’s article on mind-uploading in Psychology Today when it first appeared in 2000. In it, he defined mind-uploading and described the research taking place. As I understood the article, mind-uploading involves scanning the memories in a living person’s brain and creating a file, then loading the file into a computer program designed to simulate the physical world.
Here is a link to the article and more about Kurzweil: http://singularityhub.com/2011/02/11/time-magazine-shines-a-spotlight-on-kurzweil-the-singularity/
2045– the year Kurzweil predicts mind-uploading technology that will enable us to live forever.
“You shimmer with doubt?” GUNTER HOLDEN asks. “Let me tell you my stories while you settle—some of them are lies of course.”
Gunter, my protagonist, is based on people I’ve known in my life. We’ve all encountered them–people who seem to live by different rules. This book is written from Gunter’s point of view. Gunter admits his charm wears thin at times. He’s intelligent, resourceful and entertaining, but, betrayal is inevitable.
Babylon Dreams takes place in the 22nd century and “post-biological destinations” are big business with companies like Joy Forever and Infinite Bliss fighting for their share of the market dominated by one giant–Virtual Enterprises Inc.
Until his suicide at age 56, Gunter Holden was CEO of VEI, the company he founded in order to create the perfect world. Gunter is now a virtual resident of Bali Hai–the program that was the ultimate in post-bio destinations. It isn’t anymore.
Mind-uploading mimics physical life ala The Matrix, except the real you isn’t stuck in a gooey pod.
The rich opt for luxury and fantasy fulfillment in”post-bio destinations” . For the middle-class they’re often financed, given as wedding and graduation presents, part of retirement plans. The poor hope to win them in state lotteries–or accept another gate with no admittance. So assuming I can afford it, I can exist in paradise– no longer wanting since all is given. There’s no death–I exist for as long as I choose unless I choose to self-delete. What would I want? After that? What then? Babylon Dreams is a place where people discover the answer to “What then?”
As he struggles to free himself from the guilt and betrayals of his past “bio” life, Gunter is caught between two religious communities–one Christian Fundamentalist and the other a ‘New Age” religion as they fight for control of the remaining computer memory.
marjorie kaye's Babylon Dreams 