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John Scalzi: Lock In
May. 17th, 2018 12:20 pmLock In is possibly the most interesting of John Scalzi’s novels that I’ve read to date, and not just because of the disability angle, although that is a significant part of it. On face, it’s a science fiction murder mystery, with lots of puzzles and sleuthing, murders and attempted murders and even an explosion, and it all takes place within the context of a cosy-cutting government bill that will materially affect the lives of millions of severely disabled people who are dependent on expensive, usually government-subsidised, life support mechanisms and assistive devices.
The setting is America, in a world changed by the emergence of a new disease, named Haden’s Syndrome after one of its more prominent victims. It looks a bit like the flu, then meningitis follows. Many die. Some recover, unchanged. A small proportion, however, are so neurologically altered that they can no longer control any of the voluntary functions of the body - they are locked in, unable to move, speak, blink, but they are fully conscious. Massive research has enabled these people to be fitted with neural nets - computers integrated into their brains - which allow them to control external devices, from voice synthesizers to robotic bodies, affectionately called “threeps” - and to interact with each other in a virtual space known as the Agora. More, it is discovered that a tiny fraction of Haden survivors who are not locked in, known as Integrators, have neurological changes that allow them, when fitted with a special neural net, to virtually ‘host’ the awareness of a locked in Haden, allow them to experience the sensations of being in a functional human body. All of this - the research, the nets, the robotic bodies, the computer space needed to host the private and public online worlds of the Hadens - is government subsidised, and is the basis of an entire industry. And all will be subject to massive change when the new laws come into effect.
The story begins with a murder investigation. It’s newly minted FBI Agent Chris Shane’s first day on the job. Shane, along with Agent Leslie Vann, a firmer Integrator, are part of the FBI section that handles crimes involving Hadens. An Integrator, Nicholas Bell, has been found, seemingly confused, in a hotel room with a very bloody, very dead corpse with no ID. The fact that Bell is an Integrator means that even if his body killed the unknown man, he himself may not have committed the murder. It’s the start of very complicated case involving murder, industrial sabotage and conspiracy to manipulate an entire industry for corporate gain that will end up having implications for all Hadens in America.
The novel explores in considerable detail the practical, ethical and legal issues arising when a person can act at a distance through a robotic body, or through another, specially enhanced human being, and that aspect of the book is fascinating. Inevitably, all sorts of disability issues arise, from the question of financial support for research and accommodation, to discrimination, harassment and hate crimes. Particularly interesting is the debate over accommodation versus cure, which parallels such conversations in and around a number of real life communities, including the Deaf and neurodiverse communities.
Something that’s been noted in other places is Scalzi’s choice not to specify the gender of the protagonist. We have no idea of Chris’ biological sex, nor their identification as man, woman, non-binary, or agender. It makes sense - Chris was infected at the age of three, and has lived outside their human body ever since - gender doesn’t make a lot of impact when one’s primary presentation is a metallic genderless robot, and one can experience physical desire only through the body of another person, who could be of any gender. If Chris has a sense of being gendered, it doesn’t enter into their public life and doesn’t need comment in a book that focuses entirely on their public life. Similarly, it s not until late in the book that it Is confirmed that Chris is biracial - again, it’s nit something you can tell from the metal bodies that Hadens use to move in the physical world.
One weakness of the book is that we have no idea what is going on with research and support for Hadens in other parts of the word, or whether any of these technologies exist in other developed nations, or how international trade might affect the various plots and machinations to take control of the American Haden support industry. We’re not even sure if the Agora is for American only.
All in all, a complex and interesting novel, with a solid story, and more meat on it than one finds in some of Scazi’s other novels, which have tended to be exciting and engaging tales, without a lot to challenge one’s thinking. Lock In does both.
The setting is America, in a world changed by the emergence of a new disease, named Haden’s Syndrome after one of its more prominent victims. It looks a bit like the flu, then meningitis follows. Many die. Some recover, unchanged. A small proportion, however, are so neurologically altered that they can no longer control any of the voluntary functions of the body - they are locked in, unable to move, speak, blink, but they are fully conscious. Massive research has enabled these people to be fitted with neural nets - computers integrated into their brains - which allow them to control external devices, from voice synthesizers to robotic bodies, affectionately called “threeps” - and to interact with each other in a virtual space known as the Agora. More, it is discovered that a tiny fraction of Haden survivors who are not locked in, known as Integrators, have neurological changes that allow them, when fitted with a special neural net, to virtually ‘host’ the awareness of a locked in Haden, allow them to experience the sensations of being in a functional human body. All of this - the research, the nets, the robotic bodies, the computer space needed to host the private and public online worlds of the Hadens - is government subsidised, and is the basis of an entire industry. And all will be subject to massive change when the new laws come into effect.
The story begins with a murder investigation. It’s newly minted FBI Agent Chris Shane’s first day on the job. Shane, along with Agent Leslie Vann, a firmer Integrator, are part of the FBI section that handles crimes involving Hadens. An Integrator, Nicholas Bell, has been found, seemingly confused, in a hotel room with a very bloody, very dead corpse with no ID. The fact that Bell is an Integrator means that even if his body killed the unknown man, he himself may not have committed the murder. It’s the start of very complicated case involving murder, industrial sabotage and conspiracy to manipulate an entire industry for corporate gain that will end up having implications for all Hadens in America.
The novel explores in considerable detail the practical, ethical and legal issues arising when a person can act at a distance through a robotic body, or through another, specially enhanced human being, and that aspect of the book is fascinating. Inevitably, all sorts of disability issues arise, from the question of financial support for research and accommodation, to discrimination, harassment and hate crimes. Particularly interesting is the debate over accommodation versus cure, which parallels such conversations in and around a number of real life communities, including the Deaf and neurodiverse communities.
Something that’s been noted in other places is Scalzi’s choice not to specify the gender of the protagonist. We have no idea of Chris’ biological sex, nor their identification as man, woman, non-binary, or agender. It makes sense - Chris was infected at the age of three, and has lived outside their human body ever since - gender doesn’t make a lot of impact when one’s primary presentation is a metallic genderless robot, and one can experience physical desire only through the body of another person, who could be of any gender. If Chris has a sense of being gendered, it doesn’t enter into their public life and doesn’t need comment in a book that focuses entirely on their public life. Similarly, it s not until late in the book that it Is confirmed that Chris is biracial - again, it’s nit something you can tell from the metal bodies that Hadens use to move in the physical world.
One weakness of the book is that we have no idea what is going on with research and support for Hadens in other parts of the word, or whether any of these technologies exist in other developed nations, or how international trade might affect the various plots and machinations to take control of the American Haden support industry. We’re not even sure if the Agora is for American only.
All in all, a complex and interesting novel, with a solid story, and more meat on it than one finds in some of Scazi’s other novels, which have tended to be exciting and engaging tales, without a lot to challenge one’s thinking. Lock In does both.