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Jul. 10th, 2006 11:45 am![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
chris_gerribI recently finished reading Donald J. Bingle’s first novel, Forced Conversion. It’s a well-written SF action book, but unfortunately I found the ending unsatisfying. The basic premise for this near-future yarn was that everybody on Earth was being forcibly “converted” – uploaded into a virtual reality matrix. The logic was that, since the virtual denizens were vulnerable to physical interference, and resources were limited, society couldn’t let the isolated few run amuck.
I had two problems with the story. First, and somewhat of a minor point, there is a situation where a character who’s been uploaded can’t be in two VR worlds at once. I didn’t understand this – once you convert something to a binary stream, you can replicate it anywhere.
My second problem is that, in the end, all the action of the story was for naught, which is all I can say without spoiling the plot. Overall, well-written but not terribly satisfying.
I had two problems with the story. First, and somewhat of a minor point, there is a situation where a character who’s been uploaded can’t be in two VR worlds at once. I didn’t understand this – once you convert something to a binary stream, you can replicate it anywhere.
My second problem is that, in the end, all the action of the story was for naught, which is all I can say without spoiling the plot. Overall, well-written but not terribly satisfying.
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Date: 2006-07-15 02:51 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2006-07-15 06:45 pm (UTC)