Some of the most startling and mind-bending ideas in contemporary philosophy derive from computer simulations and virtual reality. How can traditional beliefs in the nature of the self and human personality be sustained in a world where the boundaries between the 'real' and the computer-generated are less and less easily defined? This is the arena in which Greg Egan, an Australian computer scientist and SF novelist, has placed his most interesting fiction. Permutation City is an imaginative and engrossing exploration of the new worlds of subjective cosmology which virtual reality suggests may one day exist.

The year is 2050 and computing power has expanded to the point where it is possible for 'copies' of people to be downloaded into virtual environments. Sadly these copies are poor simulacra of flesh-and-blood beings. The power to mimic the real world exactly is still lacking and the copies live a sterile half-life in their virtual environment. Immortality is possible but it is an immortality of which the copies often weary, choosing to self-destruct rather than continue among its shadows. Paul Durham is a man who believes that he is able to offer copies a universe of their own - Permutation City - which is as rich and fulfilling as the real one and he approaches a group of wealthy men, who, since their bodies have passed away, exist only as copies, in order to fund his dreams of the future.

Egan, comfortable himself with the most advanced ideas in computing and with the speculations of transhumanist thinkers about the future, is a demanding writer who expects his readers to put in some work on his narratives themselves but he is a writer who can blend cutting-edge theory with intriguing storytelling to brilliant effect. Permutation City provides a rollercoaster ride through notions that stretch the mind in all directions.

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