Neil Stevenson can be safely called one of the most serious and authoritative science fiction writers of our time. On his account there are many such prestigious awards as "Hugo", "Locus" and "Prometheus", the author's books are recommended by Sergey Brin, Bill Gates and Michael Arrington, Stevenson himself worked at Blue Origin as a staff futurologist. Having such a background, as well as an education in geography and physics, Stevenson often becomes a speaker at various conferences. In particular, in 2019, when his novel Fall was released; or, Dodge in Hell ("Fall, or Dodge in Hell") science fiction gave a lecture as part of Talks at Google.
The novel is dedicated to the topic of digital immortality. In the center of the plot - millionaire Richard "Dodge" Fortrust, who dies in an accident. According to the will, his body is frozen in a cryochamber in order to digitize the brain in the near future and upload it to the virtual world. Bitmir was supposed to become a kind of paradise, but instead it is much more like a dystopian hell, where, in addition to the digital souls of people loaded into it, there are angels and demons, peculiar gods and other frightening creatures.
Here is a small summary of Stevenson's most striking statements in his speech.
Unlike other Stevenson novels, the new book is not so deeply based on scientific evidence. In The Fall, or Dodge in Hell, the writer takes a different approach to science, which he immediately warns his fans about:
«, «» , . , , , . , . , . , . - , , , , , ».In the new novel, you can find characters from previous works by Stevenson. For example, the millionaire protagonist Richard "Dodge" Fortrust is featured in the early Reamde Virus. In Fall ..., readers also finally learn a lot more about Enoch Root, who appeared earlier in the Baroque Cycle:
« . , - . : «, , ?» — . - « », , . , - , . , , . «...». , , , ».The Fall ... serves as a kind of summarizing, as the new book contains many of the ideas, characters and concepts that have been referenced in other Stevenson novels. Does this mean that the American science fiction writer wrote his last novel? Not at all.
“Time will tell, but this novel will certainly not be my last book. It was kind of a way to answer some of the questions asked in the earlier stuff that I worked on. It all came together somehow by itself. And then, I have some ideas of what to do with all this next. Still, it was nice to deal with several unresolved issues in order to move on to new works. "Stevenson does not change his habits and continues to write multi-page novels. The volume of "Falls ..." is about 1000 pages. The author does not deliberately split books into sequels and is not afraid to create extensive works. That's why:
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In the middle of the novel "The Fall ..." seems to break down and change its style. Stevenson had a long discussion with his editor and fans, whom he trusts, a similar plot move: how much this unexpected change in the novel will be of interest to most readers. And why is such a division of the book into two completely different stylistic parts is important for him.
“Yes, there is an unexpected plot twist in the middle of the book. It stops being a technotriller about the near future and starts to resemble an epic fantasy, where the action takes place in Bitmir, a kind of digital version of the afterlife. That's what I originally intended. However, many people who like the first part may be unpleasantly surprised when they find that they are already reading something else. So I fiddled a lot with the novel to balance things a bit.One of the key questions of the book is what can be considered reality. What is happening in our lives now terrifies Neal Stevenson. He believes that the foundation of our civilization has already been destroyed:
So what happens in Moab and Ameristan - what happens in the real world in the first part of the book - I need it for something important that happens next. The plot makes a kind of demand for me. The chronology of the novel prompts me to write about our near future - first for a few, and then for 20 years ahead. So I try to do my best to come up with a future that I believe is plausible and that comes from the reality in which we are now. And then, as I said, about halfway through the novel turns into a completely different book. "
«, , . - , , , . , , - , . , , , — , — , .Stevenson is very interested in our near future, so he constructs it in the novel, based on what is happening now. He is simultaneously frightened by what is happening, but still he hopes for the best.
I think we are now at a point where no mediated experience can any longer be taken at face value. This process began when television or even radio appeared, when millions of people were able to share their experiences through the media. So, the only thing you can be sure of is what really happened to you, what you personally experienced on yourself. For example, if you are in a room with someone when they say something, you can be pretty sure they said it. But if you've seen it on screen, you have no idea how true it is. All this could be fake. "
“I think this is a really interesting idea for science fiction and its future: what a society looks like in which you cannot trust anyone or believe what you have not seen with your own eyes. So I'm really interested to see how things go now. They can develop in several different directions. I hope that we will find a way out and adapt to this together as a society. Now I think too much about where it can lead all of us. "