Robert J. Sawyer has attained celebrity
status among sci-fi enthusiasts. Noted for his ability to wrap
substantial characters and believable plots around futuristic
science, Sawyer, it turns out, is the perfect spokesperson for
his work. In this interview with WIE's Tom Huston, he proves to
be an engaging, articulate subject, a man who is sincerely
absorbed in the scientific, social, and sometimes deeply
ontological questions that inform his novels. Ontological
questions in a sci-fi novel? That's right. Sawyer's interest in
exploring the edges of science and reality, of what we believe
and why, of what is possible and therefore probable, are
perfectly suited to the science fiction genre, where the real
and the fantastic freely mingle. No wonder then, that when the
interview moves beyond an initial discussion about the Hollywood
potential of his latest novel, Mindscan, the intriguing
questions of consciousness, identity, and reality that occupy
its pages take hold. Interviewer and interviewee merge minds as
they drill down into the nature of consciousness, soul and mind,
genetics and evolution, cloning and identity, quantum physics,
religion, and the transcendent nature of existence. It's not
surprising that Sawyer's personal mission as a writer is to
“combine the intimately human with the grandly
cosmic,” a goal we think he achieves in this exclusive WIE interview.
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Recorded on: 10/9/2004
Biotechnology
Evolution of Consciousness
Futurism