The post-humans are an all-around bad sort. The post-humans have moved out to Jupiter, claiming the planet and using legal excuses to justify their uploading the minds of human beings into robotic drones for slave labor. In the 21st century, a group of transhumanists called the Outwarders have developed the ability to upload themselves into computers, becoming the very first Greg Egan-style post-humans. The story is set in the 24th century following a series of calamities, among them the Green Death, a genetically engineered plague, and the collapse of capitalism (MacLeod is an unabashed left-wing socialist). It is a readable but ultimately unfulfilling novel that leaves you wondering precisely what the point was. But in his efforts to present every side of an issue, MacLeod's results are glossy and superficial. The Cassini Division is a novel that earnestly tries to address the ethical dilemmas presented by a future in which runaway technologies have divided the human race, in more ways than one. The trouble was, I found it difficult to detect one idea in the entire novel that was developed in detail or, more importantly, which may have provided the novel with a thematic focus. Vernor Vinge, a creditable writer if ever SF has had one, pronounces The Cassini Division "a brilliant novel of ideas" in an enthusiastic cover blurb.
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