chaosetc 's review for:

The Original by Brandon Sanderson, Mary Robinette Kowal

4.0

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I chose this as a easy listen on a sick day. My first impression was... ugh, this is cheesy, these characters are not believable. And I'm not actually sure how much that changed by the end, BUT, for such a short book this story touched on an amazing number of great philosophical questions! If something improves your living experience, does it matter if it's real? What does real actually mean? Is an experience shared if everyone involved has an altered perception of it? Is that any different from the mental filters we already apply to everything we experience? Should we be willing to trade autonomy for longevity? And who gets to control the technology that makes it possible? Is there a real you, or only a version of you responding to current circumstances? And what do we really need to mentally thrive?

I love that this book didn't try to answer these questions. There was no moral, no preaching. Only situations that will prompt a curious mind to ask questions. So many questions.

***** Concept
*** Dialog