Down and Out in the Magic Kingdom

a Novel by Cory Doctorow

reviewed by Bill Creasy

Computer scientists have come to the near-unanimous conclusion that the brain is an information processor like a computer. Not only that, it appears inevitable that soon, a computer will be built with as much processing power as a human brain. This capability could provide all kinds of amazing possibilities: upgrading our brains with new hardware, transferring our minds to machines, and restoring our minds to new bodies. These capabilities could eliminate death and transform human beings. (Greg Paul was an early proponent of these ideas in his book, Beyond Humanity.)

Science fiction has been slow to explore these ideas, though. The majority of science fiction stories, including everything on TV and in the movies, have heros who must risk their lives and escape death.

Cory Doctorow is an author who is considering the lives of post-transformation humans in this book. In the story, Julius and his friends Lil and Dan are involved in an effort to preserve the Magic Kingdom of Walt Disney World. These people have technological upgrades to allow them to back up their minds and memories. Suddenly, Julius is murdered by a stranger. He is resurrected as a clone with his backed up memories, and he proceeds to try to solve his own murder.

The book explores a number of other novel ideas. The economic and social system has been transformed into a more egalitarian system in which a person's worth is measured by the esteem of other people, instantly tallied by on-line displays. Work is done by "ad hocs", groups of volunteers who democratically decide to work on a common project that they are all interested in. Even in this society, there is no shortage of conflict. The Magic Kingdom is the focus of competition between a faction who want to preserve it as it has been, led by Julius, Lil, and Dan, and a faction who want to transform the attractions to new technology that can only be experienced through the new mental implants. This conflict provides an almost nostalgic view of the preservation of old human nature vs. progress to the new technology.

This book shows that science fiction writers can address a future that may be almost too strange to imagine.