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Book Review | The Future Of Post-Human Architecture By Peter Baofu
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In Scalzis thriller, Lock In, people can mentally inhabit robotic bodies

In his new science fiction thriller, Lock In (Tor Books, 2014), novelist John Scalzi portrays a near future in which a virus has rendered some people completely paralyzed, or locked-in their bodies. A wealth of new technology has sprung up to meet the needs of these people, known as Hadens, after the virus that took their mobility. Most notable are the threepsrobotic bodies that Hadens can mentally control, giving them some strength and talents that able-bodied humans do not have such as the ability to transfer their consciousness instantly from one robotic body to another one in a different location.

Scalzis storyone of Scientific Americans Recommended titles for Novemberis a rollicking murder mystery, with meditations on disability politics and gender issues woven in. Many readers may not even notice, for instance, that the gender of Haden protagonist Chris is never revealed (pronouns for Chris are avoided throughout). Scientific American spoke to Scalzi about imagining this possible future and the parallels he sees to the real world.

[An edited transcript of the conversation follows.]

Characters in the book argue about many disability issues, such as whether or not Hadens deserve special accommodations and funding from the government. Did you aim to avoid taking a side on those questions? I wasnt interesting in doing a polemic. We live in a very politically polarized era right now. I do think people of good will can have different opinions but still be coming not from a place of malice.

I had the lot opportunity as part of world-building to show these different points of view and to show there are a lot of different ways of looking at things. There are some people who think that funding for Hadens has outlived its usefulness and can be allocated for other things. There are other people who see it as a willful act of bigotry. Rather than say one of these is right and the other is wrong, to me its more interesting to do the thing that happens in real life and say there are certainly ways to look at this as right or wrong or good or evil, but most people are looking at it with sound reasons for believing what they do.

Do you see Hadens as a metaphor for any disability cultures in the real world? There are some parallels but you have to be very careful with that. I know a little bit about deaf culture because a friend of mine has been in the deaf culture for awhile. Over the course of 25 years she and I have talked about many of the issues and concerns for deaf people and deaf culture. I used that as a starting basis for how Hadens see their identity, and having what other people would see as a detriment be a cornerstone of a cultural and social identity. But Haden culture is not deaf culture. It has very specific things about it that real-world cultures dont have.

Im also aware of the simple fact of the matter that when Im a man with no disabilities greater than wearing glasses, you have a potential minefield when you model a disability culture. This was my attempt. It was worth it to make the attempt. But by all means criticize it, because the next time I do it I dont want to make the same mistakes.

Why did you choose to leave the gender of the protagonist unspecified? Chris spends all of the book in a threep. Theres no immediate reason for Chris to be gendered one way or the other. Threeps do not necessarily have to show any gender preference.

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Imagining Our Post-Human Future: A Q&A with Author John Scalzi

We are not entirely human.

Scientists have found that the bacteria living inside us their tiny cells outnumbering human cells 10-to-1 have an outsized influence over almost everything about us.

There are, on average, 3 pounds of them in every adult human about the weight of an adult brain. And they provide humans with traits we did not evolve on our own.

"The field has been expanding exponentially," said professor Rob Knight, an evolutionary biologist at the University of Colorado and leading researcher whose name is ubiquitous in scientific publications on the subject. "Several hundred different laboratories in the U.S. are working in it. Ten years ago there were 20 labs."

Microbes are such a big part of human life that researchers are beginning to see humans and their microbial components as supraorganisms with mingled traits. And depending on the microbes present, this supraorganism is more or less likely to suffer from autism, obesity, multiple sclerosis, heart disease, allergies, depression, dental problems, immunity deficiencies, Crohn's disease, colon and other cancers and more, according to researchers worldwide.

The microbes residing on our hair and skin and inside our mouths, airways and digestive and reproductive systems exert massive effects over our health and vulnerability to disease.

But until recent years, human-associated microbes the "good" bacteria remained largely unstudied.

"We're right at the beginning of discovery," said Knight, who in 2009 earned an appointment to the Howard Hughes Medical Institute, receiving a $1.5 million research budget over six years.

The field is being catapulted forward by technical and computational advances in genomic science, including the DNA sequencing of microbial communities.

A Smithsonian Magazine article described microbiome research as "Big Science" that "promises the biggest turnaround in medical thinking in 150 years."

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CU gut check: Humans' important relationships under the microscope

Published: Sunday, November 9, 2014 at 4:11 p.m. Last Modified: Sunday, November 9, 2014 at 4:11 p.m.

DELTONA Even after voters chose two new city commissioners and re-elected Mayor John Masiarczyk last week, a new direction for Volusia Countys largest city remains unsettled.

Two key issues remain: Who will serve as the District 2 city commissioner after Dec. 31, when Webster Barnabys resignation takes effect, and who will be the next city manager?

Those issues will be decided after Monday, when the new commission, including District 1 representative Mitch Honaker and District 5 winner Brian Soukup, participate in a swearing-in ceremony.

Masiarczyk, who defeated Zenaida Denizac by barely more than 1 percentage point for a fifth term, said Wednesday getting past the election will be a good thing for Deltona.

Im looking forward to bigger and better things, and the enthusiasm that comes with being new and fresh, Masiarczyk said. Hopefully, we will have the ability to get some new ideas, some fresh thoughts on things that are lacking.

Vice Mayor Heidi Herzberg, who was re-elected to her District 3 seat without opposition earlier this year, doesnt necessarily disagree, but says the past year shows a city government that has lost its way.

City Manager Dave Denny, citing commissioners overstepping their bounds, announced he was retiring. Some commissioners talked him into staying on awhile longer, but he eventually left at the end of August.

Dale Baker, the interim city manager, has run into several controversies.

After a 7-0 vote by the commission, Baker fired the human-resources director following revelations of an email, regarding union negotiations, that commissioners found offensive. Commissioners were also critical of staffs handling of the search for an executive search firm. Commissioners had wanted to hire a firm to lead the search for the next city manager, with key parts of the process timed to follow the election. But only two firms applied, and Baker has re-started the process of advertising for proposals.

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Post-election, Deltona commission looking for 'bigger and better'