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The Old Axolotl book cover
The Old Axolotl
Hardware Dreams
2015
First Published
3.49
Average Rating
280
Number of Pages

The Old Axolotl is an exhilarating post-apocalyptic tale about a world in which a cosmic catastrophe has sterilized the Earth of all living things. Only a small number of humans have managed to copy digitalized versions of their minds onto hardware in the nick of time. Deprived of physical bodies, they continue to exist by uploading themselves onto gigantic industrial robots, sophisticated medical machines, mechs designed for hard labor, military drones, star troopers and sexbots based on Japanese manga. Drowning in nostalgia for the lost world, the survivors create civilization after civilization, life after life, humanity after humanity. They form alliances and fight wars. They develop their own politics, ideologies and crazy hardware religions. And they face dilemmas no one has ever confronted before. What makes us human? Is it possible to copy a soul? Who really lives, fights and dies in those metal bodies? Who plays out the melancholy drama of physiology and the flesh? The Old Axolotl depicts the reversal of old oppositions between life and death, progress and stagnation, the organic and the mechanical, exploring the mystery of the human soul and the eternal solitude of the human individual, whether trapped in a body or the reinforced steel of a robot.

Avg Rating
3.49
Number of Ratings
1,675
5 STARS
15%
4 STARS
38%
3 STARS
32%
2 STARS
11%
1 STARS
4%
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Author

Jacek Dukaj
Jacek Dukaj
Author · 11 books
Jacek Dukaj is one of Poland’s most interesting contemporary prose writers, whose books are always eagerly anticipated events. Dukaj studied philosophy at the Jagiellonian University. He successfully debuted at the age of 16 with a short story Złota Galera (Golden Galley). He is known for the complexity of his books, and it is often said that a single short story of Dukaj contains more ideas than many other writers put into their books in their lifetime. Popular themes in his works include the technological singularity, nanotechnology and virtual reality, and because of this his books often can be classified as hard science fiction.
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