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A review by midici
Unlocked: An Oral History of Haden's Syndrome by John Scalzi
5.0
This was so incredibly good, and now I want to go out and get Lock In immediately. This short story covers the initial outbreak of what is later named Haden's Syndrome. I really like this narration style where it switches quickly between characters, all of whom have different opinions and knowledge. Doctors, politicians, journalists, regular people - all of them describe the outbreak.
It was misdiagnosed as a flu, a very bad one. By the time they realized they were wrong, it was too late. There were a lot of deaths, and maybe that would have been bad enough, but then came the second stage; the virus attacked the brain. In some cases it caused brain damage, in others death, but in some came the third stage: lock in. Those who were locked in were mentally fully aware but completely incapable of moving.
Now, the disease aspect is interesting but not what makes this scifi. The global response is to attempt to find a vaccine or cure but also to help those who are locked in. It starts with the neural network, which allows them to communicate but the real breakthrough is the "threeps" - the mechanical bodies that can be connected to a neural network of someone with Haden's and be controlled by them, allowing them to rejoin the world.
This is followed by a discussion of how the reality of those living in threeps - Hadens they call themselves - fundamentally differs from those of a standard human who and the consequences: discrimination, fight for rights, how having a family would work etc.
There is so much to unpack here. The new technology and the ethics of how it was created, the laws surrounding who gets to use it, the division between Hadens and humans, the internal world that Hadens' occupy, how they communicate with each other... I want more and I'm so glad there's a full novel I can get to go explore this.
If you like scifi, go read this: https://www.tor.com/2014/05/13/unlocked-an-oral-history-of-hadens-syndrome-john-scalzi/
It was misdiagnosed as a flu, a very bad one. By the time they realized they were wrong, it was too late. There were a lot of deaths, and maybe that would have been bad enough, but then came the second stage; the virus attacked the brain. In some cases it caused brain damage, in others death, but in some came the third stage: lock in. Those who were locked in were mentally fully aware but completely incapable of moving.
Now, the disease aspect is interesting but not what makes this scifi. The global response is to attempt to find a vaccine or cure but also to help those who are locked in. It starts with the neural network, which allows them to communicate but the real breakthrough is the "threeps" - the mechanical bodies that can be connected to a neural network of someone with Haden's and be controlled by them, allowing them to rejoin the world.
This is followed by a discussion of how the reality of those living in threeps - Hadens they call themselves - fundamentally differs from those of a standard human who and the consequences: discrimination, fight for rights, how having a family would work etc.
There is so much to unpack here. The new technology and the ethics of how it was created, the laws surrounding who gets to use it, the division between Hadens and humans, the internal world that Hadens' occupy, how they communicate with each other... I want more and I'm so glad there's a full novel I can get to go explore this.
If you like scifi, go read this: https://www.tor.com/2014/05/13/unlocked-an-oral-history-of-hadens-syndrome-john-scalzi/