carl redmond is a main character in this novel, the inventor of rodin, the computer equipped with artificial intelligence. “his vision of the future where the intellect of machines would at first eclipse, and then easily surpass, that of humans was one of unimaginable possibilities. it was a world where hunger, disease, poverty, and even death would be virtually eradicated. carl truly believed there would be no problem his system could not solve, and no dream, human or otherwise, that couldn’t be realized. . . . carl envisioned that within his lifetime, our biological bodies would be completely replaced with cybernetic parts that could last almost forever. . . . his adherence to the strict precepts of materialism convinced him consciousness was something that could be artificially reproduced inside a computer. he considered it to be either purely an illusion our brains labor under or an immaterial manifestation of the electro-neural activities.”
cregg describes the precepts of materialism very well, precepts that are yet prevalent within neuroscience and neuropsychology. as we proceed we shall learn the deficiency of rodin, the machine, described by the author.