The Terminal Man by Michael Crichton

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If you’re from the generation that was wowed by Total Recall, Marathon Man and/or The Matrix, this book will appeal to you.

It was originally published in 1988, long before the internet, mobile phones and the general digitalisation of technology. Having said that, Michael Crichton is nothing if not imaginative and forward thinking. The Terminal Man is about a man who has a tiny computer implanted in his brain to try and control violent seizures.

The book is actually set in 1971. There are computers in the book, but one such machine is described as ‘a machine that sprayed the letters with a nozzle, rather than typed them out mechanically’ – what we now know as an inkjet printer. Terminal Man’s seizures make him become extremely violent – in fact when he appears in the book, he’s accompanied by police officers who want to prosecute him for assault. Not only this, he’s paranoid about machines taking over the world. Maybe not the best candidate for brain implants?

Terminal Man has minute electrodes implanted on very specific areas of his brain. The idea is that when a seizure is coming on, the electrodes send a short and specific electric shock to the areas of the brain and it keeps his seizure from occurring. The areas of the brain that are affected have different responses, one of which is pleasure – thereby distracting the brain from seizing and giving Terminal Man a pleasant sensation.

This sounds good, right? Fixing someone’s violent problems with technology. Well it is, except …. Terminal Man gets addicted to the pleasant sensations that the shocks bring, so his brain almost reprograms itself to keep seizing, which in turn generates more and more electric shocks, thereby creating an almost constant feeling of pleasure. Ah, guilty pleasure…. Plus, as time goes on, the shocks become less and less effective at controlling his seizures, so …. At some point he’s going to flip out and probably kill someone.

Cue tension in the plot, a hero, a villain and a police hunt without tracing technology or GPS. Pretty cool stuff, and that aspect of the writing hasn’t dated much. A little, but not much.

The idea of implanting a computer in someone’s brain is pretty amazing, even today. I guess maybe Crichton thought that kind of thing would become common place? It hasn’t really, but there are pacemakers, Stephen Hawking’s wheelchair and all manners of machine that do our work for us. They’re all examples of how we’re constantly blurring the interaction between man and machine. And who isn’t lost without their mobile phone these days? How many offices could function without PCs and a network? Or without the internet?

We rely hugely on machines and technology in modern life. Chances are, there are people who collect information on what we do, what we write, where we go and who we know. At some level, are we relinquishing control of our lives to machines? And if so, who’s controlling those machines? I know it’s a bit of a jump, but if you’re a conspiracy theorist, or loved The Matrix, you’re probably shouting YES YES YES!!!

Well ahead of his time, Crichton examines the blurring of the line between man and machine and some of the possible implications. He keeps you aware of this in the book via Doctor Janet Ross, Terminal Man’s psychiatrist. She is the voice of concern in the book and worries about what will happen to her patient, especially as he’s paranoid about computers. Should the surgeons have considered this? Were they too anxious to try out their new technology? Were they thinking of the moral implications? The actual impact on the man’s life? All good questions that are raised in this book. I would recommend it to conspiracy theorists and sci-fi fans who are interested in a short (260 page), light but innovative read.

Title: The Terminal Man
Author: Michael Crichton
Format: Paperback, 331 pages
Publisher: Harper