 On becoming acquainted with Messenger, Helen Reed, who holds the traditional – and seemingly almost old-fashioned – views that consciousness is the business of the humanities, in particular of the novel and of literary criticism; and that there is and should be a clear-cut Cartesian dualism between mind and body, this Helen Reed is confronted by the new (or even not-so-new) trend of considering the mind a mere function of the body.Characteristically, Helen's residual knowledge of, and belief in, Roman Catholicism prevents her from taking a real plunge into Messenger's world of values, where science is the universal problem-solver and where religion and also politics are considered as a curse to humankind.It obviously depends completely whose side you are on whether you consider attempts by renowned scientists at constructing robots as a complete waste of time or as paving the way for a better future society.