Robert J Sawyer is one of the most decorated science fiction writers in recent memory. Over the last few weeks, I picked up his most recent series, beginning with WWW: Wake, and have I got a recommendation for you!
This series is phenomenal. Here's why.
First off, the premise of the book is something that (to my knowledge) is extremely underrepresented in popular science fiction nowadays. The concept of AI's has become – as one of the characters notes in the second book of the trilogy – a foregone conclusion. You don't really get to make the argument that intelligent computers could possibly be benevolent, because popular media has inundated us with images of Skynet, and the Matrix, and HAL. Every computer that gains enough mental capacity to look at us, tries to kill us. This book takes an opposite stance – why does that necessarily have to be true? What would our societal reaction to an emerging AI be?
And while this question is an interesting one, Sawyer manages to keep it as a central theme while simultaneously addressing taboos, abortion rights, human rights, underage sex, and a couple dozen other topics in ancillary ways. They're not in depth treatments, but they provide the start to a number of conversations that we, as a society, should be having.
The characters are remarkably realized, from the 'main character' of Caitlin Decker – a blind girl given sight by a remarkable new technology – and her parents, to the character of the AI itself, which goes by the name Webmind. This AI, more than any other, impresses me, because it isn't this alien, omniscient force, but rather a personality and a character all to itself. Over the three books, Sawyer crosses between POV characters to track all the different plotlines he has interweaving, and makes each compelling even when the reason for the link to the 'main plot' isn't yet obvious.
More than anything though, the most impressive thing about Sawyer's writing is how colloquial he makes his writing sound. Caitlin feels like a real person, with a list of bookmarks on her web browser, and things she worries about, and those old issues she never really got over. She's real feeling, and experiential, and consistent. More over, she's likeable, but not perfect. I found myself interested in reading about her – even when she wasn't doing anything particularly interesting. Her banal, normal days were still interesting enough to grab me and keep me reading indefinitely.
Without trying to spoil the plot of the novels, suffice to say that the trilogy takes you through the entirety of the process of Webmind's development. I strongly recommend these books to anyone who has an interest in Science-Fiction, AI's, or even just philosophy and pop-culture.
Robert J Sawyer's personal website can be found here.
No comments:
Post a Comment