WWW: #3 Wonder

Common among trilogies, the first, i.e., the introductory both as it sets the foundation of the series is the greatest and the final book serves as a mind-blasting ending to the series and the middle one serves as the balancing act but Robert J. Sawyer's WWW series breaks these norms. Lets hear for the final book of the WWW trilogy,Wonder.

Here is the summary of the book:

Webmind-the vast consciousness that spontaneously emerged from the infrastructure of the World Wide Web-has proven its worth to humanity by aiding in everything from curing cancer to easing international tensions. But the brass at the Pentagon see Webmind as a threat that needs to be eliminated. Caitlin Decter-the once-blind sixteen-year-old math genius who discovered, and bonded with, Webmind-wants desperately to protect her friend. And if she doesn't act, everything-Webmind included-may come crashing down.
As with the previous WWW book, Wonder takes off just as Watch finishes. While a pilot attempt to eliminate Webmind, the sentient A.I. of the world wide web by the agency WATCH may have been foiled and webmind may be safe for the time being but the humans have a long way to go before they can actually believe its worth.

Wonder....well the book title may not really say what it is about but after its two excellent predecessors - Wake & Watch - Wonder can be seen as the one where all the loose ends meet.

Webmind is doing wonders imaginable...I suppose that might be where the title comes from; cures for dangerous diseases, routing corrupt governments, keeping tabs over criminal activities. Webmind sure is going the way for a Nobel Peace Prize and he definitely gets it at the end.

While Caitlin and her family as well as Matt while supporting him (webmind) face problems of their own. As well as Hobo and his caretakers & the Chinese Wong Wai-Jeng are fighting their own battles. And well Colonel Peyton Hume has for a lack of a better word...gone rogue.

After Wake and Watch a lot would feel 'how much more can you give after such amazing two book?' Well Wonder may not exactly have any of them but it is the ideology that matters and the author shows his via Webmind. And I still haven't grasped the concept of 'Game Theory'. As the previous two installments, the characterization of the book goes like - its top notch. They are all very vivid and dynamic. It is very easy to get along with them, especially Webmind. It is a good thing that Robert J. Sawyer did not make it into a dystopia - we already have a lot of them in the market at present - we don't need more; WWW is strangely optimistic, maybe the human race have hope after all.

WWW: #3 Wonder

WWW: #2 Watch

Second book of the WWW trilogy by master story-teller Robert J Sawyer,Watch. Here it is.....

Summary of the book:

Award-winning author Robert J. Sawyer continues his "wildly though- provoking" science fiction saga of a sentient World Wide Web. Webmind is an emerging consciousness that has befriended Caitlin Decter and grown eager to learn about her world. But Webmind has also come to the attention of WATCH-the secret government agency that monitors the Internet for any threat to the United States-and they're fully aware of Caitlin's involvement in its awakening. WATCH is convinced that Webmind represents a risk to national security and wants it purged from cyberspace. But Caitlin believes in Webmind's capacity for compassion-and she will do anything and everything necessary to protect her friend.
Where dystopias and post-apocalyptic worlds clutter the shelves in science fiction with the errors of humanity, Sawyer’s WWW accepts the fault in humans and brings hope for change.

Watch picks up where Wake ended. In here, Webmind not only begins to develops cognitive abilities exponentially, but through the help of Catlin begins to develop its sense of ethics and, without being too maudlin, an understanding of "the meaning of life." This novel is primarily about this development, along with government agencies trying to figure out how to shut Webmind down, fearing it will become so powerful it will destroy mankind. Yes I mentioned governmental agencies - always the spoil-sport.

"Watch" is coincidentally a governmental agency that has put it upon itself to wipe out the Webmind (the AI), regardless of no proof that the Webmind means harm to humankind. In fact, Webmind finds that humans are fascinating creatures and realizes that if humans are wiped out, eventually he would be too perish. Overlayed on this tale is the story about Hobo, the intelligent chimp/bonabo crossbreed. Hobo starts to get violent towards the woman who is responsible for him and the scientists have to decide what to do with him. Meanwhile, through Dr. Kuroda, the Webmind is able to view more than text files on the internet and branches out to sound and video files. Eventually, the Webmind witnesses a teen suicide through the net. Caitlin becomes furious at it because it didn't intervene.

The book delves into so many topics together that it is almost mind-boggling to follow but it does it in a way that is easy to relate to and follow. So few books release everyday that make you want to ponder your knowledge of the world - well this is one of them. Racism, animal rights, GLBT rights, the privacy act, national security, international politics, and human rights and differences between artificial intelligence and emerging consciousness, autism, blindness, suicide, and the question behind how emerging consciousness can override natural selection and evolution were some of the deeper issues were touched upon by this book.

This tale has WATCH involving other governmental intelligence agencies in the investigation. Caitlin and her associates are interviewed by agents trying to discover Webmind's nature. And as usual with a lot of novels centering upon AI these government organizations want to disperse the entity even before they know its nature - just because it has a capability that far exceeds their own. (Although yes I understand that up to some extent this may be a standard protocol for the intelligence agencies but yes they do tend to poke their noses were they are not welcome)

General complaint about second books in trilogies is often the least exciting or action- or drama-packed, because it often serves as a bridge between the beginning and the end. Not so with this one; Sawyer manages to make mince-meat of that common complaint. Sawyer continues the great storytelling from Wake, discussing the concepts of game theory, and what a sentient presence on the Internet could really mean for the world in his comfortable, conversational way.

Overall it is an enjoyable and an easy read and maybe a much better book that its predecessor and I'm definitely starting the last book of the trilogy Wonderas soon as I finish my currently reading pile.

WWW: #2 Watch

WWW: #1 Wake

A great Sci-fi is one which takes an issue or a topic then speculates on those that are theoretically possible given some of the conditions and advances of our current level of technology. And in the case of Robert J Sawyer's WWW trilogy #1 Wake that speculated future maybe the best so far.


Here is the summary for the book:


Caitlin Decter is young, pretty, feisty, a genius at math-and blind. Still, she can surf the net with the best of them, following its complex paths clearly in her mind. But Caitlin's brain long ago co-opted her primary visual cortex to help her navigate online. So when she receives an implant to restore her sight, instead of seeing reality, the landscape of the World Wide Web explodes into her consciousness, spreading out all around her in a riot of colors and shapes. While exploring this amazing realm, she discovers something-some other-lurking in the background. And it's getting more and more intelligent with each passing day...




The book centers around networking (kind-of obvious - its named WWW trilogy after all) and its co-relation to sentience. The plot follows three stories, connected only by this thread. Due to a massive influenza outbreak, the secretive Chinese government cuts off its people from the Internet, because of its decision to take care of the problem by exterminating the village where the outbreak occurred. This causes a cascading reaction that "awakens" something in the Internet. It becomes a living being, slowly, even painfully, comes to understand it exists.


Young Caitlin, blind since birth, is offered a chance to see, using a new optical technology, funded the University of Tokyo. Something goes awry, and instead of the actual world, she becomes the first person to actually be able to "see" the web, as a series of geometric shapes, colors, lines and nodes. Eventually, as the plot progresses, she is able to switch her EyePod (!fitting!) to either view WebSight, or, in a different mode, external reality, i.e., her mother, her schoolmates, etc.


The third story is of a primate research lab where a bonobo and an orangutan are given the opportunity to have the first cross-species live webchat. As a result, something "turns on" inside the bonobo's mind, and the researchers realize that he is capable of more than just a few sign-language gestures, but representational art that depicts his favorite members of staff.






And although the the book follows three plots intermingled together, the side plots actually felt meaningless since our main focus is Caitlin and how she gets an implant that is supposed to fix her blindness. However, what she can do after the implant is see the infrastructure of the World Wide Web and then interact with an entity which lives inside of it. She becomes a teacher to this entity just as Annie Sullivan did to Helen Keller (the book's analogy) and radically expands its consciousness, knowledge and ability to communicate.




It was actually the cover (beautiful don't you all think!) as well as the description on the back cover that made me want to read it. Sawyer's writing style is approachable even for those who are not big Sci-Fi readers. An element which I dare say is most often not found within this genre. Certainly the science is there (which is also accurate) but his books tend to deal more with the culture of the day and the way the characters respond to that while the science goes by in the background.


Thought provoking,a good read and an introduction to modern thought on human perception and pattern recognition. The plot is pure science fiction and points to a plausible future maybe years in the distant future from now.

It is also very refreshing optimistic read of the future. Super-Artificial-Intelligence as a concept can be dealt about but in the long run is a very difficult topic to base your work on without making it an info-dump. Writing an entire thread of the story from the Super-AI's perspective must have been daunting. During the "waking" of the internet being, Sawyer illustrated how concepts that humans take for granted would be viewed by an entity with no framework in place to interpret them, and then goes on to show these concepts and worldviews could be altered.
Wake is a book that will grow on you as you read it. Sawyer has done a fantastic job of researching the science, but also throws in lots of references that any savvy Internet user will recognize, appreciate, and be amused by; as well as putting the readers in the mind of a blind person and how they do the amazing things they do each day. By the end of the book readers will be impatiently wanting the sequel, Watch. I know I am.

WWW: #1 Wake