Watch

WWW: Watch (2010) is the second SF novel in the WWW trilogy, following WWW: Wake. In the previous volume, Caitlin recovered her sight and went back to school. She told off Trevor and Bashira laughed. Then she received an email from the Phantom saying happy birthday. She asked what name she should call it and got the replay "Webmind". In this novel, Webmind is an emergent sentient within the Internet. It exists through mutated packets that are not deleted when they exceed their retry count. Caitlin Decter is fifteen years old. She had been blind since birth due to garbled signals from her retinas. She recovered the sight in her left eye with an experimental device to correct the signals. Since the device was installed, she can view either the World Wide Web or the real world. Malcolm Decter is Caitlin's father. He is autistic, but is also a renown physicist. He has a position at the Perimeter Institute for Theoretical Physics. Barbara Decter is Caitlin's mother. She has a Ph.D. in Economics, but quit her job to take care of her blind daughter. Now that her daughter is no longer blind, she is looking for another position. Masayuki Kuroda is a neuroscientist at the University of Tokyo. He has a Ph.D. from Cambridge and specializes in signal processing within the primary visual cortex. He has grown to know and respect the Decter family. Anthony Moretti works for Web Activity Threat Containment Headquarters. Tony supervises the WATCH monitoring center in Alexandria, Virginia. In this story, Webmind is growing more knowledgeable at an increasing rate. He has absorbed the Wikipedia, Project Gutenberg and other online databases. His conversation may use many obsolete terms, but is still understandable. Caitlin introduces her mother to Webmind. At first, Barbara thinks that it is just another internet scam. She decides that it is only a natural language program. Then they ask Malcolm to decide. He administers some impromptu Turing tests and Webmind consistently fails. These results indicate that Webmind is not human, but his vocabulary and reasoning ability suggest that it is not a computer program. WATCH analysts observe an increase in WWW activity and track it down to Caitlin's eyePod. Tony is notified and learns that it is visual data coded in an unknown protocol. Moreover, the datastream is being copied to an unknown location. WATCH analysts also find an IM connection to the same location. The information in the messages soon convinces them that Caitlin believes the other party is a web-dwelling entity. Tony calls in a specialist in artificial intelligence. After reading the intercepted data, the AI specialist decides that Caitlin is correct. It soon becomes obvious that Webmind does not dwell on any single computer or cluster of computers. So he believes that Webmind is an emergent intelligence. The AI specialist informs them that existing contingency plans call for elimination of an emergent entity. With it

When I finished Wake, Sawyer's first book in this series, there was no question that I would be reading Watch as soon as I could get my hands on it. As fascinated as I had been with the premise of the first book (the emergence of consciousness on the World Wide Web) the second was even more chocked full of really esoteric but readily accessible and interesting real world science and technology. One of the things I appreciate about Sawyer's fiction is that there is an awful lot of real math and science for every science fiction conceit for which he asks you to suspend belief. He is definitely a big concept guy and in Watch he brings together ideas as widely ranging as game theory, evolution, ethics and the survival of our species in a page-turning tale that is dramatically driven with sympathetic characters and opposing forces without having to demonize any of the principal actors. Beyond that, it culminates in a plausible inspirational vision for cultivating humanity's highest potentials. After this I may actually read Teilhard de Chardin. John Gallagher, Ph.D. Indianapolis, IN

With Wake, and now, Watch, of what is obviously going to be at least a trilogy, Robert Sawyer seems to be creating something that is sure to go down as some of his best writing yet. And that is saying something, because he is nearly always excellent. I like how he has used the experience of raising his own daughter to create a believable heroine. I hope she is even half as smart as the story's Caitlin. Other writers use action to create tension, and Sawyer can do this too, but he can create tension from an intellectual situation. Not many can. No wonder he has won so many awards in his field. A thought just struck me... the possible title of the third book, "Wonder". Let's see if I'm right.

The best thing about Robert J. Sawyer's books are that they are truly about something. This book isn't just some excuse to have the internet gain self-awareness ... instead, it's a deep analysis of what makes people (be they geek, bully, computer, or chimpanzee-bonobo hybrid) choose an ethical course over the alternative. WWW: WATCH is a middle book in the trilogy. In WWW: WAKE (the first book), blind teenager Caitlin Decter gained sight and discovered the existence of a developing consciousness in the World Wide Web. This Webmind, as she calls it, begins communicating with her ... and that's where the second book picks up. Caitlin has to come to terms with suddenly seeing a world that she's only known through touch while also dealling with the fallout from Webmind. Fortunately, she has help from her friends and family. Less fortunate is the fact that the American government perceives Webmind as a potential threat, especially when it gains the ability to almost effortlessly bypass password security. The government decides that it needs to be terminated, a task that is far easier said than done. This isn't an unreasonable decision, because it is clear that Webmind (at least initially) lacks any sort of morality at all ... but this, it turns out, is a good thing, because that means it gets to choose how to behave, instead of being guided by instincts which may sway it toward bad behavior. And, as the book makes clear, we all, as conscious beings, have the ability to make this choice. The subjects of morality and ethics, in contexts as varied as teenage relationships, suicide prevention, and personal privacy are explored from the perspectives of game theory, evolution, and religion. And if you're not interested in any of that brainy stuff about human nature, the story itself stands out as a great read in its own right. I, for one, will definitely make the choice to read the third installment when it comes out ... and look forward to it!

Mathematical prodigy Caitlin Decter was born blind. When she was fifteen years old she underwent an experimental treatment of an implant inside her brain enabling her to see the world for the first time. However an unexpected consequence of the procedure is her uncanny ability to also see World Wide Web space. Thus a new sentient entity is born inside her head, of whom Caitlin calls Webmind (see WWW.WAKE). As Webmind relishes learning all about Caitlin's physical world, top secret government watchdog agency Watch learns about Webmind as part of their scrutiny of Internet terrorist threats. They want Webmind removed from the Net because they fear it is a security risk. Whereas Caitlin feels protective of Webmind, her parents fear the intelligent being could lead to an unintended harming of their daughter from a public already concerned that Big Brother is watching. This is a great middle book due to the powerful characterizations especially Webmind who provides first entity perspective. Caitlin is a superb teenager trying to keep her friend safe while her parents have always been protective of her. In fact protectiveness of others is the overarching theme as even the Watch contains individuals trying to keep the public safe. Readers will fully appreciate Robert J. Sawyer's brilliant WWW tale, but should read Wake first to better understand how far Webmind has come and potentially could go; that explains the fears of the Watch group. Harriet Klausner