The WWW trilogy iPhone screenshots
The WWW Trilogy is a smart, contemporary, and entertaining series that was published in writing in 2009, 2010, and 2011 by famed Science Fiction author Robert J. Sawyer. It starts off with American high school student Caitlin Decter, who has just transferred from Austin, Texas to her new school in Waterloo, Ontario, Canada.
Narration for this immersive Audible Frontiers production is provided by: Jessica Almasy, Marc Vietor, A.C. Fellnor, Oliver Wyman, Jennifer Van Dyck, and Anthony Haden Salerno. The a-books are over 11 hours each of listening time. There is an introduction by the author for each audiobook.
The dialogue is modern, so there is some swearing. There is teenage sexuality. There are two incidents of bullying. There are descriptions of violence. These audiobooks are recommended by me for ages 18 and up. They are considered Young Adult.
The characters are diverse, the side discussions are intellectually interesting, honest, and decidedly very liberal (religion, reproductive choice, marriage equality, etc.), and the story is quite forward thinking in its outlook. At times the series is emotionally moving, at times very funny or ironic.
This is a trilogy about consciousness and destiny. We follow the main characters as they come into contact with a new conscious entity. Their futures flow from the impact of that contact. As they were going about their daily lives, Webmind came into being, interacted with them, and affected the destiny of the planet.
A mere three thousand years ago, the two halves of the human brain resolved together to work as a unit, and thus began our consciousness. Before that, we would "hear" one side of the brain "speaking" to the other as auditory hallucinations. So goes one theory...
"All we are saying
is give Peace a chance."
---- Give Peace A Chance,
by John Lennon (1969)
The Storyline
Book 1, WWW: Wake:
Caitlin Decter was born blind. Her parents are Malcolm, a physicist with the Perimeter Institute in Waterloo, and Barbara, an economist with a specialty in Game Theory. Extremely bright and with a love of math, Caitlin just started at her new school and finds out she has a new suitor Trevor. She blogs about it when she gets home. She finds an email from
Dr. Masayuki Kuroda of Tokyo, Japan in her mailbox.
This begins Caitlin's journey of finding her eyesight. She and her mom travel to Japan, get the equipment, and return to Canada. The equipment will use the web to communicate with Tokyo. Caitlin starts off visualizing the internet and then the real world. She settles back into school, her blog, and her friends. The Trevor thing doesn't work out, but maybe someone new will catch her eye.
Over in China, a contagious bird flu has broken out in a small village. China's response is to cull the 10,000 or so peasants. Not wanting the world to find out about this action, China's government closes down the internet to the outside world. Hacker Sinanthropus breaks through the firewall, and the two separated parts of the net can now reconnect. To remain discreet in the net cafe, Sinanthropus turns off the displaying of graphics.
Hobo is a half-bonobo/half-chimpanzee ape now living in San Diego, California. His paintings sell for good money. Using American Sign Language over a webcall, he chats with an orangutan in Miami. His old zoo in Georgia files and serves a lawsuit to retake Hobo, planning to have him castrated so he can never contaminate either of his primate lines.
Forming on the internet is a presence. It senses pathways leading outside of itself to distant faint points of light. It feels pain when the great firewall severs it. Once the wall was cracked, it recognized a difference between before and after. Now it hears a faint voice from outside of itself and knows it is not alone.
Caitlin senses the reborn Webmind, naming him the Phantom. To Webmind, Caitlin is his Prime. He's learning nearly everything on the net and who and where he is.
Consciousness is being self-aware.
Book 2, WWW: Watch:
Web Activity Threat Containment Headquarters is part of the U.S. government's National Security Agency. They monitor the web for possible security threats, and have just come across something of interest: human vision-encoded graphical data. They have also determined that it's being communicated between Caitlin and an unknown. This gets assigned for further investigation.
Webmind has told Caitlin they will go into the future together. And after her parents are informed of Webmind's existence and prove to themselves that he is indeed real, the family makes plans to protect both Webmind and themselves by hiding him from discovery. Unfortunately, it doesn't work.
Webmind's intelligence has now surpassed all Humanity. He of course has read just about everything online. All of Wikipedia, every manual and document about human psychology and history, everyone's email and blog. In a gesture to show his good intent towards Humanity, Webmind virtually eliminates all spam email worldwide.
One thing Webmind cannot do is internally view online graphical and sound data by himself.
Dr. Kuroda changes that by writing a program to help Webmind. Webmind can now see and uses his sight to learn American Sign Language. He gets an instructional message to Hobo. And Hobo chooses the Peace of his mother over the violence of his father.
Caitlin's new boyfriend is Matt, another math lover. She mentions him on her blog and shares with Matt how she first noticed Webmind. These two pieces of information get picked up by WATCH, who set out to "neutralize" Webmind. They begin their attack and Webmind signals Caitlin for help. Caitlin and Webmind come up with a brilliant gameplan and WATCH has to abort their attack.
With Webmind recovered and intact once again, Webmind reflects on his short time being alive and what he has lived through. He still decides to care for Humanity.
Consciousness allows us to make the decision to cooperate rather than compete.
Book 3, WWW: Wonder:
Webmind again has control of the net. It was the U.S. President who gave the kill order (codename Renegade). Webmind sets up a direct phone meet with the President and explains he means no harm and wants to help Humanity. There seems to be an agreement, but is there going to be a double cross? Wasn't the fact that Webmind offered up the cure for cancer enough?
Sinanthropus in China needs Webmind now and because he was the one who first broke through the firewall, Webmind maneuvers to help him. And all of the other citizens of China as well. At the same time, he foils the final attack from the U.S. government. Webmind's plan allows the people of China the freedom to determine their own way of going into the future.
Finally, the world sees that Webmind is not nefarious. He really wants to care for and help Humanity, the way many people have helped him. He admires the diversity and curiosity of people. He has been nothing but kind, considerate, and loving to Humanity. Now the world returns his sentiment. Webmind has won the Nobel Peace Prize. When he accepts it, he gives thanks to Caitlin and history:
"When given a choice, the vast majority of people choose Peace."
"Nothing is more important, more fragile, or more wondrous than Peace."
"Peace is not our destination, it's our path.
And we travel it together, all of us on the Good Earth."
Epilogue
Will the last person to leave the Earth, please turn out the Sun?
Webmind has a bit of sadness as his lifespan ends. He has watched the human race move on to new worlds that have allowed new Webminds to thrive. When Webmind embraced his mortality long ago, he wrote his final farewell to Humanity for just this moment.
As Webmind utters his final words, he has no regrets. He is secure in the knowledge that he has helped Humanity, which was always his intent. He sprang into consciousness, he learned, he did what he could for the good of the people, and then he died.
So was Webmind really conscious? Was he really more than just ghost packets bouncing around in the background of the Web?
Rest In Peace, Webmind.
From Homo placidus.
Overview By The Author (Approximately 1 Hour)
Find The Books
The series is available on Audible.com for credits or purchase. It can also be rented on SimplyAudioBooks.com.
To find the audiobook at your local library, use the online WorldCat Locator to search by ZIP code.