A Considerable Speck

WWW: Wake is the first book in a new trilogy by Canadian SF author, Robert Sawyer. He wrote such books as Calculating God, Flashforward and Hominids. WWW:Wake, like most of Sawyer’s books, is a thought-provoking and entertaining read.

Before going on here is a brief summary of the book:

Fifteen year old Caitlin has been blind from birth thanks to  a very rare medical condition that affects the link between her eyes and the part of her brain that interprets visual signals. Her condition has been untreatable until now.  A Japanese doctor contacts her with a proposal for an experimental treatment which involves an implant that will restore the connection between her brain and eyes electronically and hopefully give her the gift of sight . It seems like the procedure is a failure but before too long  Caitlin notices some very  interesting side effects. She is able to visualize the World Wide Web – each and every link and connection within the web.

In the mean time some seemingly unrelated events take place around the world. In China an outbreak of the bird flu is handled by the Chinese government by shutting the country off from the outside word completely and taking some very rigorous containment measures. In a research facility in southern California a Bonobo/Chimpanzee hybrid, Hobo, which is taught to communicate with it’s caretakers  using American Sign Language, produces representational art.

All of these events are witnessed at some level, by a newborn, growing intelligence/consciousness on the world wide web and Caitlin becomes its eyes and ears and its teacher.

The central theme of the novel is the development of self-awareness and consciousness and more specifically the World Wide Web developing and gaining self-awareness and consciousness. Since it is the first in a series, it does seem a little disjointed in places. The narrative contains a series of subplots which aren’t necessarily woven together at this early stage of the story. At times, Sawyer does get a little bogged down in detail  he goes into some of the theory behind internet protocols and mathematics and the like.  But that is classic Sawyer and it does help with understanding the plot a little better. As usual, Sawyer begins to raise some interesting questions about whether consciousness is a cultural construct (a la the theories of Julian Jaynes).

Overall, WWW:Wake is well worth the read and I am looking forward to the rest of the series.

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Darren Wright (Youth Ministry Blog) recently blogged about The Teens’ Speech and linked to the video. So what is Teens’ Speech?

The Teens’ Speech was a project designed to give a voice to young people in Britain. It was predicated on a simple truth, espoused by philosophers as diverse as Bertrand Russell, Friedrich Nietzche and yes, Whitney Houston. Children are our future. They will define this country in years to come. Therefore, its everyone’s best interest to listen to what they have to say. It’s also in everyone’s best interest to give them the best possible start in life and create a society where young people can make mistakes and learn from them, a society that removes them from the moral and legal equivalent of Newton’s third law of motion – that every action must have an equal and opposite reaction. We need to develop the moral imagination and courage to allow children to develop into well rounded individuals – or we face a future based on the worst qualities of humanity, rather than the finest.

So, yes, The Teens’ Speech tried to give a voice to young people. We did it by interviewing hundreds of teenagers from all over the U.K. – mostly over the telephone, but also face-to-face and on camera, we conducted research and ran polls and we also instituted an unprecedented campaign of engagement on YouTube, Twitter, MySpace and Facebook.

- from The Teens’ Speech website

The video provides a voice to those in our society who usually don’t have much of a voice – teenagers. The video provides a wonderfully moving glimpse of young people who portray a sense of hope in the future and a dream for something better even while dealing with stress, misunderstanding and loneliness.

Check out the video…. and also check out some of the other videos on The Teens’ Speech YouTube Channel.

Related books:

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The First Advent Candle is lit

It’s Advent. A time of preparing for Christmas and the coming of the Christ child. A time to stop, look and listen. A time of waiting and hoping. Frederick Buechner captures what Advent is all about very well:

“The house lights go off and the footlights come on. Even the chattiest stop chattering as they wait in darkness for the curtain to rise. In the orchestra pit, the violin bows are poised. The conductor has raised his baton. In the silence of a midwinter dusk, there is far off in the deeps of it somewhere a sound so faint that for all you can tell it may be only the sound of the silence itself. You hold your breath to listen. You walk up the steps to the front door. The empty windows at either side of it tell you nothing, or almost nothing. For a second you catch a whiff of some fragrance that reminds you of a place you’ve never been and a time you have no words for. You are aware of the beating of your heart…The extraordinary thing that is about to happen is matched only by the extraordinary moment just before it happens. Advent is the name of that moment.”

- Frederick Buechner,Whistling in the Dark: An ABC Theologized, pg. 2 – 3

A Prayer for the First Sunday in Advent:

God, today our hands have touched what you created in love and holiness. Strengthen them that they may daily bring forth fruit to your glory.

God, today our lips have sung your praise and our voices have rejoiced in your sanctuary. May the words of our mouths and the songs of our hearts glorify you forever.

God, today we have relaxed together in the presence of your loving faithfulness. Walk with us into the blessed hope of your eternal community. May the souls and bodies that have tasted of your living body and blood be renewed. May we ever be restored and journey with you into the newness of life. Amen

(The prayer is adapted from the Liturgy of the Malabar Syrian Church and was found on Christine Sine’s blog, Godspace)

Books mentioned in this post:

Photo credit: Ian Britton at freefoto.com

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