As Wai-Jeng ate, he periodically tapped the PgDn key with the end of one of his chopsticks. He was amused to read in the Rochester Democrat & Chronicle – a newspaper normally inaccessible in China – about a brawl that had broken out at the University of Rochester. Computer-science students there had been secretly collaborating on an attempt to purge Webmind, and they were overheard by three English majors who objected to what they were planning. More damage could apparently be inflicted by throwing a hardcover of The Complete Works of William Shakespeare than a pocket calculator.

„Wonder“, Robert J. Sawyer, 2011

Die WWW-Trilogie von Robert J. Sawyer.

It is very now…

Alles drin, künstliche Intelligenz, Teenagersex, Post-Privacy… Und wie Fran da oben so reizend sagt, very now, aber es ist doch ein “Transparenz ist toll”-Gedanke mit ein wenig Story. Nicht das es sich deswegen schlecht lesen würde…

“I contemplate everything, Colonel. Rarely, though, do I have an original idea; I simply sift through all the notions humanity has ever put forth and co-opt the ones that are most congruent with my goals.”
“Like kidnapping.”
“I prefer to think of you as a reluctant guest, Colonel.”
“I mean the others. You’ve kidnapped thirty or more people.”
“There are forty-two people in this building, actually – but this is only one facility. I have six other sites, similarly populated, in other countries.”
“God,” said Hume.
“No, I’m not. If such a one exists, he or she apparently is not online.”

„Wonder“, Robert J. Sawyer, 2011

Caitlin said – but she wasn’t happy with the way that had come out: this “it” business was surely contributing to her parents’ concern. Webmind wasn’t a monster. It was a being, and it really needed to be a him or a her. She’d heard it speak using JAWS, her screen-reading software, which she currently had set for a female voice, but that had been an arbitrary choice; JAWS also came with male voices, and she sometimes selected one of those just for variety.

Caitlin had been struggling in her French classes, but she’d enjoyed the one in which the teacher had asked the students whether ordinateur, the French for “computer,” was masculine or feminine. He’d divided the class into boys and girls, and let each side consider the question and come up with reasons for their answers. The boys – it had been Trevor, now that she thought about it, who had spoken on their behalf – declared that ordinateur was clearly feminine, but the best justification they could come up with was that if you had one, you’d probably end up spending half your money on accessories for it.

Caitlin herself had gotten to make the case that ordinateur must be masculine. First, she’d said, if you want it to do anything, you have to turn it on. Second, the darn thing is supposed to solve problems, but half the time is the problem itself. And the clincher, which she’d delivered with a wide grin: as soon as you commit to one, you realize if you’d waited a little longer, you’d have gotten a much better model.

„Watch“, Robert J. Sawyer, 2010