Category Archives: Wetware

Lock In: Gender for the Bodiless

Doing a little research into John Scalzi’s writing process for his novel Lock In and its sequels, I found out that the main character, Chris Shane, was written with conscientiously no gender in mind.  I read Chris as short for Christopher, completely forgetting it could also be short for Christine or other name variants.

Just for a recap from a previous post on the same novel: Hadens Syndrome leaves its survivors in a state of “Lock In,” a coma like state where mental function remains except for body control.  Heavy funds by the US government lead to integration of software and a Haden’s brain, forming an artificial and natural wetware that can connect Hadens to a robot, nicknamed a “Threep.”

The Threep namesake comes from classic beloved C-3PO from Star Wars.  Threeps have a human~ish face but remains obviously robotic.  These robots also lack an easily visible gender in accordance to traditional gender norms.  This is where Scalzi began to delve into a world interacting with a purely non sex body.  All flesh and blood bodies are born to a certain sex, and debate/acceptance of a whole spectrum of chosen gender identities has occurred in recent years; although, warping gender normalities has been a staple of speculative science fiction for decades.

In an blog post linked below this post, you can read of lot of Scalzi’s own words on the matter of gender in this future where so many identities are not even based on a body.  Starting as a writing challenge for himself, Scalzi soon realized it could be an essential point for his novel.  In the mix of social justice for Hadens weaved into the story, Scalzi uses Threeps as the symbol for a people who do not fit within the tradition views that have developed of centuries.

However, it should be noted that historically neuroscience has pointed to essential differences in male and female sex brains, so could wetware itself still fall into biological sex classification.  Some scientists counter this long held belief saying that the brain is altered and formed by the perception of ones’s own gender, and it is this belief in gender that causes the perceived differences.  So depending on the age of Haden, there could potentially be no differences between a male and female brain/consciousness in the wetware.  And since their human bodies are not how they live their lives, gender itself may have no claim over how they identify.

A fun way Scalzi also attempts to avoid gender association is to have two separate narrators for the audio book version: Will Wheaton and Amber Benson.

Part of the wonderful aspects of a novel, rather than a movie or TV show, is the use of imagination to visualize.  Vizualizing novels is different for every person, because every reader brings in their own experiences and biases.  Me, being male, imagined FBI agent Chris Shane as male.  And I also imagined his Threep to have the body proportions of a traditional man shape rather than a stereotyped female shape.  Furthermore, I imagined the Threep heads as looking different depending on the scenario.  When simply talking, I imagined a basic C-3PO minimalist style robot head.  However, I was acively trying not to imagine C-3PO because this is not Star Wars.  So I would imagine a boxy, stereotypical robot head or perhaps a more logical, even not humanistic robot head.  And lastly, during fight scenes I could not help myself but think of the Exo from the Destiny video games, especially the more aggressive looking ones.

John Scalzi not only plays with how we visualize a character’s gender through his essentially bodiless protagonist, but he also then plays with how we visualize any aspect of a novel.  He shows how much of a novel in our imagination is as much what we bring to the novel ourselves, through our memories, experiences, and biases, as the language of the book influencing our perception of events.

Hadens, Chris Shane, Gender and Me

 

Lock In: Wetware, Human Rights, and Bioethics

John Scalzi’s crime novel imagines a future where man and machine can be mentally connected.  A pandemic struck the world called Hadens Syndrome, and the U.S. government heavily funded money to find cures.  Most Hadens (term for people with the syndrome) would have their brain chemistry/composition altered, putting them in a perpetual coma.  However, with the research funded by the U.S. government, scientists found a way to implant computer hardware and software that connects to the cellular neurons of Hadens’ brains.  This integration of computer software and human wetware allows their consciousness  to be transferred to a robotic body called a “threep.”  A small percentage of Hadens came out of the coma state, and with their altered brains could still download the software to their brains.  They are called Intergraters because Hadens can use their bodies as a live threep, and the market for Intergraters skyrocketed.  Also, a whole virtual reality called the Agora was developed by the government for Hadens to contact and live with each other without having to use physical bodies.  Seemingly solving this tragic disease, there arise a lot of human rights questions throughout the novel.

The backdrop for much of the novel is D.C. during a civil rights march week.  Hadens were storming D.C. because Congress was about to pass a bill to roll back much of the funding towards helpings Hadens.  The reader’s perspective is from FBI Agent Chris Shane, a famous Haden because his father was the billionaire politician that used Chris to normalize threeps in everyday life, so the reader gets a very pro-Haden perspective.  Hadens were worried about the shrinking market and advancements in threeps, as well as the potential privatization of their Agora network. However, some of the complaints of the general populous do make some logical sense.

Hadens in threeps are objectively better than regular human bodies.  Although made to mimic the strength of average humans, threeps can turn off pain sensors and keep operating semi-normally even through heavy damage (such as from bullets).  Hadens would also have private access to the internet, ability to make phone calls without others listening, can speak different languages, have person identification, etc.  These benefits greatly helped Agent Shane in his work, and it is elaborated these advantages help Hadens in a wide variety of fields such as sales, law, business, medicine, etc.  The general public then wondered why a huge portion of their taxpayer dollars were being dumped into helping an exclusive group have greater advantages then them.  They were happy when their funds drove the jump to Wetware and software interaction, but now that Hadens were no longer disadvantages they did not believe the government still needed to fund further research.  Hadens saw the budget cutbacks as threat against a disabled minority, while the general public saw the current budget as supporting an over-privileged minority.  The advantages of humans in threeps cannot be ignored; however, it does feel unsettling to retract funding to people crippled by disease.

Another issue arises with the Agora: should the government fund what is for all intents and purposes a segregated space?  Only Hadens and Intergraters can access it, and it is an exclusive space where they can converse and often form an “Us versus Them” mentality.  Such products of this is the character Cassandra Bell, who radically says research should stop into Hadens because they do not need to be “woken up” but that they should be able to live a body-less life in the Agora (more on this later).  Hadens, over the years, got used to the Agora being free, unlimited entertainment.  But does their cozy familiarity justify the continual expensive program from all Americans for a few?

There are also a lot of implications with the use of Intergraters; however, in an effort not the spoil the novel or cover all of the interesting  sci-fi aspects, I will not elaborate.  I think Scalzi would appreciate this (go read the book, it’s great).

Going back to Cassandra Bell, this scenario begs the question what it means to be human, and ti digs deep into Bioethics.  Consciousness seems to be the answer, even if it is unconsciousness.  The wetware of humans seems to be the only physical part needed to be human, although it should be noted this human portion would then be “useless” (?) without technical hardware/software working with it.  Bell’s message is also inspiring for body acceptance, especially those victim to disease and accidents.  Humans are not defined by their bodies, but then how do you define human consciousness?  Many say humans cannot properly reason until age seven or eight, some say babies and toddlers are not truly attentive or aware, which some say are needed for consciousness.  But human rights are often most applied to children, those with the least amount of evidence for consciousness.  People suffering from mental disability are still considered human, even if parts of their body and brain chemistry are lacking proper function and they need special assistance.   If we do not classify humans on their ability to live in their bodies out of external assistance, and levels of consciousness do not matter, then when does humanity begin?  If humanity does not change with the changes of human development, then when does humanity begin.  When the baby leaves the womb? Well how come, if the body does not matter to classify humanity nor level of consciousness, then why wouldn’t the baby be human inside the womb?  If the baby is human inside the womb, then at what stage in the womb does it begin to be human?  Could the essence of humanity trace back to basic DNA combination from the paternal and maternal sex cells?  After following this line of thought, I would believe so.

The Rise of Wetware: Innovative Idea or Haunting Horror

I was first exposed to the idea of wetware – bacterial/organic computers – when reading David Wong’s John Dies at the End (US, 2012), and only later did I realize my brain is a form of wetware.  The novel is the definition of “New Weird” SF, exploring the depths of comedic-horror.  The big bad villain of the story is Korrok (several images below), whom our heroes discover is an inter-dimensional organic computer created to maximize society’s efficiency.

Korrok is essentially the final step of wetware: an organic computer with sentience.  He became so proficient at choosing the correct choice that all of the inhabitants relied on him to make every decision.  This ego boast hailed Korrok a god, and he soon began to demand that the smartest brains across the multiverse be incorporated into his being, a living beast of the greatest intelligence, but also of the greatest hubris.

The strengths of wetware, as described by Korrok’s head-minion, is that the neural pathways and artificial intelligence grew on its own.  The intelligence expanded beyond its artificial nature.  One essential aspect that humans have over machines is the ability to be creative.  However, this massive sentient wetware became so developed it had a perfect sense of creativity.  Korrok could predict every action and its consequences, and soon used this power to conquer every parallel world.

       

This idea is frightening.  The belief that an organic being, made not born, can develop aspects of humanity raises some genuine concern.  Creativity and the ability to overcome are then no longer solely human traits.  And if this being has sentience then the value of its life is no longer obviously lesser than our own.  And like the humans of its world, how do we control such a being.

An application of developing wetware is the ability to incorporate mechanical components into our own human systems: creating a cyborg.  This way memory may be easier to recall or even downloadable.  Other than mental function, this may be a crucial step towards weaving our human tissue and nerves with mechanical body parts.

Further reading (linked below) expounds on this one writer’s visualization, as well as other developments of wetware.  The first link is a journal article speculating on the development of wetware and cyborg capabilities, while the second is recent breakthrough in programmable organic compounds.

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