\documentstyle[doublespace,12pt]{article} \title{Examining Individuality in {\em Mother of Storms\/}} \author{Sam Hartman} \date{10/22/96} % Expand intro some % expand media possibly by talking about watering down, etc % expand AI by talking about problems and arguing against them. \begin{document} \def\mos{{\em MOS\/}} Beneeth the global riots and killer hurricanes of John Barnes's {\em Mother of Storms\/} (hereafter abbreviated~\mos) lies a complex, ever-changing world. Barnes takes great care to craft a rich set of technologies, historical events and social forces on which he builds the action of the novel. Beneath the struggle to save the Earth from supernatural hurricanes, Barnes examines questions of identity, individual integrity and what it means to be a person. \section*{Beginning with Media} Many of the technologies in \mos\ tend to break down the boundaries between individuals and the groups to which they belong. However, this trend does not start with science fiction; it is well-grounded in modern twentieth-century media. Television and radio tend to globalize events: everyone has access to the coverage of the event. In a sense, the media puts all viewers on the same level; as they make their individual judgments, they are armed with the same set of facts. Also,the globalization of events is somewhat normative: the media defines certain cultural expectations about what is reasonable. For example, evidence strongly suggests that violence in media such as televisionhas contributed to the spread of violence in society. More recent forms of participatory media such as the Internet contribute to the process in a similar way. Instead of groups being formed by some central interpretation of the world broadcast to viewers, groups can naturally congregate and develop a shared opinion. \section*{XV: an Emursion of Consciousness} However, \mos\ invents technology to continue this trend; within the novel, virtual experience (XV) plays an important part in establishing cultural identity. Millions of people experience life through stars like Synthi Venture and Rock; through these XV personalities, they gain what approximates first-hand familiarity with facets of the world that they would not encounter during their normal lives. When the UN bombs Cyberia, when Louie Tynan walks on Mars, the world is there. In this way, XV extends the perception of a global mind set established by the traditional media. In addition to sharing knowledge of events, XV allows people to share feelings and thoughts. In this sense, XV could be a powerful tool for understanding; both sides in a debate could potentially experience the other point of view. \mos\ takes advantage of these productive uses of XV in a few situations. For example, President Hardshaw takes advantage of XV in order to calm the American people after Clem ravishes the continent. By sharing her belief that things are starting to be under control, she attempts to convince the populace that there is no reason for panic and that the government still exists. %quote The shared context created by XV has two important effects. First,it destroys the sanctity of individual experience. Even in a culture of mass-media, where events and actions are open to scrutiny, there is some privacy associated with intimate relationships between small groups of people. Also, true thoughts and feelings are inviolate. However, in \mos, XV can open someone's inner feelings about the most personal aspects of life---even without the consent of the one having the experience. Barnes drives this point home with Randy Householder's search for the person who murdered concent Dee: \begin{quote} They came to the door of his mobile home, and made him and his then-wife Terry sit down, and told them that Kimbie Dee had been murdered, and it looked like sex murder. Life stopped when they told no -clues about motive, but they damned well knew from the jack driven into her skull why she had been murdered and raped. \end{quote} However, the invasive openness of XV is not limited to criminals. In a society where millions of people experience the artificial sexual relationship between Synthi Venture and Rock, many traditional barriers to sharing private experiences disappear.Even a fairly ordinary couple like Bill and Candy are willing to share their honeymoon on the storm-ravaged Hawaii with the world: \begin{quotation} he whispers to Candy that it's going to be okay, and won't they have something to tell the relatives. It seems to put some heart in her, for she turns him and smiles. ``We can't tell them, honey, they've been there and been us.'' Bill snorts. ``Guess you're right at that. Well, at least we really have something to be for them.'' \end{quotation} The second major effect of XV is a continuing trend towards watered down media that appeals to the lowest common denominator.Even more than with traditional media, news focuses on emotions and on feelings more than on what's going on. Berlina Jameson symbolizes the struggle to retain some degree of objective reporting. Her success scooping the methane disaster allows her to escape the traditional model of the overly emotional reporter. However, it is clear that she is atypical and that the audiences don't always appreciate her style. For example, Mary Waterhouse (Synthi Venture) says she finds it harder to believe Jameson. ``She's so dedicated to being flat that she takes the story out of it; she might as well be reading ticker-tape or something.'' Unfortunately, since XV is dominated by emotions, strong emotions---sex, violence and rage---sell. As demonstrated by the global riots, such emotions can feed on each other in an increasing cycle. \section*{Optimization and Privacy} The cultural implications of the world-wide data networks rival XV's impact on society. networks of \mos\ are filled with optimization programs that attempt to improve the efficiency of the computers. When Louie Tynan begins spending time on the moon, he is reminded of these optimizers; the doctor who is explaining them reminds him that people don't exactly know what the optimizers do, or how the optimize system works. In order to understand how this differs from technical systems today, imagine the reaction of the {\sc FAA} to a claim that no human understood how or why flight control systems worked. At first glance, this optimization of computer services, while important in the technical sphere, brings up few social concerns. However, it's important to realize that a complex series of technical and social changes are necessary to make such a network configuration viable. As the technology to develop the optimizers matured, people must have realized the potential benefit. In tern, they grew more accustomed to the idea that they might not fully control or understand their communications infrastructure. However, the optimizers didn't contribute directly to any major change in cultural identity or in the blurring of the individual. Instead,they created a climate that made `datarodents' possible. As packets travel the network, these small programs look for data that meets specific patterns and report it to their owners for analysis. Several characters use datarodents: Randy examines Harris Diem in an attempt to learn about Kimbie's murder; Jameson uses datarodents to find out about the scope of the disaster; and several other characters mention them in passing. These datarodents are not restricted to public information gathering. For example, Jameson's initial tip that the government was hiding something comes from examining a private phone conversation. Barnes admits this would be a major invasion of privacy if there were any expectation of privacy. However, he said that few people still have any belief that they had or should have privacy. Both XV and the rodents tend to peal away the layers of protection around the world, exposing dark corners to the public scrutiny. XV opens the experiences and feelings, while the datarodents expose information and facts. So, once the experiences, feelings, events and statistics are pealed away from an individual, what's left? Clearly, the characters of \mos\ feel that something still gives them an identity as a human---perhaps, the ability to create new experiences, or perhaps something as simple as their belief in their own individuality. \section*{The Transcendent} The question of what it means to be a human is most significant to Louie and Carla Tynan. Even before the loss of their bodies, they both spent enough time `plugged in' that a majority of their consciousness was online, not embedded in any physical form. Louie first had to face questions about how he defined himself when he started working for long periods of time in the telepresence equipment.He didn't realize the scope of the changes that the optimizers would make. He was worried about whether he would be the same person after the experience---not about whether he would be a person at all. After discussing how other changes varying in magnitude from clipping toenails to brain trauma effected a person, he concluded that a large part of whether the person would be a different person after the experience was how they thought of themselves. However, the optimizers changed Louie more than he or {\sc NASA} imagined. Louie does not make a strong effort to maintain the traditional human viewpoint as he realizes his new potential. A large fraction of his time is spent jacked into his network. He soon comes to realize that he feels crippled in his physical body: \begin{quotation} There was a time when the view through the observation bubble was a large part of why he stayed in the Constitution for so long. Moreover, unlike the fascinating but now-familiar view of Earth from orbit, this is a view he hasn't had since the Mars expedition. He tries to recall how he would have felt back when his body was all he had, tries to summon the feeling he would have known had he been on this voyage only in [his original body.] it's no good. Though he knows intellectually this is one of the most impressive sights he has ever seen with the eyes he was born with. %fixme \end{quotation} Even so, he still refers to himself as a human and maintains continuity with his past experience. Barnes shows with a fairly smooth progression how Louie develops to dislike the limited experience he obtains living life in his normal body, how he discards his body, and how he continues to evolve. No where in this progression are there sharp discontinuities in perception or thought. Louie moves in small enough steps that he never really has to face the big question of what he has become; he only has to look at himself in comparison to yesterday's self. On the other hand, Carla Tynan makes a concerted effort to remain human. She spends a good portion of every day in her physical body experiencing the world. The treatment of Carla is one of the weakest parts of the book because it's hard to believe that she would change so little. Also, it's an annoyingly convenient way to avoid having to write about non-human intelligences. However, in Barnes's defense, it is in character for Carla to attempt to maintain her humanity. Also, it fits in well with Louie's belief that a large part of what defines an individual is what they think of themselves. If the two incidents of `uploading' are the culmination in an exercise of stripping away traditional aspects of individual identity, then perhaps all we are left with is this core reflexive definition. Certainly, it is not as convenient as a concrete definition based in biology. However, by the end of the narrative, very little has not changed about Carla and Louie. \section*{Tying it Back to Reality} In many ways, \mos\ is a dark tale about the methodical step-by-step process of change. No one knew that a nuclear strike in the arctic would dramatically change Earth's weather, threatening global destruction. While those who considered XV's effects probably realized that it would trivialize sexuality and reduce inner feelings to public spectacles, their cries were inadequate to stop its deployment. Certainly, those who warned that an optimized digital network would lead to viruses and spying realized the danger after it was too late.The changes in all these situations were probably incremental, perhaps even unnoticed, but the long-range effects were profound. \mos\ was compelling because unlike other disaster scenarios, it captured both the incremental nature of these changes and their inevitability. Just as John Klieg realizes that regardless of whether he is there to license technology,someone will utilize it, the reader sees that many of the interactions behind the technology and society of \mos\ are beyond control. Moreover, the way in which these forces interact isn't all that different from the interactions between society and technology in the real world. Who could have predicted the chain of events that lead from the use of primitive computing machines in atomic bomb research to the growth of world-wide digital networks? Who knows where the social and technical pressures associated with these networks will drive us? \mos\ captures the essence of this uncertainty. However, \mos\ is not an altogether dark story: along with each new challenge and disaster come positive benefits. Certainly, the transitions are traumatic, but at least in the case of \mos\ the world looks like it may eventually benefit from the technology and growth accompanying the disaster. Admittedly, there is no guarantee that reality will always have a happy ending, but there is hope. \end{document}