Willful Machines
By: Tim Floreen
Synopsis: In the near future, scientists create what may be a new form
of life: an artificial human named Charlotte. All goes well until Charlotte
escapes, transfers her consciousness to the Internet, and begins terrorizing
the American public.
Charlotte's attacks have everyone on high alert—everyone except Lee Fisher, the closeted son of the US president. Lee has other things to worry about, like keeping his Secret Service detail from finding out about his crush on Nico, the eccentric, Shakespeare-obsessed new boy at school. And keeping Nico from finding out about his recent suicide attempt. And keeping himself from freaking out about all his secrets.
But when the attacks start happening at his school, Lee
realizes he's Charlotte’s next target. Even worse, Nico may be part of
Charlotte’s plan too.
As Lee races to save himself, uncover Charlotte’s plan, and figure out if he can trust Nico, he comes to a whole new understanding of what it means to be alive ... and what makes life worth living.
As Lee races to save himself, uncover Charlotte’s plan, and figure out if he can trust Nico, he comes to a whole new understanding of what it means to be alive ... and what makes life worth living.
_____________________________________________________________
In this novel, it comments on how society has come so far that all people care about is technology. Everybody has their heads in the super-net and are always recording everything on the cell phones of the future the "puck" which follows you around and does all that you ask it to do and films all that happens in your life. They have even started creating artificial intelligence in the form of 2B's. One of these 2B's escapes the lab by downloading itself to the super-net and begins terrorizing the public, proving that we have no control over the technology that is being created and that it could overall come back and destroy us. It is also proving that if we don't know what it does than we shouldn't be creating it. People in this society are so obsessed with technology that they just keep on creating new inventions and in the end it all comes back to haunt them by attacking a school full of teenagers which prove to be the most influenced by the media and technology that is around them. Personally I think that this in itself is saying that teenagers are the most influenced by technology and that by giving it to us will ultimately destroy us because we don't know how to control it properly and we are always wanting more and more technology to make life easier. Overall the message being sent through this novel is that technology will most likely destroy us and that giving the wrong people access to it can be bad for everybody.
EXAMPLE 1: Charlotte the 2B downloads herself to the super-net and begins to terrorize all of America by manipulating all of the technology this is being used everybody. This connects with the overall message because not only do I see this happening in the near future, but it has already happened to a certain point because people hack into different technology all the time to gain incite on people and to manipulate and make different things happen.
EXAMPLE 2: The constant use of the "puck" cell phones leads people to constantly be filming stuff and then uploading anything that they consider funny or that they think would become viral to the super-net. The main example of this in the novel is when Lee tries to commit suicide by jumping off a bridge and ends up not succeeding and everyone that is around him gets it on video and it gets uploaded to the super-net ruining his status in society as the president's son. This connects to the overall message because we see it happening now everyday. Even if it's not to this extent it is still happening. Teenagers are always filming each other and then posting it to the internet for everybody to see and than most of the time it becomes viral. This can either make or break a person and it can also be used for other things like bullying.
EXAMPLE 3: Another thing that I thought was pretty cool about this book is that there is this recurring talk about how our free will is any different from the machines/2B's talked about. The quote that I really enjoy about this theme is...
I think that this could have something to do with the overall message because I really think that at some point we won't be able to stop the production of machines like the 2B's and that maybe one day it will be hard to tell what makes us so different from them. Also that we as a society are going to have to find the lines between what is too far when it comes to the creation of technology like this and how to keep ourselves separate from it.
I totally agree with what this book is saying about technology and the media. I could see this happening at some point in the near future and I can even see it happening now. If we continue on creating technology that is too advanced for us than I think one day it could control us and ultimately destroy us. As it is people are unable to put their devices down and are always on social media and the internet and because people are unable to put these things away, I think that it is possible that someone could come around and learn to control all of the technology that we use.
In this novel, it comments on how society has come so far that all people care about is technology. Everybody has their heads in the super-net and are always recording everything on the cell phones of the future the "puck" which follows you around and does all that you ask it to do and films all that happens in your life. They have even started creating artificial intelligence in the form of 2B's. One of these 2B's escapes the lab by downloading itself to the super-net and begins terrorizing the public, proving that we have no control over the technology that is being created and that it could overall come back and destroy us. It is also proving that if we don't know what it does than we shouldn't be creating it. People in this society are so obsessed with technology that they just keep on creating new inventions and in the end it all comes back to haunt them by attacking a school full of teenagers which prove to be the most influenced by the media and technology that is around them. Personally I think that this in itself is saying that teenagers are the most influenced by technology and that by giving it to us will ultimately destroy us because we don't know how to control it properly and we are always wanting more and more technology to make life easier. Overall the message being sent through this novel is that technology will most likely destroy us and that giving the wrong people access to it can be bad for everybody.
 |
| Visual representation of a "puck" cellphone. |
EXAMPLE 2: The constant use of the "puck" cell phones leads people to constantly be filming stuff and then uploading anything that they consider funny or that they think would become viral to the super-net. The main example of this in the novel is when Lee tries to commit suicide by jumping off a bridge and ends up not succeeding and everyone that is around him gets it on video and it gets uploaded to the super-net ruining his status in society as the president's son. This connects to the overall message because we see it happening now everyday. Even if it's not to this extent it is still happening. Teenagers are always filming each other and then posting it to the internet for everybody to see and than most of the time it becomes viral. This can either make or break a person and it can also be used for other things like bullying.
EXAMPLE 3: Another thing that I thought was pretty cool about this book is that there is this recurring talk about how our free will is any different from the machines/2B's talked about. The quote that I really enjoy about this theme is...
"My question is this," I said. "How are human beings any different from machines? My dad's always saying humans have free will and that makes us unique. But aren't our choices determined by our programming too? Our genes and our environment and all that? Aren;t we basically just robots ourselves?'
Dr. Singh sat back from her desk and regarded me with a faint smile. "You know something? That reminds me of an old joke. The first guy asks the second guy, 'Do you believe in free will?' The second guy answers, 'I have no choice.'"
I think that this could have something to do with the overall message because I really think that at some point we won't be able to stop the production of machines like the 2B's and that maybe one day it will be hard to tell what makes us so different from them. Also that we as a society are going to have to find the lines between what is too far when it comes to the creation of technology like this and how to keep ourselves separate from it.
I totally agree with what this book is saying about technology and the media. I could see this happening at some point in the near future and I can even see it happening now. If we continue on creating technology that is too advanced for us than I think one day it could control us and ultimately destroy us. As it is people are unable to put their devices down and are always on social media and the internet and because people are unable to put these things away, I think that it is possible that someone could come around and learn to control all of the technology that we use.
