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To return to the SPOILER-FREE
reaction to Rainbows End, click here.
Although Rainbows End is a complete
story in and of itself, at the end of it Vinge has left many
questions dangling. I don't think this is accidental, nor is it
a bad thing in my opinion: There can be a lot of power in
leaving the answers to some questions vague -- a playground in
which the reader can bring their own closure or an enigma which
resists classification. (Nor is it a new trend in Vinge’s
work. Look at the character of Pham Nuwen in A
Fire Upon the Deep, for example.)
But perhaps the most intriguing of these
enigmas is, “Who – or what – is Rabbit?”
My gut-feeling on Rabbit is that it’s
Vinge taking a stab at a form of Singularity he hasn’t looked
at before. Specifically, to quote from his original essay on the
subject: “Large computer networks (and their associated users)
may ‘wake up’ as a superhumanly intelligent entity.”
I believe that Rabbit is an emergent AI
created spontaneously out of the structured system of
diversified sub-contracting that we see in Rainbows End.
That’s why canceling his certificates at the end of the novel
has the effect on him that it does – it’s literally killing
his brain.
If I’m right, then Rainbows End is
an exploration of the last type of Singularity that Vinge had
not previously employed. For ease of reference, let me suggest
that the different types of post-human intelligence discussed in
Vinge’s “The
Coming Technological Singularity: How to Survive in the
Post-Human Era” be labeled as such:
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TYPE
I: There may be developed computers that are
"awake" and superhumanly intelligent. (To date,
there has been much controversy as to whether we can create
human equivalence in a machine. But if the answer is
"yes, we can", then there is little doubt that
beings more intelligent can be constructed shortly
thereafter.)
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TYPE
II: Large computer networks (and their associated users)
may "wake up" as a superhumanly intelligent
entity.
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TYPE
III: Computer/human interfaces may become so intimate
that users may reasonably be considered superhumanly
intelligent.
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TYPE
IV: Biological science may provide means to improve
natural human intellect.
Type III post-human intelligence was the
focus of Vinge’s original Singularity story (“Run, Bookworm,
Run!”) and Across Realtime. True
Names features Type I and Type III post-human
intelligences in direct competition with each other. Tatja
Grimm’s World and A
Deepness in the Sky present radically inverted
explorations of Type IVs. A Fire Upon the Deep actually features Type I, Type III, and Type IV
post-human intelligences all co-existing simultaneously.
And, thus, viewing Rabbit as a Type II
post-human intelligence is a fascinating lens through which to
read Rainbows End. It was, however, a conclusion I came
to late in the novel. Late enough that I must make a point of
re-visiting this novel soon. It will be interesting to see how
(or if) my opinion of it is changed as a result.
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