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Technogenesis
In a near future where almost everyone on earth is connected to a worldwide net, Jasmine Reese discovers the existence of an intelligence called Gestalt-a self-aware entity generated by the collected consciousness of eight billion networked people. And only Jaz can stop it from controlling the world.
326 pages, Mass Market Paperback
First published January 1, 2002
3 people are currently reading
212 people want to read
About the author
Syne Mitchell
15 books47 followersWife of Eric S. Nylund
Syne Mitchell (born 1970) is a novelist in the science fiction genre.[1] She has a bachelor's degree in business administration and master's degree in physics. She lives in Seattle, Washington and is married to author Eric S. Nylund. Her first science fiction novel was Murphy’s Gambit which won the Compton Crook Award in 2001. She subsequently published the first installment of the Deathless series, called The Last Mortal Man. She is currently working on podcasting and writing non-fiction essays.
According to her blog, Mitchell's The Last Mortal Man series has not been chosen for further publication. As a result, she has chosen to pursue other series. To further this goal, she has joined a local writer's group.
Mitchell publishes an online magazine for handweavers, WeaveZine, and produces a monthly podcast, WeaveCast.
The Deathless series was canceled by ROC publishing due to "sluggish sales." Syne Mitchell wrote a preview of Book 2, which was added to the back of Book 1.
Syne Mitchell (born 1970) is a novelist in the science fiction genre.[1] She has a bachelor's degree in business administration and master's degree in physics. She lives in Seattle, Washington and is married to author Eric S. Nylund. Her first science fiction novel was Murphy’s Gambit which won the Compton Crook Award in 2001. She subsequently published the first installment of the Deathless series, called The Last Mortal Man. She is currently working on podcasting and writing non-fiction essays.
According to her blog, Mitchell's The Last Mortal Man series has not been chosen for further publication. As a result, she has chosen to pursue other series. To further this goal, she has joined a local writer's group.
Mitchell publishes an online magazine for handweavers, WeaveZine, and produces a monthly podcast, WeaveCast.
The Deathless series was canceled by ROC publishing due to "sluggish sales." Syne Mitchell wrote a preview of Book 2, which was added to the back of Book 1.
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Displaying 1 - 18 of 19 reviews
August 20, 2015
This book has to be easily one of the cheesiest books I've read in a very long time. In fact, I didn't even finish it. I made it to page 216 and gave up in disgust. It's just so damn stupid. I don't know how much experience the author has with cyberpunk, but she could use a few lessons.
In the future, virtually everyone in the world is connected to the Net. 24/7. And that's all they want out of life. There are a few cranks who are disconnected, but no one pays them any attention. Jaz is a "natural," a type of psionic who can break into networks, data, and even minds, working for an info company in Seattle. Everyone wears face rigs -- all day long. One day, hers breaks. She takes it for repair, but because hers is custom made, it needs to be shipped off, so she's left with pretty much nothing. And she didn't realize how horrible it would be to be without the Net. She can't pay for a bus ticket. She can't get in her apartment building. People in rigs are staring at her. She feels different. She goes to the library and uses a public connection and starts doing some research. When she finds some relevant articles, they start disappearing before her eyes. What's going on? More importantly, she feels something in the Net, an entity, and it soon appears before her, a self conscious, constantly growing entity reliant on ten billion networked humans for survival, and it calls itself Gestalt. It scares the hell out of her.
She calls some work friends and talks them into a disconnected hiking/camping trip weekend. She's going to tell them she has some suspicions. For instance, no networked person has committed suicide in years. She noticed that people are more complacent. She steps in front of people to try to get a rise out of them, but they just walk off. She meets her friends and they hike to a spot out in the boondocks. She shares her suspicions and is met with a variety of reactions, and they aren't all very supportive. However, soon some snowmobiles show up with what appear to be rangers and they say an avalanche warning is in effect and they have to evacuate. They're not given a chance to collect their belongings and Jaz winds up with one of the rangers. The others move ahead while Jaz's slows down. He stops, pulls out a mortar and blows up their camp, before dragging her back on the snowmobile. She's being kidnapped.
I can't remember, but she must have been knocked out, because when she comes to, she's in a prison cell. A military man comes to see her. He informs her he's a colonel with the NSA. She tells him the NSA is a research organization and he tells her he's with their enforcement division. She's in their prison. She has one choice. Go to Pasadena to infiltrate a break out organization that's offline, for what purpose we're never told, or be killed.
OK. The NSA doesn't have an army. They don't have prisons. They don't have assassins. And they sure as hell don't have witches in dungeons, which is something Jaz encounters in her ONE day of training. The two NSA agents sent previously have both disappeared, presumed dead, so she's given one day of training. And a partner. A hacker who's in an NSA prison. If they succeed, he gets pardoned.
I'm going to stop. They get to Pasadena, get mind read, immediately invited to join the breakaway organization and they have their own network with their own version of Gestalt. So what's the big damn difference? I couldn't take it anymore. What a stupid damn book! I can't believe I read over 200 pages of it. What a waste of time. Jaz is thinking of deserting the NSA and joining this organization for real. Personally, I hope she gets blown away. She's a damn idiot. If you like cyberpunk, this is the LAST book I would recommend.
In the future, virtually everyone in the world is connected to the Net. 24/7. And that's all they want out of life. There are a few cranks who are disconnected, but no one pays them any attention. Jaz is a "natural," a type of psionic who can break into networks, data, and even minds, working for an info company in Seattle. Everyone wears face rigs -- all day long. One day, hers breaks. She takes it for repair, but because hers is custom made, it needs to be shipped off, so she's left with pretty much nothing. And she didn't realize how horrible it would be to be without the Net. She can't pay for a bus ticket. She can't get in her apartment building. People in rigs are staring at her. She feels different. She goes to the library and uses a public connection and starts doing some research. When she finds some relevant articles, they start disappearing before her eyes. What's going on? More importantly, she feels something in the Net, an entity, and it soon appears before her, a self conscious, constantly growing entity reliant on ten billion networked humans for survival, and it calls itself Gestalt. It scares the hell out of her.
She calls some work friends and talks them into a disconnected hiking/camping trip weekend. She's going to tell them she has some suspicions. For instance, no networked person has committed suicide in years. She noticed that people are more complacent. She steps in front of people to try to get a rise out of them, but they just walk off. She meets her friends and they hike to a spot out in the boondocks. She shares her suspicions and is met with a variety of reactions, and they aren't all very supportive. However, soon some snowmobiles show up with what appear to be rangers and they say an avalanche warning is in effect and they have to evacuate. They're not given a chance to collect their belongings and Jaz winds up with one of the rangers. The others move ahead while Jaz's slows down. He stops, pulls out a mortar and blows up their camp, before dragging her back on the snowmobile. She's being kidnapped.
I can't remember, but she must have been knocked out, because when she comes to, she's in a prison cell. A military man comes to see her. He informs her he's a colonel with the NSA. She tells him the NSA is a research organization and he tells her he's with their enforcement division. She's in their prison. She has one choice. Go to Pasadena to infiltrate a break out organization that's offline, for what purpose we're never told, or be killed.
OK. The NSA doesn't have an army. They don't have prisons. They don't have assassins. And they sure as hell don't have witches in dungeons, which is something Jaz encounters in her ONE day of training. The two NSA agents sent previously have both disappeared, presumed dead, so she's given one day of training. And a partner. A hacker who's in an NSA prison. If they succeed, he gets pardoned.
I'm going to stop. They get to Pasadena, get mind read, immediately invited to join the breakaway organization and they have their own network with their own version of Gestalt. So what's the big damn difference? I couldn't take it anymore. What a stupid damn book! I can't believe I read over 200 pages of it. What a waste of time. Jaz is thinking of deserting the NSA and joining this organization for real. Personally, I hope she gets blown away. She's a damn idiot. If you like cyberpunk, this is the LAST book I would recommend.
November 27, 2021
Interesting topic. Seriously a fun YA read from my generation. Was right on the shelf at just the right time for me. It could be a book describing lots of things in this technological/information age. Have you ever tried to do things w/0 this, the internet? I am just going to keep walking, using pub. transport, one day, yes, there will be people walking. Im waiting for the cities to get with it. That's where I live. I am done with guessing and hoping for standards that can be trusted with this internet thing. It's my glass of water coaster/ my entertainment system. My conscience gets cleaner the more right stuff I do. I cannot wait for people. I am scared but getting in my car changes but little. Makes me slower. It's just like this book out there and you feel like a criminal that is about to be eaten alive by wolves. The pauses from people. The gamut. The staring past people, just envision people in their cars. Look right through you. You'd think you'd be safe in a car. The stats on that are insane. It is so much. people that walk around use the bus, train, and all that are poor? I might be stressed. But, I am not dead. This book is beautiful. I appreciated the female rites of passage aspect in the secret base with the techno-witch. Very cathartic. Ive been to mental wards, the gamut in my lifetime. Thought we were American and not scared of anything. Thought we were so apex... you know what they say about guys with big trucks... hehe... let it go... let it breathe! hahaha
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February 8, 2023In the near future the Net dominates all aspects of life. Jasmine Reese, a data miner, is cut off from the Net due to equipment malfunction. She notices how more acute her faculties are away from the Net. Jasmine also sees how actions of the connected seem eerily coordinated. This leds Jasmine into a conflict. Something is in the Net. Something some people want to protect and some want to destroy. This combines the idea of living being in the Net with the idea that being interconnected may benefit humainity. All sides are presented. Jasmine has to make difficult choices. The final solution is a good compromise between the two camps in this book.
September 5, 2020
Sometimes I crave a thick, complex, chewy tale of machine intelligence and social change set in a fast-paced future full of portents, strife and intimations of cosmic meaning...and sometimes I want a story about folks coming to terms with the unpredictable consequences of technological developments, presented at a lower bit-rate that allows me to savor the story.
This is the latter. It won't change your life, or sweep the awards, but this is a terrific way to cleanse your palate after reading Dave Marusek or Greg Egan, yet very much in the same subgenre.
This is the latter. It won't change your life, or sweep the awards, but this is a terrific way to cleanse your palate after reading Dave Marusek or Greg Egan, yet very much in the same subgenre.
March 21, 2017
really quite delightful. a hidden gem.
March 12, 2017
Quite good. I gave it four stars because I feel this was a worthy contribution to transhuman speculative fiction.
I felt that the pseudo-utopian descriptions of a globally linked populace were far-fetched but I appreciated the vision.
I also really enjoyed all the descriptions of being linked to the Net; the author did a pretty good job with that.
The plot-line was not particularly original, which kept this from being a truly spectacular book. But given that this was an opportunity to showcase coming technological possibility, a really strong plot could have distracted. The same with the characters. Tate and the Witch were interesting, though.
This is the second book by her that I've read and I'll, doubtless, read more.
I felt that the pseudo-utopian descriptions of a globally linked populace were far-fetched but I appreciated the vision.
I also really enjoyed all the descriptions of being linked to the Net; the author did a pretty good job with that.
The plot-line was not particularly original, which kept this from being a truly spectacular book. But given that this was an opportunity to showcase coming technological possibility, a really strong plot could have distracted. The same with the characters. Tate and the Witch were interesting, though.
This is the second book by her that I've read and I'll, doubtless, read more.
November 29, 2015
This was a really quick read and I liked a lot of the ideas explored, but the characters left something to be desired and the ending made me kind of angry. Jaz stumbles upon a horrible truth, that the net has given rise to a metamind, an artificial intelligence that has made mankind complacent. It keeps its existence secret for fear of rejection. Jaz feels this is a huge breach of privacy, and so wants to work against it. Until the end I liked the book fine enough, but ugh I had bad endings.
April 8, 2009
I absolutely loved the idea, but I wasn't a fan of the writing style or characters. The character I was most interested in, Tate, dies without ever being given much of an explanation. She was the one character that really seemed to interest me, how had she come to be so distrustful and bitter, what had made her into the unusual person she was when Jaz met her, but unfortunately she really received little attention. The other characters just didn't grab my attention at all, and I even felt a bit of mild dislike for most of them, but I can't quite put my finger on why.
So overall in my mind, a really interesting concept in a not so interesting book.
So overall in my mind, a really interesting concept in a not so interesting book.
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
April 19, 2013
Good: A really well thought out exploration of the where the combination of targeted marketing, and the rise of AR (augmented reality) technology could take us. I was also impressed with the interesting ideas of collective consciousness that were introduced.
Bad: Many interesting characters were introduced in this book, I just wish that more of them would have been fleshed out.
Conclusion: A solid entry in the cyberpunk/near-future speculative fiction genre. Not groundbreaking, but if this genre is your cup of coffee, you won't regret spending a day or so reading it.
Bad: Many interesting characters were introduced in this book, I just wish that more of them would have been fleshed out.
Conclusion: A solid entry in the cyberpunk/near-future speculative fiction genre. Not groundbreaking, but if this genre is your cup of coffee, you won't regret spending a day or so reading it.
May 23, 2016
Nothing really wrong with this book, just didn't feel like it flowed naturally somehow.
The idea behind the story, a "skynet" type variation, seems entirely plausible, the characters are interesting, the plot moves along. And yet.....
There was just something about it. The writing is not bad, and I would have no problem recommending it as a quick and entertaining sci-fi read.
The idea behind the story, a "skynet" type variation, seems entirely plausible, the characters are interesting, the plot moves along. And yet.....
There was just something about it. The writing is not bad, and I would have no problem recommending it as a quick and entertaining sci-fi read.
January 3, 2008
What if everyone were connected to the Internet 24/7? What if you could get information about a person you met on the street with a thought and details about what their facial features meant?
What if that collective unconsciousness gave rise to something else?
What if that collective unconsciousness gave rise to something else?
June 3, 2011
Interesting, but I really wish some of the characters and ideas would have been expanded on a bit more. Overall though, I'm a sucker for the ideas that it uses and I'd definitely give another of this author's books a try.
October 13, 2015
Eye opening concepts to inspire both fear and hope. It's been a while since I read it so I'm only listing what's stuck with me four and a half years later.
Definitely on my to be read again list. I go now to make a to be read again list.
Definitely on my to be read again list. I go now to make a to be read again list.
September 4, 2007
The writing style was not my favorite (a bit too dense), but I loved the concepts and philosophy behind it. Spent a good long time thinking about the Witch, especially.
July 6, 2009
Well, I read it in a day, so I guess it was pretty good.
July 16, 2011
Interesting, but I distinctly remember disliking the second half and feeling like it fell apart. Didn't like the sex in it.
April 18, 2013
Written 11 years ago, this novel prophesies what we are now becoming without being aware of it. It was fascinating then to think about the technology of the future, that we take for granted now.
December 25, 2017
Pulp with surprisingly accurate predictions of social impacts of mobile communications technology and feminist values (as far as that's possible in pulp).
Displaying 1 - 18 of 19 reviews