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Technology and the Human Brain
Recently I read Wildcard (2018) by Marie Lu, the second book in the science fiction series, Warcross. The series follows Emika Chen a young bounty hunter and proficient hacker. Emika lives in a world where the NeuroLink can be used to play the popular videogame Warcross, as well as communicate, find information, and many other tools just with a pair of lenses. Struggling to get by with no job and no parents, Emika is surprised when Hideo Tanaka, the creator of the NeuroLink and head of Henka Games, asks her to assist with a secret mission to find the hacker "Zero," by entering her into the annual Warcross championships. However, things take a wild turn in the second book when Emika finds out the true identity of Zero is Hideo's brother who has been missing for over a decade. Hideo and Emika grow increasingly close and the plot is full of unexpected twists and turns.
One of the main themes in Wildcard is the power that technology has over the human brain and the complicated ways in which they are connected and influential over each other. The lives of people in these books revolve around how "Hideo created the best brain-computer interface ever built. A pair of sleek glasses. The NeuroLink. When you wore it, it helped your brain render virtual worlds that looked and sounded indistinguishable from reality," (Warcross 30). These glasses are controlled by the powerful force of the mind, using it to create information, pictures, and games, but near the end of Warcross, we learn that this can work another way too. Hideo says to Emika, "'I can do more than just see. The NeuroLink has always interfaced with the human brain,'[...]'Until now, I used that interface as a one-way information system-the code simply created and displayed what your brain wished. [...] Your brain is the one in control,'[...]'But information travels both ways.'" (Warcross 338). This quote begins Hideo's darker use of the NeuroLink. He plans to implement an algorithm into the NeuroLink that can control people's minds, and stop them from doing harmful or violent things. This starts to show how powerful technology literally can control minds.
As the story progresses into Wildcard, readers can start to see the horrible effects of the new algorithm, despite how ideal it sounds to just stop people from committing violence. In the days after the algorithm is activated, Emika comments, "I slow down to stare at the long line wrapping around a local police station. There must be hundreds of people. They're all turning themselves in to the authorities for anything and everything unlawful they've ever done, from unpaid parking tickets to petty theft-even murder. It's been like this for the past three days," (Wildcard 8). Then after watching an ambulance, she says, "I only need to catch a glimpse of officers pointing up at the roof of a nearby building before I figure out what occurred here. Another criminal must have jumped to their death. Suicides like this have been peppering the news," (Wildcard 8). Although Hideo intended the algorithm to stop people from committing crime and violence, it has taken a deadly turn, and this quote shows how it has begun to hurt people instead of help.
Another way in which technology affects people in Wildcard, which is similar to what is happening now in our world, is how much it allows people to do, good or bad. People are, in a way, addicted to the effects of this dangerous technology, and only when the ability to use it is revoked are the impacts fully visible. When at the end of the book the NeuroLink is shut down, Emika says, "It feels weird to be in a world where the NeruoLink is no longer accessible-that means no overlays, no colorful icons or virtual faces, no symbols hovering over buildings and gold lines drawn on the ground to guide you. Everything is grittier and grayer and more tangible again," (Wildcard 322). Emika's words explain how much the NeuroLink was able to do for people, and what it is like when that is all suddenly gone. Emika describes being hit particularly hard by this when she comments, "In spite of everything I'd seen and all I knew about what was wrong with the NeuroLink-I'm sad without it. Hideo had created something that changed all of our lives, often for the better. It was a creation that had probably saved my life," (Wildcard 322). Emika knows that the NeuroLink has hurt many people, but she still feels lost without it. Living a horrible life in a foster home, the NeuroLink sparked her interest in computers and programming, which in a way saved her. She explains that it changed everyone's lives, usually in more good ways than bad.
The last way that technology majorly affects someone in Wildcard is what happened to Sasuke Tanaka, or Zero. When he was a child, Sasuke was enrolled in a study for a drug that could possibly cure terminally ill children, but readers learn that the researchers had different motives. The people working at the institute that he is at spend months studying him. They copy every part of his mind into a digital form, erasing all the compassionate, kind, human parts of his brain. As Emika watches a recording of his time in the research institute, she says, "Whatever it is that they've been doing to him, they've taken away something-something real and human, an intonation in his voice and a light in his eyes-something that defines him as Sasuke. There's no sign of struggle now," (Wildcard 205). She is shown the extent of the damage the researchers have put on him. When his disease eventually kills him, his mind lives on in an icy, evil pawn of the people who did this to him. Sasuke, the small, kind and innocent boy was transformed into a horrible, cold villain by the powers of the technology around him. This is a specific example, but an important example of what technology can do to people.
I would recommend this book to anyone that likes science fiction or reading about interesting new technologies. This book takes a look at the role of technology in our lives, as well as the importance of strong relationships with other people. It is especially interesting for young people interested in programming and computers, as these are main parts of the book. Warcross and Wildcard are well written and easy to understand and relate to, which makes them excellent books.
One of the main themes in Wildcard is the power that technology has over the human brain and the complicated ways in which they are connected and influential over each other. The lives of people in these books revolve around how "Hideo created the best brain-computer interface ever built. A pair of sleek glasses. The NeuroLink. When you wore it, it helped your brain render virtual worlds that looked and sounded indistinguishable from reality," (Warcross 30). These glasses are controlled by the powerful force of the mind, using it to create information, pictures, and games, but near the end of Warcross, we learn that this can work another way too. Hideo says to Emika, "'I can do more than just see. The NeuroLink has always interfaced with the human brain,'[...]'Until now, I used that interface as a one-way information system-the code simply created and displayed what your brain wished. [...] Your brain is the one in control,'[...]'But information travels both ways.'" (Warcross 338). This quote begins Hideo's darker use of the NeuroLink. He plans to implement an algorithm into the NeuroLink that can control people's minds, and stop them from doing harmful or violent things. This starts to show how powerful technology literally can control minds.
As the story progresses into Wildcard, readers can start to see the horrible effects of the new algorithm, despite how ideal it sounds to just stop people from committing violence. In the days after the algorithm is activated, Emika comments, "I slow down to stare at the long line wrapping around a local police station. There must be hundreds of people. They're all turning themselves in to the authorities for anything and everything unlawful they've ever done, from unpaid parking tickets to petty theft-even murder. It's been like this for the past three days," (Wildcard 8). Then after watching an ambulance, she says, "I only need to catch a glimpse of officers pointing up at the roof of a nearby building before I figure out what occurred here. Another criminal must have jumped to their death. Suicides like this have been peppering the news," (Wildcard 8). Although Hideo intended the algorithm to stop people from committing crime and violence, it has taken a deadly turn, and this quote shows how it has begun to hurt people instead of help.
Another way in which technology affects people in Wildcard, which is similar to what is happening now in our world, is how much it allows people to do, good or bad. People are, in a way, addicted to the effects of this dangerous technology, and only when the ability to use it is revoked are the impacts fully visible. When at the end of the book the NeuroLink is shut down, Emika says, "It feels weird to be in a world where the NeruoLink is no longer accessible-that means no overlays, no colorful icons or virtual faces, no symbols hovering over buildings and gold lines drawn on the ground to guide you. Everything is grittier and grayer and more tangible again," (Wildcard 322). Emika's words explain how much the NeuroLink was able to do for people, and what it is like when that is all suddenly gone. Emika describes being hit particularly hard by this when she comments, "In spite of everything I'd seen and all I knew about what was wrong with the NeuroLink-I'm sad without it. Hideo had created something that changed all of our lives, often for the better. It was a creation that had probably saved my life," (Wildcard 322). Emika knows that the NeuroLink has hurt many people, but she still feels lost without it. Living a horrible life in a foster home, the NeuroLink sparked her interest in computers and programming, which in a way saved her. She explains that it changed everyone's lives, usually in more good ways than bad.
The last way that technology majorly affects someone in Wildcard is what happened to Sasuke Tanaka, or Zero. When he was a child, Sasuke was enrolled in a study for a drug that could possibly cure terminally ill children, but readers learn that the researchers had different motives. The people working at the institute that he is at spend months studying him. They copy every part of his mind into a digital form, erasing all the compassionate, kind, human parts of his brain. As Emika watches a recording of his time in the research institute, she says, "Whatever it is that they've been doing to him, they've taken away something-something real and human, an intonation in his voice and a light in his eyes-something that defines him as Sasuke. There's no sign of struggle now," (Wildcard 205). She is shown the extent of the damage the researchers have put on him. When his disease eventually kills him, his mind lives on in an icy, evil pawn of the people who did this to him. Sasuke, the small, kind and innocent boy was transformed into a horrible, cold villain by the powers of the technology around him. This is a specific example, but an important example of what technology can do to people.
I would recommend this book to anyone that likes science fiction or reading about interesting new technologies. This book takes a look at the role of technology in our lives, as well as the importance of strong relationships with other people. It is especially interesting for young people interested in programming and computers, as these are main parts of the book. Warcross and Wildcard are well written and easy to understand and relate to, which makes them excellent books.
