''Rainbows End'' is a 2006

science fiction Science fiction (sometimes shortened to Sci-Fi or SF) is a genre of speculative fiction which typically deals with imaginative and futuristic concepts such as advanced science and technology, space exploration, time travel, parallel unive ...

novel by

Vernor Vinge Vernor Steffen Vinge (; born October 2, 1944) is an American science fiction author and retired professor. He taught mathematics and computer science at San Diego State University. He is the first wide-scale popularizer of the technological singu ...

. It was awarded the 2007

Hugo Award for Best Novel The Hugo Award for Best Novel is one of the Hugo Awards given each year for science fiction or fantasy stories published in, or translated to, English during the previous calendar year. The novel award is available for works of fiction of 40,00 ...

. The book is set in

San Diego San Diego ( , ; ) is a city on the Pacific Ocean coast of Southern California located immediately adjacent to the Mexico–United States border. With a 2020 population of 1,386,932, it is the List of United States cities by population, eigh ...

, California, in 2025, in a variation of the fictional world Vinge explored in his 2002 Hugo-winning novella "

Fast Times at Fairmont High ''The Collected Stories of Vernor Vinge'' is a collection of science fiction short stories by American writer Vernor Vinge. The stories were first published from 1966 to 2001, and the book contains all of Vinge's published short stories from that ...

" and 2004's "Synthetic Serendipity". Vinge has tentative plans for a sequel, picking up some of the loose threads left at the end of the novel. The many technological advances depicted in the novel suggest that the world is undergoing ever-increasing change, following the

technological singularity The technological singularity—or simply the singularity—is a hypothetical future point in time at which technological growth becomes uncontrollable and irreversible, resulting in unforeseeable changes to human civilization. According to the m ...

, a recurring subject in Vinge's fiction and nonfiction writing.

Plot summary

Thanks to advances in medical technology, Robert Gu is slowly recovering from

Alzheimer's disease Alzheimer's disease (AD) is a neurodegeneration, neurodegenerative disease that usually starts slowly and progressively worsens. It is the cause of 60–70% of cases of dementia. The most common early symptom is difficulty in short-term me ...

. As his faculties return, Robert (who has always been

technophobic Technophobia (from Greek τέχνη ''technē'', "art, skill, craft" and φόβος ''phobos'', "fear"), also known as technofear, is the fear or dislike of advanced technology or complex devices, especially computers. Although there are numerou ...

) must adapt to a different world, where almost every object is networked and mediated-reality technology is commonplace. Robert, formerly a world-renowned poet but with a notoriously mean-spirited personality, must also learn how to change and how to rebuild relationships with his estranged family. At the same time, Robert and his granddaughter Miri are drawn into a complex plot involving a traitorous intelligence officer, an intellect of frightening (and possibly

superhuman The term superhuman refers to humans or human-like beings with enhanced qualities and abilities that exceed those naturally found in humans. These qualities may be acquired through natural ability, self-actualization or technological aids. Th ...

) competence hiding behind an

avatar Avatar (, ; ), is a concept within Hinduism that in Sanskrit literally means "descent". It signifies the material appearance or incarnation of a powerful deity, goddess or spirit on Earth. The relative verb to "alight, to make one's appearanc ...

of an

anthropomorphic Anthropomorphism is the attribution of human traits, emotions, or intentions to non-human entities. It is considered to be an innate tendency of human psychology. Personification is the related attribution of human form and characteristics t ...

rabbit, and ominous new

mind control Brainwashing (also known as mind control, menticide, coercive persuasion, thought control, thought reform, and forced re-education) is the concept that the human mind can be altered or controlled by certain psychological techniques. Brainwashin ...

technology with profound implications.

Augmented reality

In the novel,

augmented reality Augmented reality (AR) is an interactive experience that combines the real world and computer-generated content. The content can span multiple sensory modalities, including visual, auditory, haptic, somatosensory and olfactory. AR can be de ...

is dominant, with humans interacting with virtual overlays of reality almost all of the time. This is accomplished by wearing smart clothing providing

gesture recognition Gesture recognition is a topic in computer science and language technology with the goal of interpreting human gestures via mathematical algorithms. It is a subdiscipline of computer vision. Gestures can originate from any bodily motion or sta ...

and contact lenses that can overlay and replace what the eye would normally see with computer graphics, using advanced

virtual retinal display A virtual retinal display (VRD), also known as a retinal scan display (RSD) or retinal projector (RP), is a display technology that draws a raster display (like a television) directly onto the retina of the eye. History In the past similar s ...

(VRD) technology. In addition, haptic feedback is possible by overlaying graphics onto a physical machine such as a robot. This augmentation of reality is used for a variety of purposes: * Commercial (large gaming areas sell gaming environments mixed with haptics). The Cheapnet, a free entry-level service offered by commercial vendors of gaming solutions, can in principle also be used to coordinate networked augmented reality representations across the globe. However,

jitter In electronics and telecommunications, jitter is the deviation from true periodicity of a presumably periodic signal, often in relation to a reference clock signal. In clock recovery applications it is called timing jitter. Jitter is a significa ...

and latency are considerable problems with this basic network when long distances are involved. In the novel, Robert Gu develops an algorithm that partially compensates for these technical deficiencies, and might ultimately allow the inclusion of haptics. * Functional (maintenance workers, for example, have access to a blueprint or

schematic A schematic, or schematic diagram, is a designed representation of the elements of a system using abstract, graphic symbols rather than realistic pictures. A schematic usually omits all details that are not relevant to the key information the sc ...

of practically any location or object in their responsibility area) * Communication (characters in the novel use live video chat and can send and receive "silent messages", an action known as "sming", through their VRDs). Individuals can be reached through a globally implemented unique personal identifier, the

ENUM Telephone number mapping is a system of unifying the international telephone number system of the public switched telephone network with the Internet addressing and identification name spaces. Internationally, telephone numbers are systematically ...

. * Medical (doctors have access to a patient's vital signs) There are characters who choose not to "wear" these virtual overlays, instead using laptops, considered relics in the novel. A user's skill in managing and producing augmented reality manifests itself in the details of the augmentation. For example, a character might project himself into a different room, but the shadows cast by this apparition, or the collision between the character and the furniture in the room might give away the apparition.

Belief circles

There are many realities to choose from in the novel; however, the largest and more robust of them are built by large user bases in the manner of a

wiki A wiki ( ) is an online hypertext publication collaboratively edited and managed by its own audience, using a web browser. A typical wiki contains multiple pages for the subjects or scope of the project, and could be either open to the pu ...

Second Life ''Second Life'' is an online multimedia platform that allows people to create an avatar for themselves and then interact with other users and user created content within a multi player online virtual world. Developed and owned by the San Fra ...

. The confederation of users that contribute to the virtual world is called a belief circle. Several belief circles are presented in the novel, including worlds based on authors such as H. P. Lovecraft,

Terry Pratchett Sir Terence David John Pratchett (28 April 1948 – 12 March 2015) was an English humourist, satirist, and author of fantasy novels, especially comical works. He is best known for his ''Discworld'' series of 41 novels. Pratchett's first nov ...

, and the fictional Jerzy Hacek. Also mentioned are worlds based on the artwork of

M. C. Escher Maurits Cornelis Escher (; 17 June 1898 – 27 March 1972) was a Dutch graphic artist who made mathematically inspired woodcuts, lithographs, and mezzotints. Despite wide popular interest, Escher was for most of his life neglected in t ...

, and fictional entertainment companies such as SpielbergRowling. The

Egan Egan may refer to: People * Egan (surname) * Egan (given name) Places in the United States * Egan, Illinois, an unincorporated community * Egan, Louisiana, an unincorporated community and census-designated place * Egan, South Dakota, a city * Eg ...

Soccer set piece can also be seen as a type of ''subscribed'' Belief Circle.

Themes

As in Vinge's other work, the concept of security in such an increasingly digital/virtual world with

ubiquitous computing Ubiquitous computing (or "ubicomp") is a concept in software engineering, hardware engineering and computer science where computing is made to appear anytime and everywhere. In contrast to desktop computing, ubiquitous computing can occur using a ...

is a major theme of the novel. It examines the implications of rapid technological change that empowers both the disgruntled individuals who would threaten to disrupt society and those that would seek to stop them, and the implications for the age-old "

who watches the watchers "Who Watches the Watchers" is the fourth episode of the Star Trek: The Next Generation (season 3), third season of the American science fiction television series ''Star Trek: The Next Generation'', the 52nd episode overall, first broadcast on O ...

" issue at the interplay between

surveillance Surveillance is the monitoring of behavior, many activities, or information for the purpose of information gathering, influencing, managing or directing. This can include observation from a distance by means of electronic equipment, such as c ...

(oversight) and

sousveillance Sousveillance ( ) is the recording of an activity by a member of the public, rather than a person or organisation in authority, typically by way of small wearable or portable personal technologies. The term, coined by Steve Mann, stems from th ...

(undersight).

Characters

* Robert Gu – former Professor Emeritus of English, Alzheimer's survivor and Fairmont High School pupil * Lena Gu - Robert's wife * Robert Gu, Jr. (Bob) – Robert Gu's son, Lieutenant Colonel and Officer of the Watch in the US Marines * Alice Gong Gu – Bob Gu's wife, Colonel and Auditor in the US Marines * Miri Gu – Bob and Alice Gu's 13-year-old daughter, Fairmont High School pupil and Robert Gu's co-conspirator * Juan Orozco – Fairmont High School pupil (age 14) and Robert Gu's technical advisor * Xiu Xiang - former Professor of Computer Science and Fairmont High School pupil * Winston Blount - former Dean at UC San Diego, colleague/rival of Robert Gu and Fairmont High School pupil * Zulfikar Sharif - Oregon State graduate student in literature who is writing a thesis on the works of Robert Gu. * Alfred Vaz – head of India's External Intelligence Agency * Günberk Braun – European Union Intelligence Board agent * Keiko Mitsuri – Japanese Intelligence agent * Mr. Rabbit/Mysterious Stranger – unidentified intellect, appearing as a rabbit to Vaz, Braun and Mitsuri, and as a voice only to Robert Gu

Setting

Much of the novel's action occurs on the campus of the

University of California, San Diego The University of California, San Diego (UC San Diego or colloquially, UCSD) is a public university, public Land-grant university, land-grant research university in San Diego, California. Established in 1960 near the pre-existing Scripps Insti ...

, especially in and around the

Geisel Library Geisel Library is the main library building of the University of California, San Diego. It is named in honor of Audrey and Theodor Seuss Geisel. Theodor is better known as children's author Dr. Seuss. The building's distinctive architecture, des ...

, the architectural centerpiece of the campus.

Reception

* Hugo Award winner, 2007 * Locus Award winner, 2007 * John W. Campbell Memorial Award nominee, 2007

References

External links

*
Column on Vinge and ''Rainbows End''
by John Tierney, New York Times, published August 25, 2008.
The Coming Technological Singularity: How to Survive in the Post-Human Era, 1993
— An essay by Vinge about the possible causes and effects of technological singularity.
"Synthetic Serendipity"
— one of Vinge's two novellas set in the same world as ''Rainbows End'', complete with illustrations (This novella is an extract from ''Rainbows End'', although a few names and details have changed. You need to be a member of IEEE to read this extract).
Mike Villas's World
— IEEE article discussing the technology of the book.
Rainbows End
at Worlds Without End
Google Glasses: Frightening or Fantastic?
NPR interview with Vernor Vinge (2012-02-23) {{Locus Award Best SF Novel 2006 American novels 2006 science fiction novels Hugo Award for Best Novel-winning works Novels about virtual reality Novels by Vernor Vinge Postcyberpunk novels American science fiction novels Fiction set in 2025 Novels set in California Novels set in San Diego Tor Books books Books about Alzheimer's disease Augmented reality in fiction Fiction about mind control Gesture recognition