B-We Are Legion We Are Bob

title: "We Are Legion We Are Bob" creator: "Dennis Taylor" date: 2020-08-12 tags: ['books', 'books2020', 'scifi', 'humor', 'fiction'] description: "" rating: '★★☆☆☆' richness: '★★★☆☆' overall: 2

Metadata

We Are Legion (We Are Unfinished Ideas)

An engineer plays God(s) in a fragmented sci-fi tale.

Bob (the engineer) is 'resurrected' from his cryogenically frozen brain as an 'replicant' brain/AI to become the first [[Von Neumann Probe|Von Neumann self-replicating probe]] to help explore and colonise the universe.

Full disclosure: I read this one because it was free and the title is incredible.

The Writing

Let's start with the bad.

We Are Legion (We Are Bob) made me appreciate [[B) Hitchhikers Guide to the Galaxy|Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy]] even more (and it is already one of my favourites). I expected a humorous story but instead, apart from the beginning, the story is relatively 'normal' (I mean, seriously, there's a bunch of self-replicating Bobs and this somehow ends up becoming normal. That is actually kind of impressive). Instead, the characters’ commentary provides the humour. Unfortunately, this is mostly 'humour' of the [[!Big Bang Theory]] sitcom variety where a pop culture reference or dropping the name of a scifi character is a joke reinforced by a laughtrack (or in this case, the Bobs 'grinning' or laughing at each other). Not my thing, but at least it keeps things lighthearted.

Speaking of which...

Themes

We Are Legion (We Are Bob) crams in some interesting ideas meshed with hard sci-fi principles (self-replicating probes, some guy questioning his individuality and humanity, exploring intelligent life, playing God, etc.).

All of this could have made for a fascinating hard sci-fi novel delving into dark questions and 'clones' becoming individuals and scheming for freedom on a galactic scale. OR it could have been an incredible satire, playing up the humorous concept of millions of some guy called Bob spreading across the universe and trying to do good with unintended consequences and the humans constantly infighting on a dying planet.

Instead, the book takes a middle ground with the comedic commentary paired with more hard sci-fi content and ends up with... a middle ground. Themes are not explored (each Bob becomes more or less their own character with conflict only hinted at. The original Bob is preoccupied exterminating animals (or potential life) on a planet to help a tribe of intelligent life forms but possible implications are mostly brushed aside) and it's more a running commentary of each Bob's activities which diverge from around the 50% mark to the point that after that they rarely interact in any meaningful way.

The Ending

Yes, so we get some hints about Australia, potential for alien conflict, a planet with intelligent life, and humanity's exodus. And then it just ends. No seriously, it just ends. No threads tied together. Not even like a major cliffhanger. Just... the end. Maybe the themes are explored more in the next two books. I don't know.

Overall

We Are Legion (We Are Bob) is a book of unfinished ideas which could be epic if packaged up differently. There is nothing terrible about it, but it excels as neither a fulfilling, serious story or a work of humorous satire.

If you are looking for serious exploring similar-ish themes of rogue clones and personalities spread across bodies, [[B) Ancillary Justice|Ancillary Justice]] is the way to go. Otherwise, there's nothing wrong with rereading [[B) Hitchhikers Guide to the Galaxy|Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy]].

Highlight Concepts

  • Life is more about information than energy
  • "==Project planning isn’t about avoiding changes, it’s about controlling them.== No project plan ever survives contact with the enemy."
  • Clones from the same starting memory base who all develop in different ways and heighten different parts of the 'base' personality/memory [[!INTR]]
  • "I wonder if, as we get older and accumulate memories, we’re getting too complex for a backup to contain everything. The backup is a digital attempt to save an analog phenomenon. It may simply be too granular." [[!INTR]], some memories cannot be transferred.

Scrapbook Concepts

  • Replicants: Frozen brains copied into a computer simulation. A computer program that thinks it's the person. #fragments
  • When the Ministry of Proper Thought is done with you, you will go into spasms from simply thinking an unacceptable thought. #factions
  • Kind of a Salvador Dali on drugs version of NASA’s International Space Station. #locations