Something often forgotten in these comparisons is that each "cell" in this brain-like network serves itself. Its connection to other aspects of the system is parasitic; any cooperation is ad-hoc and uncoordinated. Pushing the biological analogy further, it's "uncontrolled division of abnormal cells" - a cancer.

That's really what separates normal tissue from abnormal tissue - organization. There's a central hierarchy that covers everything, not just IPv6. Cells exist to serve the whole, not the other way 'round. Is there any wonder there are ricochets? We're talking about a complex ad-hoc system with no overarching purpose, after all; expecting to diagnose all of it is foolhardy.

So is expecting a ghost to arise from the machine, if you ask me. Optimist though I may be, Skynet is gonna look just like us and it'll exist on purpose, not by accident.

And it'll die easily.

That said, what do you think of the book? I've been disappointed by four sci fi novels in a row; I'm trying to decide whether or not to dig into The Second Self and for audiobooks I'm staring down the barrel of either Shelby Foote or something dreadful on The Spanish Flu.