How we cite our quotes: (Chapter.Paragraph)
Quote #1
The first bit of dumb luck came disguised as a public embarrassment for the European Center for Defense Against Disease. On July 23, schoolchildren in Algiers claimed that a respiratory epidemic was spreading across the Mediterranean. The claim was based on clever analysis of antibody data from the mass-transit systems of Algiers and Naples. (Prologue.1)
In the future of Rainbows End, power isn't completely centralized, especially if we're talking about computing power. The book starts off with this notion in the very first lines: the government program didn't catch the disease, a group of schoolchildren did. In this future, kids can sometimes do things that governments have trouble doing.
Quote #2
In another year or so, he'd have developed higher semantic controls. With that, he could reliably control those immediately around him. Much more important, he could spread the new infection across whole populations and engineer a few universally viewed transmissions. Then he would be in control. For the first time in history, the world would be under adult supervision. (1.88)
This is Vaz thinking/gloating about how close he is to world domination. This paragraph begins with Vaz thinking about how mind control is the only way to save the world—which sounds weird but not necessarily self-centered. But notice where he ends the paragraph, talking about being the one in control. When someone says the world will be under "adult supervision" and means "me," we might wonder how well meaning his search for power is.
Quote #3
The details were a cloud of contradiction, some agreeing with what Bob told him, some not. It was this damn Friends of Privacy. It was hard to imagine such villains, doing their best to undermine what you could find on the net. A "vandal charity" was what they called themselves. (3.62)
Just because schoolchildren can figure out a disease is spreading, doesn't mean that every individual has all the information they could want. Take, for example, Robert looking up his dead (he thinks) ex-wife. Thanks to a "community" of people who think that privacy is important, Robert has trouble finding info on her. In this case, the person who wants privacy has more power than the person doing the investigating.
Quote #4
The twins were grinning at him. Jerry waved at the hill. "How would you like to play Cretaceous Returns, but with real feeling?"
Pyramid Hill managers knew exactly what to charge for different levels of touchy-feely experience. The low end was pretty cheap; "real feeling" was at the top. "Ah, that's too expensive."
"Sure it is. If you pay." (4.12-4)
Wherever there's power and rules, there's going to be people trying to break the rules. Like here, where the Radners think about breaking in to the amusement park's most expensive game form. This may be a silly little moment that doesn't impact the plot much, but it sets up a pattern we'll see again, with the little guys (like Juan and the Radners) trying to sneak past the big guys (the Pyramid Hill managers).
Quote #5
Alfred Vaz had no official rank in the External Intelligence Agency, but he had immense power there. Even with modern compartmentalization techniques, he never could have cloaked his research programs otherwise. (9.53)
One big question in Rainbows End is how individual power deals with institutional power. So, Rabbit can go merrily hacking through computer security, but the Elder Cabal can't really stop the school administration from shredding all the books. But those lines aren't always so clear, as we see here with Vaz: Vaz is a very powerful person who both does and doesn't belong to the intelligence community, where he has power and influence, but no official rank and a super secret office.
Quote #6
Tommie looked up from his laptop. "He's gone. And I've deadzoned the sixth floor." He pointed at an LED on the edge of his ancient-looking laptop.
Robert remembered some of Bob's claims: "Even the Homeland Security hardware?"
"Don't tell, Robert." He patted his computer. "Genuine Paraguayan inside, shipped just before they shut the fabs down." (15.45-48)
If the Radners survive their teenage years, they might grow up to be someone like Tommie Parker. And instead of fooling the Pyramid Hill managers, they might be doing something like fooling Homeland Security and other government surveillance. And here we see where his power comes from: some illegal "technology." (Bonus: His Paraguayan tech might be related to Bob's mission to Asuncion, Paraguay (7.37).)
Quote #7
Robert gestured in the way that was supposed to revert vision to unenhanced reality. But he was still seeing purple light and ancient, leather-bound manuscripts. He tapped the explicit reversion signal. Still no onset of reality. "I'm stuck in this view." (15.137)
When it comes to virtual views, the person wearing the computer is supposed to be able to choose. But here in the library, Robert learns that the library has all the power over what he sees. (Unless he—gasp!—takes out his computerized contacts.) This will be the source of some of the fighting over the library: when everyone is used to choosing their own view, losing that power might be reason to protest.
Quote #8
Xiu had helped design the hardware security layer. It solved so many problems. It made the Internet a safe and workable system. Now she was its victim... She thought again of the bag of tricks that sat on the floor beside her feet. She had spent the whole semester building those gadgets, her mechanical daydreams. Maybe— (27.25)
So many ways of analyzing this bad boy: there's the "Individual vs. System" angle: so Xiu once developed the security that she is now trapped by. (If she were a bad person, we'd probably call that poetic justice; since we like her, it's more like a tragedy.) Then there's the "Technology and Power" angle: sure, she's stuck in a car, but she has a whole set of toys that might help her out. And then, like the Radners and Tommie, there's the "Fight the power" angle: she's stuck in a car, but she'll make it do what she wants if she has to cut it open. (Which she does.)
Quote #9
"I don't remember anything after Miri and I got to campus. And the police are still holding what I wore. I can't even see the last few minutes of my diary!" The kid waved his arms with the same desperation Robert had seen in him the first day they met. (33.55-6)
Here's a pretty extreme form of power: Juan lost his memories, his wearable computer, and all the info about what actually happened to him. So he's reduced to learning about what happened to him from the news, which is a weird way to learn about yourself. But here, Juan doesn't really have any power over the government. Heck, Juan doesn't even have any power over the Friends of Privacy. No wonder he's so desperate.
Quote #10
"The current Dean of A and L is Jessica Laskowicz. She's another medical retread. Back in the oughts, she was a secretary in the division. Nowadays, the career track for admin assistants doesn't have any ceiling, but Winston is starting awfully far down—and the best gossip is that he and Laskowicz never got along." (Epilogue.53)
Winston is another character to look at if you're interested about individuals vs. systems/institutions. He used to be a powerful dean, but when we meet him, he's just a guy on the outside, trying to get in. As we hear at the end, he learns that there are no shortcuts for him to get the sort of power he wants. And as we see here, the old system of power seems to have been upended, when the current dean used to be a secretary and the current admin assistant used to be the dean. It's a nice reminder at the end of the book of what we saw at the beginning: schoolchildren figuring out what a government agency missed.