Worms ~~~~

The worms in the counterweight act as a central point of science fiction elasticity. This is in the sense that Djuna can stretch its limits and abilities to fit the direction that they wish the plot to travel. It is difficult to keep track of the many facets of the Counterweight universe, but frequently AI and digitally altered brains are flirted with. Worms act as both a port for manipulating a person and a steroid that allows for treating the brain like a super-computer.

Oxford Dictionary defines a worm as:
​ [countable] a long, thin creature with a soft body and no bones or legs

Yet it is also defined as:

[countable] (computing) a computer program that is a type of virus and that spreads across a network by copying itself

The use of the worm in Counterweight is a mix of both of these definitions, as worm evokes both the perception of something burrowed into the brain and having technological uses.

Purpose of The Worm

In its simplest form, the worm acts as a physical manifestation of the whim of Djuna. It creates uncertainty because they at any point could say that the person’s actions were due to being controlled by a worm, or that they had information being fed by a worm implanted to feed them information. The bottom line is that the actual inner working of the worm stay mostly vague, and what we perceive it as is a literary device for science fiction esc ideas.

The use of the word worm appears far more frequently when Mac is unveiling the curtain of Choi Gangwu and the worm that carries a fragmented Han Junghyuk. Again, the worms are the central piece of a twist in the story, and are used as a literary lever.

Contextualizing

“I stored his information on the Worm and forgot about it.” (page 17)

Worm begins to be introduced as simple computer device burrowed into the skull. Like a computer that you can’t turn off.

“he consented to adding a surveillance device in his Worm and phone” (page 38)

The Worm is an extension of the self. It is a tool or limb.

“And this incident goes far beyond simply hacking someone’s Worm.” (page 41)

The Worm is a strength and weakness; an entry point for people to control someone

“you can tell what’s going on around you just by the music playing through your Worm or the speakers.” (page 47)

The Worm is again a limb.

“I try to calculate the possibility of the “ghost” of Han Junghyuk, stored somewhere as digital data, interfacing with Choi Gangwu’s brain through the Worm” (page 95-96)

The Worm is sentience. It is smarter than the host. 

“What I need now is not Choi Gangwu but his Worm” (page 129)

The Worm is more important than the host.

The Worm is more important than the host it is implanted in. As the story progresses we see the Worm treated as the brain and the body as just a shell. It’s interesting that we think of worms as an insult, something inferior or small and fragile, but because of the way Djuna uses it, it is the highest form of being.

It is assumed that the worms are not sentient, but instead a tool. Though it might be a stretch to say that they are free-thinking, Djuna definitely causes you to think about what it means for something to have life and sentience. Is a computer equipped with infinite knowledge also capable of understanding morality? Is morality something that can be learned from a book? Equipped with the knowledge of all of human existence, the worms reinforce that knowledge is power.