Meme War Sequence

"Meme Wars" Sequence (also Century Next Door series, "War of the Memes"). By John Barnes. As of winter of 2021:

(1) Orbital Resonance. New York: Tor, 1991.
(2) Kaleidoscope Century. New York: Tor, 1995.
(3) Candle. New York: Tor, 2000. 
(4) The Sky So Big and Black. New York: Tor, 2002. 

Summarized in the on-line SFE: The Encyclopedia of Science Fiction (some bold-face deleted):

The Century Next Door, comprises four loosely connected tales – Orbital Resonance (1991), Kaleidoscope Century (1995) and Candle (1999), all three assembled as The Century Next Door (omni 2000), plus The Sky So Big and Black (2002) – which created a recomplicated pattern of Future History through intersections of Time-Travel wipings and rewipings of narrative strands, and the threatening universal ascendance of the Meme One True, which is a kind of combination of hegemonic software and Hive Mind. These intersections are focused through various takes on the War of the Memes, the outcome of which will determine the shape of humanity, perhaps for good. <http://www.sf-encyclopedia.com/entry/barnes_john>

The SFE entry goes on to indicate that The Sky So Big and Black has a wider and other agenda from the earlier books, and a preceding comment indicates — as other sources also indicate — that the "Young Adult" novel starting the series, Orbital Resonance, also has other interests and emphases, although both novels have the issue of the War of the Memes as a background or potential theme.

Most immediately relevant, the two central novels in the series, Kaleidoscope Century and Candle.

In Kaleidoscope Century note the "Simulation Modeling Optimizing Targeters (SMOTs) a jump from smart weapons to 'brilliant weapons' that attacked an enemy country's natural resources and means of production. These weapons cause massive environmental damage to the earth, and are the predecessors of the memes." And these SMOTs are significant in themselves as part of the SF theme of the search for the ultimate weapon. In this novel, in the 2010s, the protagonist-narrator sees "the beginning of the development of memes that would unify all countries and religions, leading to the War of the Memes (referred to in some of Barnes' other books) that culminated in the takeover of Earth by One True [...]."<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kaleidoscope_Century>

In the following novel, Candle, Earth in 2087, "is nearly crime free and the artificial intelligence One True telepathically controls humans." The protagonist-narrator here, Currie Curtis Curran, is a former mercenary

recalled from retirement to capture [...] the last of the "cowboys", people beyond the control of One True [...].

Currie's contact with One True is through a copy of the Resuna "meme", a "neurocode" program uploaded into the brain, and an implanted "cellular jack" radio device. In addition to communicating with One True, Resuna monitors its host's thoughts and emotions, provides everyday information and communication, downloads requested memories or skills, adjusts their physiology, and, when offered the spoken code phrase "let overwrite, let override", can assume control of its host's body, and erase memories. Resuna learns its host's preferences and habits, is friendly and communicative, and can even play chess with its host or engage in other pastimes.<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Candle_(novel)>

Note for tropes/themes of mind or thought control, implants, and the threat of relatively gentle totalitarianism: cf. and contrast, e.g., such various works as The Prisoner, the ROBOCOP (TV pilot), Robert Silverberg's late book in the Marjipoor cycle of SF/F The King of Dreams, the Westworld TV series episode "Vanishing Point", the Strugatsky brother's Prisoners of Power, the Babylon 5 episode "Spider in the Web," and such films as THE INVISIBLE BOY and William Cameron Menzies's INVADERS FROM MARS (1953).

RDE, finishing, 27Jan21