Conflict

A major conflict within the novel seems to be between Wintermute and the Turing Locks.
The Turing Locks could easily be a metaphor for Laws, or Human Limitation, or even Mortality.

A constant problem is that the AI is limited in it's actions by these Turing Locks, which it believes stops it from reaching it's true potential.
This could be a metaphor for Law, as various regulation has banned certain practices, which some may view as helpful (Stem Cell research in some areas, Cloning a Human, globally, etc, etc). This can be viewed as a limitation inset on him, and him lashing out against it.

It could also be viewed as the limitation of the Human form, and Mortality, as he is going out of his way to stop it continuously. He tries to go around the limitations of his very form, to become greater then he was before. Like the man trying to become immortal, he is limited by his shell, and does everything he can to become a greater being. His acension could also be viewed as trying to ascend into god hood, into become an Omniscient Being