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Snow Crash by Neal Stephenson was published in 1992 a full seven years before Al Gore claimed he invented the internet. In that context it’s very fitting that Stephenson would claim he invented the word Avatar so many years in advance of the necessary technology. Although Stephenson recanted, after he discovered that he had not actually invented the word Avatar. Nevertheless, he filled 500 pages with other important ideas about Avatars and the Internet. Almost 20 years later, Ernest Cline's great novel, "Ready Player One", would capitalize on both concepts in mega fashion resulting in a blockbuster movie with Stephen Spielberg producing along with a sequel, “Ready Player Two”. Some quick research reveals Snow Crash may finally find its way onto the screen as a mini-series now some 30 years. I can’t wait, but I also digress… giving credit where credit is due, Cline's book is better, but the Oasis, is the Metaverse, Stephenson was first in.
Thus, make no mistake, Snow Crash is an important book. The most important Chapter is 56 if you want to cut straight to the chase. In it, Stephenson brings the entire "Metaverse" of his creation into the concept upon which the book has been based. Specifically, all human reality, at least the part we make sense of in our consciousness, is only possible through the language embedded in our main processor, our brain. Consciousness does not exist without language. Let’s remember this is called science fiction, and I note, some of the critical remarks made about Snow Crash, specifically refute this particular claim. This is an unfair critique for multiple reasons, not the lease of which, perhaps, is to note that all current advances in evolutionary biology, and all current evolutionary biologist, owe their science to perhaps one book, “The Origin of Consciousness in the Breakdown of the Bicameral Mind”, by Julian Jaynes. This book, although not a novel, or science fiction, has been heavily divorced of any real tie to science or biology, nevertheless, it remains at the forefront of the science of “What if?”. And the questions still remain. I mention Jaynes because Stephenson indicated that his book was an influencing factor upon which he based some of his fictional speculation. Now as off as Stephenson could be with regard to the notion that language programs our consciousness, he is not wrong that language programs our computers. Not human language however, machine language. The language of “one’s” and “zero’s” that are used to program a computer. Unfortunately, Stephenson isn’t perfect there either, but the analogy is strong enough. What if?
What this means, then, is that just as a hacker can hack a computer with the right injection of malicious code, someone intent on brain washing a human, need only hack them in the right language and inject their malicious message straight into your brain. But just like a hacker doesn’t attack the source code, or the multitude of potential higher-level languages we use to program computers, the adroit hacker attacks the operating system, the code embedded on the hardware in the brain of the computer, it’s processor. Stephenson correctly reaches into the basic of Neuro-Linguistic Programing, or NLP which is to many charlatans, the source of their magic power. NLP can be studied in the book “The Structure of Magic” from 1975, by Richard Bandler.
What follows is a powerful saga. Ninja-come-hacker pizza delivery boy meets skate-boarding-message-delivery girl (safe-space trigger warning, she’s 15 years old) in a coming-of-age story across the barren landscape of a suburban environment undergoing economic collapse where the only respite from hard work and religious assimilation is the escape into the Virtual Reality of the Metaverse. It wasn’t a quest for the “keys” to solve the puzzle as in “Ready Player One” but a quest to find the source of the drug “Snow Crash”. A drug so powerful that it reprograms your brain simply by looking at the code. Their epic journey together takes the reader deep into a re-envisioned Mafia, where the God Father is a grandfatherly figure whose only real concern is making sure his pizzas are delivered on time, and deep into the heart of Sumerian culture where human language, as we know it, was both invented and destroyed. Invented, when everyone spoke the same language, and destroyed at the Tower of Babble, when many languages emerged and no one could communicate. Seems like they didn’t have a very good open standard or set of APIs back then, or in their future, either.
Stephenson explored more than his virtual Metaverse. He explored artificial intelligence with “Daemons’ being useful servants in the Metaverse, in particular his speaking librarian who could answer any question but couldn’t understand certain context is right out of Google. He explored robotics both with the prosthetics that helped the disabled navigate reality while in virtual reality, and of course his lovable “Rat-Things” which were simply reimagined dogs akin to the robotic animals of Philip K. Dick’s “Do Android’s Dream of Electric Sheep” from the sixties, except Rat-Things are a lot faster.
In the end the book is too long and it was difficult for me to read. In fact, the first time I tried to read it was in 2015 and bailed after the first 90 pages. I reengaged during a recent drive to Florida, and then one to Ohio, did I mention it’s a long book, where I turned up the narration to 1.5X. At that speed it was fast moving and engaging. But still took forever. It is an important book packed and repacked with concepts we will always return too. Start with 5-Stars for “Snow Crash” and this epic and important entry into the world of VR novels. Deduct 1-star for strained an obtuse language struggling to be entertaining…and his Asian Rap lyrics. Horrible and most likely a bit politically incorrect these days. Deduct 1-star for the audacity to claim ownership of ideas that came before him. Add 1-star back for his undeniable love of dogs. He calls them doggies. And when doggies live in Virtual Reality, they run on endless beaches, eat steak, and catch frisbees. I want a rat-thing of my own... 4-Stars for this cyber-space classic!
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Customer reviews
While the story is excellent, this edition of the book has serious problems ...
Reviewed in the United States on April 16, 2018
While the story is excellent, this edition of the book has serious problems with its pages: there are multiple places where the book was assembled incorrectly and the pages are out of order.UPDATE: Amazon set me a replacement for the copy we received with the pages out of order. The replacement has the same print errors. AVOID THE 2017 DEL RAY TRADE PAPERBACK EDITION
Reviewed in the United States on April 16, 2018
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GillianS
hope my daughter never comes across this garbage book
Reviewed in Canada 🇨🇦 on February 25, 2021
Ana
I think it should be everybody's first introduction to Neal Stephenson
Reviewed in the United Kingdom 🇬🇧 on July 18, 2017Troy Tisserand
The origins of the Metaverse
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