Snow Crash

^Hmm, I can see that. I think it had something to do with Lain borrowing a lot from SC, particularly the gargoyles' gear. And I also couldn't help picturing the leader of the techno-hippies as Masami Eiri.

I'll turn your neocortex into a flowerpot!

A graphic novel??? WHERE DID HE PLAN TO PUT ALL OF THE INFODUMP? IN YELLOW BOXES?

"Sweets are good. Sweets are justice."

That was my thought too, actually.

And I didn't think of Y.T. as Lain, because my imagined Y.T. has purple hair.

[1] This facsimile operated in part by synAC.

I totally don't remember any talking pensises.

I guess it is.

There's not, Hiro just mentions it as a feature of the Metaverse, and contrasts it with the Black Sun.

[1] This facsimile operated in part by synAC.

It's possible to make your avatar a giant floating talking penis. None show up in the book, though.

The Philosopher-King Paradox

I gotta wonder what the metaverse would be like if it were based on our current 2011 web as opposed to a mostly speculated 1992 web.

Words cast into the uncaring void of the internet.

@Tzetze, Taelor: Oh, right, I remember that now.

I guess it is.

THIS BOOK HAS TRANSCANINE DOGS!!!!

TRANSCANINE DOGS!

THIS IS AWESOME!

"Sweets are good. Sweets are justice."

I love Neal Stephenson. Snow Crash is my favorite SF book ever. Or at least, it becomes my favorite SF book again every time I re-read it.

The first time through, I didn't eat, sleep, or pee until I finished it—start to finish, it was about 18 hours.

Toilet paper polls.

TOILET PAPER POLLS

A memo that supposedly takes 16 minutes to read (who reads that slowly anyways?) about TOILET PAPER. USAGE AND DISTRIBUTION. An Overly Long Gag that is also an Expospeak Gag.

I've been learning production management in my engineering courses. That's how you optimize getting stuff done. And the tissue paper thing is not such a bad idea, but, seriously, doesn't it take more time and money to regulate these things than they save up?

"Sweets are good. Sweets are justice."

thatsthejoke.jpg

[1] This facsimile operated in part by synAC.

Yeah, but I'd like to discuss the real-life issues.

But, yeah, for the first time I've seen what a soul-crushing job actually is.

I'd go insane. Still, it takes all types...

"Sweets are good. Sweets are justice."

The point of that is to satirize government bureaucracy. It's not supposed to be seen as a good idea.

[1] This facsimile operated in part by synAC.

That's another thing I didn't get: they didn't have a government or laws anymore, did they? And I think you're missing the point: private companies do this, especially those that deal with software (of course there's L. Bob Rife's company, although not as much as he would like, but I mean in Real Life). Regulations are extremely strict, your work can be crushed at a day's noticed, you are constantly being monitored for everything you do... My cousin is an investment banker and he complains about this all the time. On the other hand, I've never heard of a government office, here or in Morocco, that does this sort of thing.

And I think that in principle it is a good idea, within limits, and applied with care and discernment, but if this is a satire that is trying to make a point, then it is using a Slippery Slope Fallacy.

edited 29th Mar '11 11:36:34 AM by Ardiente

"Sweets are good. Sweets are justice."

The federal government still kinda sorta exists, it's just that most of it split into competing franchises, and corps overthrew the remainder. So they still function, but have virtually no power, existing only as a corp/franchise in and of itself.

So if you read the Feds as having now become a company, then the satire makes sense.

I haven't read Snow Crash in a while, but that's how I reconstruct what I got from the book in my memory.

edited 29th Mar '11 1:53:07 PM by annebeeche

Banned entirely for telling FE that he was being rude and not contributing to the discussion. I shall watch down from the goon heavens.

O_o

"Sweets are good. Sweets are justice."

And now you know why. You've obviously never been to a California DMV.

The Philosopher-King Paradox

What's a DMW?

"Sweets are good. Sweets are justice."

Department of Motor Vehicles, which is one of the most frequent ways to encounter government inefficiency and the making simple things hard.

A brighter future for a darker age.

Perhaps it's because the US gov is massively udnerstaffed and underpaid or something, but over here where the government is like 30% of the active popultion, administrative stuff is done quickly and easily, and without much hassle or trouble. It's when dealing with private companies that they annoy the shit out of you.

"Sweets are good. Sweets are justice."

Where exactly do you live?

The Philosopher-King Paradox

Catalonia, Spain. While government is here the best, most efficient, and least corrupt in Spain, it's still not the best in Europe, not by a long shot.

"Sweets are good. Sweets are justice."

Between this being made by Amazon as a TV series and Altered Carbon for Netflix, cyberpunk may finally get some decent mainstream attention again.

Author of The Rules of Supervillainy, Cthulhu Armageddon, and United States of Monsters.