Snow Crash Revisited: Grokking a Satire of Mimesis • Hacker News Board

Re: Snow Crash Revisited: Grokking a Satire of Mimesis

#41

Post by eggy » Wed, Sep 07, 2016, 4:56 AM UTC

I like Stephenson, but I guess Snow Crash was late to the party for me, having already read Neuromancer and a bunch of other cyberpunk books as well as a lot of cyberpunk-themed movies before finding it.

I enjoyed Snow Crash, but I am more a fan of Cryptonomicon and Anathem. I stumbled upon Cryptonomicon in the bookstore, because of the intriguing title. That and the Perl script for Solitaire in the back of the book.

I wish Cryptonomicon had been made into a movie pre-Bitcoin and Snowden; I hope they still make a movie of it.

Re: Snow Crash Revisited: Grokking a Satire of Mimesis

#42

Post by vertis » Wed, Sep 07, 2016, 5:03 AM UTC

n00b101 wrote: post #3

I read Snow Crash when I was 13. Then I lost countless hours trying to "live the dream" with Active Worlds [1] [1] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Active_Worlds

I read it much later so I think I missed some of the ability to be swept away as an imaginative teenage (sad).

I did spend a month trying to be as efficient and awesome as Seven of Nine though. Sleeping standing up didn't really work though.

Re: Snow Crash Revisited: Grokking a Satire of Mimesis

#43

Post by kordless » Wed, Sep 07, 2016, 5:05 AM UTC

Animats wrote: post #4

throwanem wrote: post #2

I can see that a lot of thought went into this review, but I have to admit I can't see what came out of it. Perhaps someone with a clearer understanding than I might lend a hand?

The book, or the review? The book outlines a world where franchisers run everything, including jails. It's a cookie-cutter world; instances of each franchise are very standardized, and this is a plot point. The hero delivers pizza for the Mafia run pizza franchise, when he's not hacking code. The heroine is a 15-year old skateboarding courier girl with a really good skateboard. There's a big virtual world, run partly…

Makes me wonder if people with Aphantasia would be immune to the Big Bad's pattern.

Re: Snow Crash Revisited: Grokking a Satire of Mimesis

#44

Post by Animats » Wed, Sep 07, 2016, 5:06 AM UTC

throwanem wrote: post #18

gbhn wrote: post #15

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I think you are right, and I've at times struggled to explain why I enjoy his books as much as I do. I think ultimately he leans regularly on a facet of SF that in that genre, ideas and abstractions can be the equal subjects of character development. Cleverly developing an idea (e.g. mind virii) and circling back on those ideas, exploring how different facets connect in different ways, is the kind of thing one does w…

Just a heads up - if you're looking for a concise way to convey this idea in future, the phrase 'high concept' captures it neatly.

Don't say that. It's the kiss of death in Hollywood.

Re: Snow Crash Revisited: Grokking a Satire of Mimesis

#45

Post by vertis » Wed, Sep 07, 2016, 5:06 AM UTC

The reason I love books from Neal Stephenson, William Gibson, Charles Stross, is that, for me at least, they're massive catalysts to my own thoughts and imaginations of what might be possible.

If I had to pick one book above others from Neil Stephenson it would be Diamond Age. I just keep going back to it. It's got a lot to say, and I wouldn't mind seeing a similar analysis by the Author of this post.

Re: Snow Crash Revisited: Grokking a Satire of Mimesis

#46

Post by 1propionyl » Wed, Sep 07, 2016, 5:09 AM UTC

throwanem wrote: post #28

qwertyuiop924 wrote: post #25

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Well, that's always nice to know. Although I don't know how many people know what it means, and I don't think it encompasses all of what makes Stephenson Stephenson, anymore than "satirical fantasy" comes close to encompassing Pratchett's Discworld's writing style.

Certainly not! And I hope I haven't given insult. If so, it was entirely unintentional on my part, and I apologize for my carelessness in so doing. I'll put more thought into my words next time. Don't get me wrong - I don't mean to say that all of Stephenson can be encompassed in those two words. Were that the case, he wouldn't have had to spend time writing books. I mean only that, if you're looking for a handy way…

Ah but you see my adjectives are better...

Re: Snow Crash Revisited: Grokking a Satire of Mimesis

#47

Post by kordless » Wed, Sep 07, 2016, 5:09 AM UTC

qwertyuiop924 wrote: post #23

jacquesm wrote: post #13

Earlier quoted context omitted.

But you should definitely listen to Reason.

The one disadvatage of textual communication is that the person on the other end is incapable of listening to Reason. It's why the internet is so devoid of Reason.

Reason can be had by measurement. Humans love to measure things. On the other hand, we also love to antagonize on how much to measure, how long to measure it, and what all the numbers mean once we've written them down. Sometimes writing things down is less likely when one is being reasonable.

Re: Snow Crash Revisited: Grokking a Satire of Mimesis

#48

Post by zem » Wed, Sep 07, 2016, 5:19 AM UTC

i love lots of bits of snow crash, but i do not like the book as a whole. i did not feel like the (admittedly excellent) ideas and snippets were stitched into a coherent whole in a particularly satisfying way.

on the other hand, "diamond age" is truly a masterpiece, and i strongly recommend that one to any of stephenson's fans. it's the book of his i'd rate the highest, though my favourite is "cryptonomicon" just because that's comfort reading.

Re: Snow Crash Revisited: Grokking a Satire of Mimesis

#49

Post by arkem » Wed, Sep 07, 2016, 5:55 AM UTC

20yrs_no_equity wrote: post #40

guiambros wrote: post #34

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Likewise. I missed Lucasfilm's Habitat, but tried most of the virtual worlds after that, from MUDs via telnet in the early 90's, Worlds Chat in 95-96, Active Worlds right after (my company spent $1,500 buying a server copy), The Palace, Second Life, WoW, and more recently DK2/CC, etc. We're getting close from the technology perspective, but the storytelling and the " massive " portion of an MMORPG is still not there.…

What are "DK2/CC"? I've not heard of them.

In this context the parent is probably referring to the Oculus Rift Development Kit 2 and the Oculus Rift Crystal Cove prototype (which was very similar)

Re: Snow Crash Revisited: Grokking a Satire of Mimesis

#50

Post by lowglow » Wed, Sep 07, 2016, 5:57 AM UTC

vertis wrote: post #45

The reason I love books from Neal Stephenson, William Gibson, Charles Stross, is that, for me at least, they're massive catalysts to my own thoughts and imaginations of what might be possible. If I had to pick one book above others from Neil Stephenson it would be Diamond Age. I just keep going back to it. It's got a lot to say, and I wouldn't mind seeing a similar analysis by the Author of this post.

Yesssss. Diamond Age really is a boss book. We're pulling a lot of inspiration from these same authors to build Asteria. Heck, even Charles Stross retweeted Asteria last night. It was pretty epic. Check it: https://getasteria.com/