Something Unexpected- Snow Crash 2/3

Sorry! This one is a little late. I got a little distracted with the NeoVox!

The middle portion of this book really surprised me. When the idea of the Babel and religion was introduced by Stephenson my first reaction was, how in the world does religion have anything to with technology? I did not think that he would form such a intricate connection that really does make sense.

The idea of the religion was really first introduced when they connected the spread of snow crash to L. Bob Rife's private church. Throughout this section he is slowely introducing new information that is helping Hiro to understand the connection between different religious groups of the times of Greek mythology and how they connect to the spread and symptoms of snow crash. I enjoyed the connection made to Babel, however, I'm starting to get a little lost. It is alot of information to sort out, once again, I think the way Stephenson writes allows us to feel the way as some of the characters in the book may feel. Rushed, overwhelmed, and bombarded with information constantly. He wants us to feel as if we are part of the book. He does a nice job with this.

I think an important connection is made when he links religion to viruses (technology) and drugs. " 'This Snow Crash thing- is it a virus, a drug, or a religion?' Juanita shrugs. "What's the difference?' (pg. 200) " After thinking about our current day views of religion, it seems that the church is still an important structure in many people's lives. While I feel people our age and younger are not losing faith in a God of some sort, they are losing faith in the Church. It seems to be more and more about money and control than it is about leadership and guidance. Stephenson obviously saw the way the Church was headed. I think as our society becomes more commercialized, many people are more aware of the power the Church has over people. Those who go to church do so regularly, without doubt or hesitation. They see the vulnerability that lies within these individuals. The lengths that their beliefs will force them to go for the Church, and I think that they are exploiting that. Whether or not this is happening today is completely debatable.

However, Stephenson makes his views very clear. In his novel he has tranformed the Church from a place where all people can come together and worship and be safe to a place that requires a credit card for a "donation" and contains pictures of Jesus and Elvis on the walls in which drug deals take place. This is far from the picturesque view of the Church many people still have in mind today. Is this what religion will come to? A place to take advantage of an individual's faith in order to make money and deal drugs? This scenerio he places before us is scary and, in many ways, real. The Church will soon merge with the higher powers on Earth- those who provide the public with an endless supply of goods and bombard with propoganda to be sure they will consume- to become no more than a money-machine. Is this in our future? I would hope not for the sake of those who go to church every Sunday that this won't happen, but once again, I think Stephenson had the right idea.

Snow crash now has been classified as a psychosomatic drug. "David had a snow crash last night, inside his head (pg. 199)." As the book continues, the connection between Summarian mythology and the spread of viruses seems to be metaphorically linked to the spread of snow crash. For example, Hiro compares the me, "the rules of society" (pg. 255) to an operating system in a computer. This is very interesting to me. The human race does operate much like a computer system and therefore, it makes sense that a virus would be able to be spread throughout both of these systems by relatively the same mechanism... an information break down. I'm very intrigued but still a little confused!