Subtle Details (Snow Crash- 1/3)

I am not someone who is interested in technology and how it works. I use it to do what needs to get done, and I get out. I don't think about the how or the why. I do, like most people so, this novel has been a struggle for me so far... I am not going to lie.

After about the first one-third of it I have realized that more than anything, this novel is one that takes a lot of getting used to. You really have to open up and put yourself in this new world that Stephenson so creatively pieces together. When I first started reading it I sat on the outside thinking, "yeah ok." There are still a few things that really have me baffled, however, its the minute details that really catch my attention. I think the attention to detail is what makes this book such a good piece of fiction. I may not be a science fiction person, but I can appreciate good writing and hardwork which is obviously what Stephenson put into this novel.

Since it was written in 1992, no one could expect Stephenson to know exactly what the distant future would include. In alot of ways, he was very off. In alot of ways, he was very on. He realized just how fast technology moves. The reader can tell he was really drawing upon the changing environment around him as his primary resource. This book is very fast paced and since it is supposed to take place around 2010, it means that he thought technology was going to move at an incredible rate, which it does. I think he overshot his target slightly, but he had the right idea. With so many people using communication technologies, developing them, improving them, it is bound to move in a thousand different directions at the speed of light.
One thing I noticed that I really enjoyed, in reference to his writing, is the fast pace of this book really reflects that fast pace of technology. One chapter your in the Metaverse, the next you're surfing the streets with Y.T. The movement is flowing and continuous and fast much like the evolution of technology. It adds alot to the dynamic of the book.

I'm not sure that I like the reality that Hiro lives in. It seems to be a dark place ruled by propoganda which is what I think many of us our fear our lives will become. That fear is completely legitimate to me, it's something that I worry about when I think about the changing times ahead. It's so hard to believe that pizza delivery would be so important and there would hardly be any judicial system anymore. The people seem free to do as they please, sometimes that's not always the best thing. Sure, everyone wants freedom, but with freedom must come some rules. His reality seems very scattered and slightly pointless to me.
Ex: "Pizza delivery is a major industry. a managed industry. People wen tto CosaNostra Pizza University four years just to learn it." (Chapter 1, Page 3) I hope this is something we will never see.

An important point I think that Stephenson is making could seem unintentional, but it is very representative of his view of the future. I get the impression that he had the idea that while we would be moving forward technologically, we would be moving backwords as human-beings. One example of this is his constant reference to race. One would assume that after the battles that have been fought over equal-treatment of all individuals (ie The Bill of Rights, Civil Rights Movement) that in the years to come race, ethnicity, gender, etc... would be issues of the past. The whole idea is that color will no longer matter, right? According to Stephenson, wrong. I think he makes in interesting observation with this. He actually shows evidence of segregation in Hiro's reality. "A big ornate sign above the main gate: WHITE PEOPLE ONLY. NON-CAUCASIANS MUST BE PROCESSED." (Chapter 4, Page 32) This is something that one would expect to see if you traveled back to the days of Martin Luther King and Rosa Parks. It really sticks out in my mind because it really questions the idea that many people are so bent on defending... that technology will only make us more human and more able to communicate. Stephenson obviously thought it would "dehumanize" us. I know that we have had discussions in class regarding this term and its use and I really had, had a change of heart. Nevertheless, in this future it really does seem like these people have changed dramatically. If we are supposed to be moving toward a world free of prejudice, why does Stephenson think that we will still be harboring contempt for other races? Technology, he believed, will hold us back socially (as a society) while propelling us forward politically, economically, etc... It is really disturbing to read about the barcodes that everyone has on their chest and reading them allows people access to your entire life. We are not items on shelf at Walmart with UPC codes. We are people. I hope that the world never comes to that. Yet another example I found was when Hiro first came into contact with Raven outside the Metaverse. "These days most states are franchulates or Burbclaves, much too small to have anything like a jail, or even a judicial system. So when someone does something bad, they try to find quick and dirty punishments... a warning tattoo on a prominent body part. POOR IMPULSE CONTROL." Does he think that we are going to be so scattered, so dehumanized that we will result to a punishment seen in the days of Hitler? Labeling people with tattoos. It is extreme, but it makes a statement. I love the way in which he incorporates these subtle opinions in such a unique, creative, and literary way. It gives you so much to think about!