While I was reading Snow Crash, I felt a whole lot of different things. Mostly it makes me feel anxious and a little scared and confused. I feel like the whole book has an ominous tone. It just seems so dark and I felt the same way reading it the same way I did while watching the Matrix for some reason. I think that maybe it's that whole idea of very advanced technology, especially since I only have basic computer skills. I can barely grasp my head around the idea of using a physics program for analyzing motion let alone the creation/use of a virtual world.
If this book is a glimpse of future America, I might be a little afraid. The technology just seems so advanced, which is fine. But it just doesn't seem like any social issues have changed. Pizza boxes digital times on the boxes, yet there is apartheid is certain neighborhoods? I would hope that as we develop more as a society that maybe would be able not go, essentially, back in time, but move forward. Hopefully, we can be military, as described on pg. 58.
It was rather hard for me to empathize with anyone in this book. Most of it just seems so unrealistic. The only thing that is realistic to me is a young teen pregnancy and pizza being delivered by the mafia (Honestly I'm sure that happends more than anyone knows.). But, I can't relate to any of that, since I've never been pregnant, in the mafia, or delivered pizzas.
Sunday, October 25, 2009
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
Sydne,
ReplyDeleteIt sounds like your reading of snow crash was a lot like mine....I thought that most of the book was pretty far fetched and was definitely not the future that I want to see for America. But maybe that is what Stephensen is going for? Maybe he is trying to make us, the people of today, realize that there are still all of these issues and if we don't fix them they will just persist into the indefinite future.
Or on the other hand, maybe he is telling us that even if we try to fix the problems of America, as we have for the last 230 years, it won't help anyway... This book to me is really pessimistic and not very happy.
After reading the first couple of chapters I as well had to take a step back because it was nothing like what we have read before. I still am not quite sure how I feel about the book exactly. I think it is most deffinately scary to think about if this was a potential future. I would also hope that with the coming of more technology that it could be utilized in a better way than how it is portrayed in the book. The main thing that I kept thinking about is this idea of a mafia pizza delivery boy, I agree that I think it could actually happen more than we would think in real life. Although at the same time I still had a hard time being able to actually empathize just because it still seems so far out there. Overall I feel very similar to you. I think I would be afraid to live in such a technological world because I would fear that I would not fit in and be able to live in an everyday life.
ReplyDeleteHonestly, on the first few pages of the book I felt lost. I had to comeback on previous pages so I could keep on track. Neal Stephenson has interesting ways of expressing his ideas or assigning the ideas to his characters.For instance in seemed like the book is about future and about advanced technologies. Yes,you're it felt like watching the Matrix, but as I've read along I've began to realize that the book is about other issues. Some of it's content was even deeply political:"The Industry feeds on them and spits back images, send out movies and TV programs,...images of wealth and exotic things....and gives them something to dream about.."
ReplyDeleteSo far , for me this books is about limits and constraints of Reality and Metaverse. Regardless of where Hiro, Y.T., and others are trying to be, in Metaverse or in Reality, there is no way of avoiding the rules and limits. There is no way of avoiding the consequences.
I felt the exact same way when reading this book. It was a really hard book to relate with and emphathize with. I really cant imagine that our world would become anything remotely close to this. If it were to become this technologically advanced then I think that I wouldnt fit in society as well anymore because I dont have any interest in learning how to use things like this. I also hope that if we do become equipped with technoligical advances, that they would be better used for different things then making sure pizza. I hope that I will be able to relate to the book better as it goes on or at least to form an appreciation for it with the things that it has to offer.
ReplyDelete