Snow Crash

Snow Crash by Neal Stephenson (Image: www.bioethics.ac.uk)

Snow Crash is a science-fiction novel written by American author Neal Stephenson. It was published in 1992 and established Stephenson as a major science-fiction writer of the 1990s. The book was selected by Time magazine as one of the 100 all-time best english language novels written since 1923. The list was created by critics Lev Grossman and Richard Lacayo . Snow Crash has been considered a parody of cyberpunk, filled with satire - deliberately looking at the world “through the lens of exaggerated, humorous motifs aimed at providing insight through magnification of salient traits.” In 1993, the novel was nominated for a BSFA (British Science Fiction Association Award) and a Prometheus award. In 1994, it received a nomination for an Arthur C. Clarke award .

The science-fiction novel depicts a posthuman world in which many of its inhabitants have a parallel existence in the Metaverse - a digital network that has some features in common with the internet. Users log into the Metaverse with a virtual reality headset that has earphones that are plugged into the ears . The Metaverse is mostly populated by real people that are represented by avatars in the digital space. It is a virtual reality world envisioned as a large cyber-planet containing homes, corporate headquarters, nightclubs, and other types of buildings found in reality, and others that are not. Besides the real people, the Metaverse also contains totally synthetic characters. These have different degrees of capability and complexity, interacting with users as if they were avatars representing real people . Once a user enters the Metaverse, he will be presented with a brilliantly lit boulevard that stretches off into an infinite blackness. The boulevard is a computer-rendered view of an imaginary place from where the user will then navigate the fantasy world through the use of his avatar. The story’s main character is called Hiro Protagonist - a young man who is a computer hacker by profession. He spends the majority of his time in the Metaverse, believing it is his only escape from the harshness of reality .

The book has had a great influence in several people that were inspired by the world that Stephenson created, more specifically the concept of the Metaverse. Indeed, Michael Abrash (Chief Scientist at Oculus VR) has described how the novel inspired him to start thinking about a lot of concepts that were explored in the book that could be implemented in real life . The book is also said to have predicted several aspect of modern society and technology, like pervasive access to the internet, a virtual “web” of interconnected information . Its arrival in 1992 coincided with the emergence of the internet, when William Gibson’s ideas about cyberspace were being reshaped by his readers in their own image. Therefore, it was integrated easily in a culture that was at the brink of a new information revolution with the world wide web. Snow Crash’s influence goes well beyond the confines of traditional science-fiction literature. It has influenced game designers, coders, graphic artists and 3D modellers who, like Michael Abrash, took a sense of possibility and tried to realize it in the real world .

Some consider that one of the major successes of the novel is that it is fun, even though it defies some of the rules and protocols of science-fiction writing, with massive infodumps on Sumerian religion, information theory and other subjects .