Aim of this blog: To celebrate World Telecommunication and Information Society Day by providing a list of novels that are cautionary tales about the future, from some of the world's most famous science fiction authors, past and present. In this blog I will specifically cover novels that deal with information-based societies, and the unintended consequences that could result in an increasingly connected world.

Wednesday 25 April 2012

Snow Crash - Life is better digital..

SNOW CRASH
Author: Neal Stephenson
Publisher: Bantam Books; New York
Date: 1992
Written from a third person perspective, Snow Crash is set in a future dystopian America where government no longer functions and libertarianism rules. In their place corporations are responsible for providing all services, for example highway companies fight to have consumers drive on their roads, and private armies keep the peace. In this world people are connected by the Metaverse, a next generation internet and a fully 3D virtual world that people use to escape from reality. When users in the Metaverse start taking the virtual drug Snow Crash, they soon find it causes sickness in the real world. Main character Hiro Protagonist and his sidekick Y.T. investigate, taking them on an action packed and slightly satirical tongue-in-cheek ride through the Metaverse's variety of themed locations. 

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