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Gwern, I declare you to be a natural aristocrat. I hope you won't get mad if we freeze you until the world cycles back around to the idea of making rulers effe

Gwern, I declare you to be a natural aristocrat. I hope you won't get mad if we freeze you until the world cycles back around to the idea of making rulers effective at their jobs. I don't think we'll have long to wait. The Net is over turning many formerly reasonable ideas by holding up a mirror to us. Will Rogers said: It isn't what we don't know that gives us trouble, it's what we know that ain't so. <opinion> The Net is the end of egalitarianism, forever until perhaps genomics is truly cracked. It's going to an interesting ride! I hope we wind up closer to the Diamond Age than Snow Crash though.

sn9 10y ago
Did you not catch the hint in DA where DA is set in the same universe as SC? It's just a few decades later.
- internaut 10y ago
  I did hear of that idea Mr Sn9 (let's bring back Dickensian mannerisms!) Sully of Slashdot claims to have met Mr Stephenson at a book signing. Quote forthwith: According to Neal, Diamond Age and Snow Crash are not in the same universe at all. He stated further that any similarity is just due to the coincidence of the both novels having the same author. Anyway. It was a good idea even if it was incorrect. Mayhap another shining hypothesis slain by ugly facts. To clarify: I was implying to Gwern that Snow Crash would be a dismal universe to live in because the world was clearly in some kind of stagnation or slump caused by the (I don't have a good way to express this with words properly) backwash of globalization. If the Diamond Age is an evolution from Snow Crash then it is a much better world to live in. My original impression is strongly of a more fragmented world yet also one with more stability and wealth as compared with Snow Crash, which is a slow motion train wreck. Ironically I believe we truly do live in the world of Snow Crash. We've stagnated badly over the last few decades and we're just about waking up to the consequences of it now. It won't surprise you to learn I'm in favour of an aristocratic approach to tackle the problem like the Vickies. https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=11724637 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=11724637

sn9 10y ago

Did you not catch the hint in DA where DA is set in the same universe as SC? It's just a few decades later.

internaut 10y ago
I did hear of that idea Mr Sn9 (let's bring back Dickensian mannerisms!) Sully of Slashdot claims to have met Mr Stephenson at a book signing. Quote forthwith: According to Neal, Diamond Age and Snow Crash are not in the same universe at all. He stated further that any similarity is just due to the coincidence of the both novels having the same author. Anyway. It was a good idea even if it was incorrect. Mayhap another shining hypothesis slain by ugly facts. To clarify: I was implying to Gwern that Snow Crash would be a dismal universe to live in because the world was clearly in some kind of stagnation or slump caused by the (I don't have a good way to express this with words properly) backwash of globalization. If the Diamond Age is an evolution from Snow Crash then it is a much better world to live in. My original impression is strongly of a more fragmented world yet also one with more stability and wealth as compared with Snow Crash, which is a slow motion train wreck. Ironically I believe we truly do live in the world of Snow Crash. We've stagnated badly over the last few decades and we're just about waking up to the consequences of it now. It won't surprise you to learn I'm in favour of an aristocratic approach to tackle the problem like the Vickies. https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=11724637 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=11724637