5 ms·

They're a 38 year old metaphor. Neil Stephenson's Smartwheels don't exist either, and we still don't have "professional road surfers", but that doesn't make Sn

They're a 38 year old metaphor. Neil Stephenson's Smartwheels don't exist either, and we still don't have "professional road surfers", but that doesn't make Snow Crash any less relevant: "Smartwheels use sonar, laser range finding and millimeter wave radar to identify mufflers and other debris. Each one consists of a hub with many tiny spokes. Each spoke telescopes into five sections. On the end is a squat foot, rubber tread on the bottom, swiveling on a ball joint. As the wheel rolls, the feet plant themselves one at a time, almost glomming into one continuous tire. If you surf over a bump, the spokes contract to roll over it. If you surf over a pothole, the rubber prongs probe its asphalt depths. Either way, the shock is thereby absorbed, no thuds, smacks, vibrations, or clunks will make their way into the plank or the Converse hightops with which you tread it. The ad was right - you cannot be a professional road surfer without smartwheels."

paparush 5y ago
You wanna talk about contact patches?
- wiredfool 5y ago
  I am sooooo glad I read Snowcrash _after_ I stopped driving pizzas.
jvanderbot 5y ago
I just don't like snow crash. Does that make me an outlier? The whole thing was silly and far too jrpg for my taste. I mean, stealing the whole "skitchn" thing and slapping "Smooth move, ex lax" on a car when they try to shake you is just campy. "Poor impulse control" -- just slapstick comedy at that point.
- throwanem 5y ago
  It is campy and frequently cheesy, and I think probably influenced somewhat by anime which was in the 80s and early 90s both very different from what it is now, and still in the US a very niche sort of taste in that you had to be somewhat "plugged in" even to have heard about it - it wouldn't hit more widely until the mid- to late-90s Web boom made awareness and access much more broadly available. That's part of the fun in my view, but it's equally fair just not to like it - de gustibus etc. Or maybe it's just a timing thing; I first read it when I was young and it was new, and maybe that has as much to do as anything with why I liked it so well and still regard it fondly.
  - nimithryn 5y ago
    Snow Crash was apparently originally envisioned as a graphic novel, hence the tone
- TranquilMarmot 5y ago
  I always read Snow Crash as a bit of a parody. Over the top, but in a fun way. It's definitely not a serious novel like Neuromancer is.
- grapeskin 5y ago
  It felt like a hyperactive 14 year old’s anime fanfiction. Fun for five pages, but when that tone keeps going, my brain just ends up feeling burnt out.
  - pmoriarty 5y ago
    My feeling exactly. I don't get why adults would like this book.
- sleepybrett 5y ago
  it does not, it's a shit book. Diamond Age is better though.
- AlanYx 5y ago
  I don't think you're an outlier really. IMHO the problem with Snow Crash is that it hasn't aged well. I enjoyed it in the mid-90s, but I recently re-read it, and found it hard to get through (until the very end, anyway). It feels like a frozen-in-time product of the early 90s in a lot of ways, not just in terms of the technological outlook but also with respect to some of the social aspects addressed in the book. There's also very little character development; at one point, for example, a character kills another character in a bar over a threat, and at no point later on does he experience any kind of mental or moral anguish over his first experience of killing.) Neuromancer on the other hand has aged incredibly well. The ICE tech doesn't make much sense, but the characters feel honest and real, and so many actual contemporary issues (AI ethics, transhumanism, transgender issues, mass surveillance, anonymous coordinated activism, economic oligarchs heading into space, even a tank war in Europe!) resonate throughout the book in ways that don't feel dated.
  - novok 5y ago
    Neuromancer was never really about technology according to the author, and that is probably why it feels the same. Ironically although, I had a hard time reading Neuromancer while snow crash was a breezy fun read in high school
tessierashpool 5y ago
if you like that, you should definitely check out the tornado chasers' car in Heavy Weather by Bruce Sterling.
- bpiche 5y ago
  username checks out

paparush 5y ago

You wanna talk about contact patches?

wiredfool 5y ago
I am sooooo glad I read Snowcrash _after_ I stopped driving pizzas.

jvanderbot 5y ago

I just don't like snow crash. Does that make me an outlier? The whole thing was silly and far too jrpg for my taste. I mean, stealing the whole "skitchn" thing and slapping "Smooth move, ex lax" on a car when they try to shake you is just campy. "Poor impulse control" -- just slapstick comedy at that point.

throwanem 5y ago
It is campy and frequently cheesy, and I think probably influenced somewhat by anime which was in the 80s and early 90s both very different from what it is now, and still in the US a very niche sort of taste in that you had to be somewhat "plugged in" even to have heard about it - it wouldn't hit more widely until the mid- to late-90s Web boom made awareness and access much more broadly available. That's part of the fun in my view, but it's equally fair just not to like it - de gustibus etc. Or maybe it's just a timing thing; I first read it when I was young and it was new, and maybe that has as much to do as anything with why I liked it so well and still regard it fondly.
- nimithryn 5y ago
  Snow Crash was apparently originally envisioned as a graphic novel, hence the tone
TranquilMarmot 5y ago
I always read Snow Crash as a bit of a parody. Over the top, but in a fun way. It's definitely not a serious novel like Neuromancer is.
grapeskin 5y ago
It felt like a hyperactive 14 year old’s anime fanfiction. Fun for five pages, but when that tone keeps going, my brain just ends up feeling burnt out.
- pmoriarty 5y ago
  My feeling exactly. I don't get why adults would like this book.
sleepybrett 5y ago
it does not, it's a shit book. Diamond Age is better though.
AlanYx 5y ago
I don't think you're an outlier really. IMHO the problem with Snow Crash is that it hasn't aged well. I enjoyed it in the mid-90s, but I recently re-read it, and found it hard to get through (until the very end, anyway). It feels like a frozen-in-time product of the early 90s in a lot of ways, not just in terms of the technological outlook but also with respect to some of the social aspects addressed in the book. There's also very little character development; at one point, for example, a character kills another character in a bar over a threat, and at no point later on does he experience any kind of mental or moral anguish over his first experience of killing.) Neuromancer on the other hand has aged incredibly well. The ICE tech doesn't make much sense, but the characters feel honest and real, and so many actual contemporary issues (AI ethics, transhumanism, transgender issues, mass surveillance, anonymous coordinated activism, economic oligarchs heading into space, even a tank war in Europe!) resonate throughout the book in ways that don't feel dated.
- novok 5y ago
  Neuromancer was never really about technology according to the author, and that is probably why it feels the same. Ironically although, I had a hard time reading Neuromancer while snow crash was a breezy fun read in high school

tessierashpool 5y ago

if you like that, you should definitely check out the tornado chasers' car in Heavy Weather by Bruce Sterling.

bpiche 5y ago
username checks out