4 ms·

I _believe_ it was in Neal Stephenson's Snow Crash where a pair of 7 year old brother-sister twins used complimentary and contradictory postings -- sometimes as

I _believe_ it was in Neal Stephenson's Snow Crash where a pair of 7 year old brother-sister twins used complimentary and contradictory postings -- sometimes assuming eachother's identities or creating new ones -- in newsgroups to influence public opinion. When disinfo on Facebook and Twitter went nuclear in 2015 -2016 those fictional siblings were first to mind

labrador 2y ago
I think you have it backwards. Snow Crash was published in 1992. The article references things Ballard said in the 70's and 80's
- DiggyJohnson 2y ago
  I don't think GP is making a point about which came first or whatnot. Just sharing a connection they made.
  - labrador 2y ago
    My apologies then
    - fitsumbelay 2y ago
      thanks, no problem
mcculley 2y ago
I think you are thinking of "Locke" and "Demosthenes" in Ender’s Game.
- notahacker 2y ago
  The reality of which was best summarised by https://xkcd.com/635/ https://xkcd.com/635/
  - seryoiupfurds 2y ago
    It's ironic how that comic aged far more poorly than the original premise it made fun of. By 2016, anonymous online political commentary was directly influencing major world events.
    - julianeon 2y ago
      I mean only in the aggregate, only if you got a big community to do it or got picked up and amplified by a political leader. I can't think of any anonymous blog posts which changed the world. Movements like Anonymous have had an impact, but there's a more to that than online screeds. The closest analog might be Q, aka an anon like Ron Watkins, but that itself was swept up in a larger movement that pushed and pulled in all sorts of different directions. To me the idea of kids posting on Internet forums and becoming major political leaders through their pseudonyms, through logical language like a modern-day version of the Federalist Papers, does seem pretty silly in 2024.
      - vitalurk 2y ago
        You should check out the Bitcoin whitepaper.
      - Apocryphon 2y ago
        Heck, book-length political treatises by anonymous insiders barely got any traction https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Imperial_Hubris https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Imperial_Hubris
      - fitsumbelay 2y ago
        Fair point about it being in aggregate would what an aggregation it was back in 2014, 2015 and 2016. And it was a mix of groups and goals -- some were partisans who intentionally disinformed while others were apolitical and driven by opportunism and greed. maybe there was some overlap, maybe some codependence. But they certainly changed the world imho by preventing what would've been a more responsible Clinton Administration from managing the pandemic in the US for example.
    - 2y ago
- fitsumbelay 2y ago
  true
tejtm 2y ago
In Orson Scott Card's "Enders Game" as well. Children had been bred and trained to be tactical so Ender's siblings applied their talents locally to manipulate geopolitics as a side story.
- fitsumbelay 2y ago
  I think that's actually what I'm thinking of. I think they were Ender's siblings, actually Thanks, you saved me from re-reading Count Zero too

labrador 2y ago

I think you have it backwards. Snow Crash was published in 1992. The article references things Ballard said in the 70's and 80's

DiggyJohnson 2y ago
I don't think GP is making a point about which came first or whatnot. Just sharing a connection they made.
- labrador 2y ago
  My apologies then
  - fitsumbelay 2y ago
    thanks, no problem

mcculley 2y ago

I think you are thinking of "Locke" and "Demosthenes" in Ender’s Game.

notahacker 2y ago
The reality of which was best summarised by https://xkcd.com/635/ https://xkcd.com/635/
- seryoiupfurds 2y ago
  It's ironic how that comic aged far more poorly than the original premise it made fun of. By 2016, anonymous online political commentary was directly influencing major world events.
  - julianeon 2y ago
    I mean only in the aggregate, only if you got a big community to do it or got picked up and amplified by a political leader. I can't think of any anonymous blog posts which changed the world. Movements like Anonymous have had an impact, but there's a more to that than online screeds. The closest analog might be Q, aka an anon like Ron Watkins, but that itself was swept up in a larger movement that pushed and pulled in all sorts of different directions. To me the idea of kids posting on Internet forums and becoming major political leaders through their pseudonyms, through logical language like a modern-day version of the Federalist Papers, does seem pretty silly in 2024.
    - vitalurk 2y ago
      You should check out the Bitcoin whitepaper.
    - Apocryphon 2y ago
      Heck, book-length political treatises by anonymous insiders barely got any traction https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Imperial_Hubris https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Imperial_Hubris
    - fitsumbelay 2y ago
      Fair point about it being in aggregate would what an aggregation it was back in 2014, 2015 and 2016. And it was a mix of groups and goals -- some were partisans who intentionally disinformed while others were apolitical and driven by opportunism and greed. maybe there was some overlap, maybe some codependence. But they certainly changed the world imho by preventing what would've been a more responsible Clinton Administration from managing the pandemic in the US for example.
  - 2y ago
fitsumbelay 2y ago
true

tejtm 2y ago

In Orson Scott Card's "Enders Game" as well. Children had been bred and trained to be tactical so Ender's siblings applied their talents locally to manipulate geopolitics as a side story.

fitsumbelay 2y ago
I think that's actually what I'm thinking of. I think they were Ender's siblings, actually Thanks, you saved me from re-reading Count Zero too