3 ms·

Sorry, I'm not sure the relevance of a fiction from 30+ years ago. I know I sound like a dick but seriously why should I care about it?

AnimalMuppet 1y ago
You don't have to care about the book. The point of a quote is the quote. Why should you care about a quote from any time period? Because it expresses something well. Why should you care about an older quote? Because it expresses something well enough to have endured.
- franktankbank 1y ago
  It's a quote from a fiction of a bygone era though. You think China can't write microcode? You think only USA has big breasted women and men with chiseled abs? None of this makes any sense. High speed pizza had to be tongue in cheek as written. Maybe you missed the point and it was all written tongue in cheek because who truly cares about those things if you don't have all your other bases covered? Maybe I missed the point. Are we already pinched off?
  - gsf_emergency_2 1y ago
    You're no dick just not fully aware of the situation :) As of today China hasn't totally, or indeed really, caught up in the first 3. (Think about why). You might argue the Eurozone is up there in music but then you remember TikTok isn't quite YouTube. High speed pizza delivery is the most hilarious because it's the only material domain that they won't make progress at (in the foreseeable future). They have better EVs better batteries and maybe better food (in general). Just not pizza because pizza is pizza, and drones still lag behind the fastest nuclear bike when it comes to shipping frozen pizza from Shanghai to your doorstep (is there even a market for frozen pizza in Hong Kong?) (I'm glad he didn't mention games at all because it would have been the obvious one in 1992, but wrong 2025)
    - franktankbank 1y ago
      Ha thanks, I'll think about it. It's not immediately obvious though... My grandfather was one of the first "missionaries" to China in the 50s, wonder if that has anything to do with it.
      - gsf_emergency_2 1y ago
        Was he Pentecostal and a fiber-optic monopolist?
        franktankbank 1y ago
        Lutheran actually.
        gsf_emergency_2 1y ago
        Then there's no reason for you not to appreciate the book ;)
  - jajko 1y ago
    And that music part was by no small means helped with British exports over past 60 years
  - fnordpiglet 1y ago
    That’s sort of narrow sighted - Asimov, Clarke are even more a bygone era yet their fiction is still very relevant. It may be the technologies they pin the story to are not the ones that are present in the future they foresaw but the premise still holds. Snow Crash is positing once the mechanical and geographic advantages flatten globally you’re left with services of some sort - media, logistics, software: FAANG. It doesn’t seem far from the mark. I wouldn’t be dismissive of the minds of the past. They’re in the context that leads to your present and have a unique perspective. The filter of history means the books that bubble up are from the most insightful and brilliant of their era, which means effectively the signal is clearly separated from the noise unlike the presents analysis of itself. If you want to understand what’s happening now read the science fiction of yesterday.

AnimalMuppet 1y ago

You don't have to care about the book. The point of a quote is the quote. Why should you care about a quote from any time period? Because it expresses something well. Why should you care about an older quote? Because it expresses something well enough to have endured.

franktankbank 1y ago
It's a quote from a fiction of a bygone era though. You think China can't write microcode? You think only USA has big breasted women and men with chiseled abs? None of this makes any sense. High speed pizza had to be tongue in cheek as written. Maybe you missed the point and it was all written tongue in cheek because who truly cares about those things if you don't have all your other bases covered? Maybe I missed the point. Are we already pinched off?
- gsf_emergency_2 1y ago
  You're no dick just not fully aware of the situation :) As of today China hasn't totally, or indeed really, caught up in the first 3. (Think about why). You might argue the Eurozone is up there in music but then you remember TikTok isn't quite YouTube. High speed pizza delivery is the most hilarious because it's the only material domain that they won't make progress at (in the foreseeable future). They have better EVs better batteries and maybe better food (in general). Just not pizza because pizza is pizza, and drones still lag behind the fastest nuclear bike when it comes to shipping frozen pizza from Shanghai to your doorstep (is there even a market for frozen pizza in Hong Kong?) (I'm glad he didn't mention games at all because it would have been the obvious one in 1992, but wrong 2025)
  - franktankbank 1y ago
    Ha thanks, I'll think about it. It's not immediately obvious though... My grandfather was one of the first "missionaries" to China in the 50s, wonder if that has anything to do with it.
    - gsf_emergency_2 1y ago
      Was he Pentecostal and a fiber-optic monopolist?
      - franktankbank 1y ago
        Lutheran actually.
        gsf_emergency_2 1y ago
        Then there's no reason for you not to appreciate the book ;)
- jajko 1y ago
  And that music part was by no small means helped with British exports over past 60 years
- fnordpiglet 1y ago
  That’s sort of narrow sighted - Asimov, Clarke are even more a bygone era yet their fiction is still very relevant. It may be the technologies they pin the story to are not the ones that are present in the future they foresaw but the premise still holds. Snow Crash is positing once the mechanical and geographic advantages flatten globally you’re left with services of some sort - media, logistics, software: FAANG. It doesn’t seem far from the mark. I wouldn’t be dismissive of the minds of the past. They’re in the context that leads to your present and have a unique perspective. The filter of history means the books that bubble up are from the most insightful and brilliant of their era, which means effectively the signal is clearly separated from the noise unlike the presents analysis of itself. If you want to understand what’s happening now read the science fiction of yesterday.