From: Lawrence DeBivort (debivort@umd5.umd.edu)
Date: Wed 01 Oct 2003 - 19:02:20 GMT
Agreed. SNOWCRASH is a penetrating examination of, among other things,
memes. I don't recall if Stephenson mentions the word explicitly, but the
notions permeate the book and I have to conclude it is likely that he is
highly aware of memetics and of the relationship between cognition and
language.
He has a dazzling pay-off for the book title towards its end, but I won't
say more to avoid spoiling anyone's reading.
His next book, Cryptonomicon, seems to ignore the theme. I just picked up
his most recent book, Quicksilver -- a big fat heavy tome billed as the
first of a trilogy, but haven't started it. Has anyone read it yet?
Cheers,
Lawry
> -----Original Message-----
> From: fmb-majordomo@mmu.ac.uk [mailto:fmb-majordomo@mmu.ac.uk]On Behalf
> Of Richard Brodie
> Sent: Wed, October 01, 2003 1:21 PM
> To: memetics@mmu.ac.uk
> Subject: Snowcrash (SPOILER) - just read it and don't read this post if
> you haven't yet
>
>
> Ray wrote:
>
> > Good list. 'Snow Crash' by Neal Stephenson? It's a good SF
> > book but I don't recall anything more memetic about it than a
> > dozen other cyberpunk novels.
>
> It's quite cutting-edge regarding memes. It's set in a world
> where cultural
> viruses have taken over in a very amusing way, one of the biggest
> winners in
> cultural selection being the franchise pizza store, its memetic "DNA"
> contained in the ever-present three-ring binder constantly being consulted
> by employees. It also introduces the concept of the "namshub," a powerful
> mind virus. One of the main subplots is that a group of people is
> trying to
> design the perfect mind virus to take over the world.
>
> I have quite a few other recommendations. Press the "Books" button at the
> top of www.memecentral.com
>
> Richard Brodie
> www.memecentral.com
>
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