Snow Crash is a cross of multiple genres though encapsulated by a futuristic narrative about cryptology, virtual reality, neurolinguistics, religion, and archaeology. Published in 1992, the futurist author Neal Stephenson introduces technological elements that were still in concept or improbable at the time. Akin to the other works he explores cybernetics and computing in how they have altered the human experience in all realms. Consequently, the narrative showcases human interactions with virtual and augmented reality and the psychological corollaries such as addiction. Stephenson introduces the Metaverse, an internet-based platform that the characters engage with the virtual reality worlds. This virtual space prefigures the current fascination the tech scene has to perfect augmented reality through virtual headsets, mobile computing, and cybernetics.
Accordingly, Stephenson incorporates ideas of neurolinguistics by creating an analogy of the human brain to binary code. He connects the ancient history of the Sumer civilization by introducing the Sumerian language as the programming language of the human brain. Thus, the conflict in the story arises when a linguistic virus that can hack the human brain falls in the hands of the antagonists. Rather than focus on the subject of cryptography in relation to computers, the author explores it through the human brainstem. Delving into pre-history and myths, it offers the basis behind the different dialects through computing concepts that substantiates the brainstem as software. Therefore Stephenson integrates the Internet of Things (IoT) that theoretically surpasses ‘things’ and renders the brainstem as firmware too. Moreover, alludes to the technological paradigm shift in the digitization of information and currency that was still in its infancy at the time.
As a result, Stephenson sets the narrative after an economic collapse in order to explore cryptocurrency and anarcho-capitalism. He demonstrates an economic market that suffered from hyperinflation due to government regulation to tackle the overuse of untaxed electronic currency. Consequently, the privatization of organizations renders the federal government almost entirely obsolete. Thus, indicates the emphasis on self-ownership, free markets, and the prevalence of virtual currency in the information age. Simply put the novel showcases extreme outcomes of modern economic and social trends that are enabled by technological advancements.
