tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6636422447654352249.post7015341742192974798..comments2022-06-12T11:20:41.146-05:00Comments on Welcome to Science Fiction: In Soviet Russia, worker lead you!Adam Wykeshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02534325888137250921noreply@blogger.comBlogger3125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6636422447654352249.post-8375040374879601462009-07-03T16:13:30.165-05:002009-07-03T16:13:30.165-05:00Haha, funny you should say that... I actually didn...Haha, funny you should say that... I actually didn't like Diamond Age because it wasn't very like Snow Crash - so perhaps you'd like it alot more than I did. For my say, the weakness of Diamond Age was that it was plotted poorly. Stephenson was so eager to show how future education might change the balance of power that he forgot to tie up loose ends or focus on the motivations of the other characters.Adam Wykeshttps://www.blogger.com/profile/02534325888137250921noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6636422447654352249.post-13164982041871170352009-07-03T15:45:02.221-05:002009-07-03T15:45:02.221-05:00I am Robot's society is less a vision, I think...I am Robot's society is less a vision, I think, than an analysis...but it fits in, yeah.<br /><br />As for Diamond Age, well, let's just say that I was so put off by Snow Crash that I refuse to read much more early Stephenson.Geoffrey Wykeshttps://www.blogger.com/profile/07994573677173072411noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6636422447654352249.post-77135158715445376682009-07-03T15:25:27.227-05:002009-07-03T15:25:27.227-05:00There are some other works that offer interesting ...There are some other works that offer interesting sociological portrayals of the future as well:<br /><br />The Diamond Age<br />Dune (don't forget the classics)<br />I Am Robot<br />STALKER<br /><br />In the Diamond Age, Stephenson extrapolates <i>A</i> future where nanotechnology allows a sort of cornucopia very similar to the one found in Banks' Culture, but lacks the powerful AI needed to run it. Human "engineers" design this nanotechnology, forming a sort of power elite that nonetheless is soon overcome by the effective education of the lower class. Resulting class warfare promises the redistribution of wealth at a much lower but more widespread level.<br /><br />Dune is a bit more mainstream, but still does interesting work portraying theocracy, religious societies, and civilization as tied together by a ruling elite of spacefarers and spice-haulers.<br /><br />I Am Robot hardly needs any introduction - it introduces robots into society. <br /><br />The STALKER games build a SciFi world where something inexplicable has occurred, triggering a technological gold rush. The various responses of the factions in this series largely mirror the basic approaches to SF that authors and audiences can take... more on that in another post.Adam Wykeshttps://www.blogger.com/profile/02534325888137250921noreply@blogger.com