Book Review: The Diamond Age
I will say this now. Neal Stephenson is my favorite author (Amazon link). Cryptonomicon is a must read, in my opinion for any student of history, computers (technology), or economics, as it ties all three nicely together, for World War II and the present day. The Baroque Cycle does the same for the baroque period, the era of Isaac Newton.
Zodiac (review), Snow Crash, and The Diamond Age form a sort of trilogy about the impact of corportations, technology and government. Government plays less of a role in each of them, with the "phyles" of The Diamond Age becoming the ultimate in contract-theory politics, where you sign to join a government. The contract of citizenship is voluntary and explicit. Snow Crash takes place in an anarcho-captialist future, and demonstrates that it is sort of like it is now, but with swords.
From my reivew of Zodiac:
Stephenson also has a couple themes running through his book, including practical applications for science and computers, witty/geeky observations about people and culture, and several libertarian themes. While the first two are sort of obvious, the libertarian themes I find are the benefits of guns (the main character of Zodiac comtemplates getting one numerous times, after it would have helped him a lot) , individual freedom (seen a lot in relationships or being violated by a state), the media-corportate relationship (explored heavily in Zodiac), and haveing a healthy amount of paranoia, which I feel characterizes libertarians (I know I have it).Stephenson is funny, engaging, and brilliant. I would recommend any of his works (except The Big U).
Paranoia of the state and authority, in my opinion, is healthy, and causes one to be prepared for the breakdown of social systems, and making preservation of life, liberty, and property, the number one priority, regardless of the health of the state. Guns are one way to achieve this end, and other precautions such as survival training/experience are widely seen elements in Stephenson.
| Permalink | 
