Snow Crash is one of Stephenson's earlier books and it's a delightful, hysterical romp through the future. People live in Burbclaves with armed guards at the gates, drive on highways built by either Fairlanes, Inc. (specializing in high-traction highways for type A drivers) or Cruiseways, Inc. (dedicated to the type B driver, who wants to enjoy the trip). God forbid their highways should ever cross. Once it did and shooting erupted until the intersection was purchased for a large parking lot and mall by some mogol. Billboards are ubiquitous, the light they give off having its own nomenclature, loglo (neon logos). Occasionally, their light is interrupted or obscured by the " stained-glass arches of the local Reverend Wayne' Pearly Gates franchise. Our hero, aptly name Hiro Protagonist, has just lost his job as a Deliverator, a specialist in delivering pizzas within the thirty-minute promised time for CosaNostra Pizzas. North America, following global trade agreements, has been able to survive by specializing in its most skilled areas: movies, music, microcode (software) and high-speed delivery of pizza. The pizza boxes are high tech, containing a RAM chip that locates the customers' addresses and projects the fastest route on the heads-up display in front of the driver. Hiro, to his dismay, has totaled his car rushing to a delivery that only has ten minutes left before the time is up. He takes a shortcut through a yard he had scoped out earlier only to realize too late that a pool (without water) has been installed where he thought the grass should be.
Uncle Enzo of CosaNostra Pizzas is not happy and those who can' deliver on time tend to disappear so Hiro has gone back to his regular job of freelancing information for the CIC database, the replacement for the Library of Congress. " used to be a place full of books, mostly old ones. Then they began to include videotapes, records, and magazines. Then all the information got converted into machine-readable form, which is to say, ones and zeros. And as the number of media grew, the material became more up to date, and the methods for searching the Library became more and more sophisticated, it approached the point where there was no substantive difference between the Library of Congress and the Central Intelligence Agency. Fortuitously, this happened just as the government was falling apart anyway. So they merged and kicked out a big fat stock offering."
The world has been overtaken by franchises that work on the same principle as the virus: " thrives in one place will thrive in another." All one needs is a " virulent business plan, condense it into a three-ring binder — its DNA — Xerox it, and embed it in the fertile lining of a well-traveled highway, preferably one with a left-turn lane." The franchise means you never have to leave home.
Lots of very interesting comments regarding language. Fascinating.
