In the opening chapters of Hamlet on the Holodeck by Janet Murray, we are introduced to “the future of narrative in cyberspace” as the extended title suggests. I immediately thought of her novel when looked up Snow Crash on Amazon.com. Amazon has a feature that you can select that allows the buyer to read an excerpt of the book before purchase. The pages that I was allowed to read before I got the book were pages 38 and 39. Those pages gave me a general description of the metaverse that serves as a central figure in Snow Crash.
The world of Hiro Protagonist is one that we have been able to catch glimpses of in our reading throughout the semester. The idea that technology has become integrated into every aspect of our daily lives is one that is seen throughout the novel. The metaverse of Snow Crash brings into the forefront the concept of “second life”. Second life is a program that has since become a part of our culture. Commonly marketed by “The Sims” games early on, the idea of living a life on the computer and the net has spread exponentially since its introduction. In Snow Crash much of the characters lives take place in a space that is a mesh of the web and real life, known as the metaverse. More and more people have begun to integrate their relationships and activities into an online forum, social network, or game.
While reading Lessig’s text, Remix, I was introduced to the legal changes and consequences that our technological aptitude and advancement have caused. If we continue to evolve with the constraints that our government has on our creativity, a life like the world in Snow Crash might be hard to attain. Lessig’s fear is that with so many laws and regulations concerning copyright and intellectual property that the creativity and progression in technology of younger generations might be stifled in turn holding up our evolution as a society. The metaverse in Snow Crash has allowed for this progress to be made. There is less of a state centered world and more of a feel of the free market. More is allowed by society because there is less law and more weight put on the trade of education and ideas.
Many of the concerns addressed in the reading of our texts were seen in the novel Snow Crash. What would happen if our way of communicating was compromised? Could we ever return to a normal way of life if our technology was compromised? As we grow technologically as a society, we move farther and farther away from our instincts. The characters in Snow Crash have seemed to find that balance that is needed to survive in the natural world as well as in the metaverse that has been created. The authors of our texts may not have originally envisioned a world like the novel, but the novel can be taken as a valid representation of the ideas that have been placed throughout the semester.
Concerns aboout the crash.
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