After reading Snow Crash I feel that the largest implausibility in my mind is that a corporation such as the one Hiro works for would ever be allowed to exist the way society is. As we know, Hiro worked for the Central Intelligence Corporation. Hiro's job would be to gain intelligence and then post submit it and if anyone purchased his information he would get a percentage of the money. This would never be allowed by government's if the world remains structured the way it is. It has been seen over the last few years that when data is leaked, nations have to scramble in order to make sure that the damage is minimized and the nation's public image does not take a massive hit from other countries or even its own citizens. Information on any topic about a nation has become some of the most heavy guarded things that a nation can have and I'm sure there is no chance that this can be turned into a legitimized business model if nations remain the way they are today.
While the CIC is the most implausible part of Snow Crash for me, I feel that the most plausible thing from the book is the level of interconnectivity amongst people on the "metaverse". While I do not think it will necessarily be as expansive or as popular as is depicted in the book I sure that there will be some game or online community that will link people all over the world since there are already some forms of that today. People from all over the world play each other in Call of Duty and Halo and other popular video games all the time and I can easily see these becoming more widespread. In addition to more individualized connectivity I believe that states can connect in this way as well through competition. Over the last few years, more global tournaments for video games have appeared and they continue to grow in popularity. In the future I can see these events becoming nation vs. nation, sort of like the Olympics. This would allow more opportunity for nations to interact and cooperate and I do not think that this is far off at all.
I agree with your feelings on the interconnectivity of the Metaverse being channeled into a similar program in the future. I would say that it would not just be used for leisurely activities but also to conduct legitimate business deals. In my blog post I talk about how a system of avatars such as those in the Metaverse could simulate face-to-face business meetings with the added benefit of not having to leave your home. This could lead to larger networks of trust.
ReplyDeleteWhile I do agree partially on the implausibility of the CIC and data sharing in the future, I do see some aspect of that currently. The convergence of the CIA and the Library of Congress is completely implausible, but the government has paid informants currently to supply them with information. Could that possibly evolve to a different kind of informant in which one does free lance information sharing in the future? However I do also completely agree with a program similar to the Metaverse that increases the capacity of the internet and global interconnectivity is definitely plausible for the future.
ReplyDeleteI think the idea of secure or classified information being sold as a legitimate job is a bit of a stretch here. As you have pointed out, the state today holds classified, security-related information on such an unreachable pedestal that I have a hard time believing that such information could be owned by private business to be bought and sold in the future. How do you think that private corporations would have access to this information themselves? Would they be in charge of their own surveillance to gather information?
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