By

Kenny Wilder

Snow Crash by Neal Stephenson surely represents how the advancement of technology has taken over our daily lives and the way our culture lives. “We are living in a remix culture (Lessig 14).” Since we live a remix culture, I enjoyed the way Stephenson starts the book off with the Deliverator who delivers pizza for Uncle Enzo, who apparently has affiliation with the mafia. During a delivery, the Deliverator is in jeopardy of missing the time allotted to deliver the pizza, so he receives the assistance of a Kourier by the name of Y.T. Finally, the Deliverator is revealed as, “Hiro Protagonist, last of the freelance hackers, greatest sword fighter in the world stringer, Central Intelligence Corporation specializing in software intel (music, movies, and microcode) (Stephenson 17).”  As Hiro and Y.T. teams up in this cyber action thriller, it reminds me of Lessig’s Remix because they are both from different backgrounds but technology has brought them on a common ground. In the real world, Hiro delivers pizza but he’s a warrior prince that carries a sword in the Metaverse. Y.T. is a sweet innocent girl in the eyes of her mother but in virtual reality she’s some futuristic skateboarder looking for trouble to get into.

What is the Metaverse? The Metaverse is a computer generated universe where “pieces of software are made available to the public over the world wide fiber optics network (Stephenson 25).” The Metaverse can be compared to the Star Trek holodeck, “a universal fantasy machine open to individuals programming: a vision of the computer as a kind of storytelling genie in the lamp (Murray 15).” It brings about immersion which allows Hiro, Y.T., and other hackers the opportunity to manipulate their own worlds. The convergence of technology filters through the Metaverse by way of Henry Jenkins that we are shaped to the demands of technology “by changing the way we create, consume, learn, and interact with others (Jenkins).” Y.T. even demonstrates that the Metaverse is a mere holodeck in which “citizens in technologically developed societies young people on particular are literally being engineered through their interactions with computational devices (Hayle 47).”  The people in the Metaverse are portrayed as “pieces of software called avatars. They are the audiovisual bodies that people use to communicate with each other (Stephenson 35,36).” This was a concept Stephenson decided to use because he thought “virtual reality” was too awkward.

Murray advises of trouble that will soon enter Hiro’s fantasy world. “Participation in an immersive environment has to be carefully structured and constrained (Murray 106).” Protocol on the Street in the Metaverse requires that an avatar can not be taller than what you are in life.  Hiro notices “one black-and-white who stands out because he’s taller than the rest (Stephenson 41).” This particular guy can be referred to common day drug dealers because in the virtual world he’s offering other avatars in this computer generated community a drug by the name of “Snow Crash”. Snow Crash is “computer lingo. It means a system crash-a-bug-at such fundamental level that it frags the part of the computer that controls the electron beam in the monitor, making it spray widely across the screen, turning the perfect gridwork of pixels into gyrating blizzard (Stephenson 42).” In today’s society, we have people who create viruses to damage or crash computer systems at certain organizations or companies leaving them expose to computer warfare. Snow Crash reminds me a lot of so called “crack abusers.’ They use the drug knowing the adverse effect that it may have of them but they use it anyway. This virus jeopardizes hackers everywhere in the Metaverse including Da5id who is owner of the Black Sun and the chief hacker.

Hiro takes the seriousness of  this virus once it’s used by Da5id and sets out on a mission to destroy the villain responsible for bringing havoc or infocalypse to his perfect world. Technology in the future definitely is more advance when something in the virtual world has an effect on someone in the human world. Imagine a computer virus that goes beyond the virtual realm. A computer virus which is something old creates something new. demonstrates a RO and RW culture.  I think Soderberg describes it best in Remix by Lessing. ‘”When you mix these symbolic things together with something new you create something new that didn’t exist before (Lessig 75).” Now if I had to create a digital age science equation it would read: a virus(symbolic thing which is old)+ a new wave of technology= something new created which is Snow Crash.

In this novel, Hiro and Y.T. spends a lot of time googled in the Metaverse. “  A place where magic is possible (Stephenson 211) and “language tended to converge prior to Babel/Infocalypse (Stephenson 216).” In a strange way Hiro and Y.T. puts me in the mind of a futuristic Batman and Robin set off in their own world to fight crime and capture the bad guy, Raven, who is a spoiler. Talk about your RW culture.

In conclusion, Stephenson really expressed how so many people belong to a remix culture because they are members in different communities via computer through advancement in technology. There are millions who have bonded and created their own worlds or communities through MySpace, Facebook,  and blogs. The idea of virtual reality has been captured in this novel by the Metaverse which was a “fictional structure made of code (Stephenson 211).” There are several computer graphic communities in our society that are constantly changing our society, culture, and technology.  The digital age has arrived and the advancement of technology has evolved in shaping our future. I just hope we are ready for it 

Works Cited

Hayles, K atherine N. Electronic Literature: New Horizons For The Literary. Notre Dame, Indiana: University of Notre Dame. 2008.

Jenkins, Henry. Convergence Culture: Where Old and New Media Collide. New York University Press. 2006.

Lessig, Lawrence. Remix: Making Art and Commerce Thrive in the Hybrid Economy, New York: The Penguin Press, 2008.

Murray, Janet H.  Hamlet on the Holodeck: The Future of Narrative in Cyberspace, Cambridge: The MIT Press, 2000.

Stephenson, Neal. Snow Crash. New York: Bantam Book, 1992.

“Remix is an essential act of RW creativity. It is the expression of a freedom to take “the songs of the day or the old songs” and create them (56).” Most of Kayne West  hits has come from old school songs. He uses old school beats, songs, and tracks to create a new sound. Today’s artist sometimes want a RO culture only for their monetray gain but due to technology and creativity permits us to be a RW culture. Mainly because artist no longer have love for the industryor fans so they just make a record to say that they have made. Then when you buy the CD it has about 15 tracks but only 2 songs sound good. Now we have wasted our money, then the artist wonder why we download. Just make a good product!!!

Chapter 3 makes a valid point about how remix has changed our culture and the way we live. “During the twentieth century, our access to television and movies was different from our access to books. With television and movies, the viewer had to conform his schedule to the schedule of the distributor (43).” Through the mix of things we no longer have to change our schedule because now we can TiVo. There are DVD recorders and even local cable companies such as Cox offer an “On-Demand” channel where you can at any time go back and watch that movie or television show that you wanted to see at your convienence. Also, I am a subscriber to Netflix and this was thebest remix that they could have made. I can watch movies instantly and order movies without having the hassle of going to the video store plus I get save gas. It the things that I have mention that changes our society and our demand for new technology. Like Lessig, it’s a way of recoding us. ”As these businesses grow, they change not only business. They also change us (43).”

Because we are living in a remix culture, RO culture will flourish in the digital age because it takes the old to help build or establish the new. Then RW culture will become valuable because the RO culture has encouraged society to build upon it(RO). And with each new concept comes “a new wave of  demand(37).” Whether it’s through Netflix, going from VCR tapes to BluRay DVDs,  posting videos and crazy footage of YouTube, or even managed the world through the capability of a cell phone we are caught in the remix.  I would like impose one question. Since we are so caught in modern technologhy and in what the futire holds in the digital age, are we becoming less human or more like mere robots? Will the real remix please stand up!!!!  

Works Cited

Lessig, Lawrence. Remix. New York: The Penguin Press, 2008.

What becomes interesting is when the plot thickens and because twisted when the book speaks about ChillOne and Mark Burnett. “It is of course still possible that ChillOne is MB and that he is establishing credibility by leaking good information a few days early only to slam us with bad F4 predictions (43).” And for some sick twisted reason if Mark Burnett did pretend to be ChillOne, I love it by using the same technology to spoil the goods from the spoilers. Wow!! How crazy is that concept ? Since he can spoil things for the people trying to damage the show he’s considered the bad guy. “Now it’s Mark Burnett deceiver, the Devil, Evil Pecker Mark. Now we knew he was trying to keep secrets and it was game on (47).” Talk about collective intelligence……what a way to contribute to the cause MB.

In the end some say that ChillOne won by spoiling the season of Survivor but I feel just the opposite because of his predictions; he made more people watch to see if it would be true which in return would boost ratings. in an interview Burnett stated, “It (spoiling) is what it as as long as it doesn’t affect ratings. There may be 5000 people on the Internet but there are 20 million viewers and they don’t spend time their time reading the Internet (56).” I guess sometimes spoilers sent out to do one thing and it backfires because some people are just going to watch anyway. So way to go ChillOne, I mean Mark Burnett. The question I ask is to be….or not MB?

Works Cited

Jenkins, Henry. Convergence Culture: Where Old and New Media Collide. New York: New York University Press.2006

Through technology we are provided with interactine media, television, cyberdrama, world wide web, MUD, hypertext, and video games in which Murray states, ” the largest commercial success and greatest creative effort in digital narrative” (Murray 51). All these things provides us with a virtual experience in some sense enhances our alter egos. Sometimes I feel as if technology has made us humans mentally lazy. Instead of actually reading a book we go online and read. Peoploe would rather watch a play on the web versus enjoying the excitement of realistic personal experience.

Video games allows people to create characters that they know they can’t be in real life by providing your own personal holodeck that I call a technological fantasy. In closing, Murray connects research work on artificial intelligence with cultural forms such as video games, movies, literature, and television. It affords three characteristics pleasures: immersion, agancy, and transformation (Wikipedia).

Works Cited:

“Janet Murray.” Wikipedia, Free Encyclopedia. 8 Oct 2008, 04:19 UTC 8 Oct 2008

Murray, Janet H., Hamlet on the Holodeck: The Future of Narrative in Cyberspace