Snow Crash Neal Stephenson

The Metaverse has become a place where you can get killed. Or at least have your brain reamed out to the point where you might as well be dead. This is a radical change in the nature of the place. Guns have come to Paradise.

The Metaverse is wide open and undefended, like airports in the days before bombs and metal detectors, like elementary schools in the days before maniacs with assault rifles. Anyone can go in and do anything they want to. There are no cops. You can’t defend yourself, you can’t chase the bad people. It’s going to take a lot of work to change that — a fundamental rebuilding of the whole Metaverse, carried out on a planetwide, corporate level.

In the meantime, there may be a role for individuals who know their way around the place. A few hacks can make a lot of difference in this situation. A freelance hacker could get a lot of shit done, years before the giant software factories bestir themselves to deal with the problem.

Puzzling, unfocused, lengthy. A 1992 classic. Abundant context, lacks story. Despite all the fame, I probably won’t pick up a Stephenson again anytime soon.