this post was submitted on 04 Sep 2026
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[–] greybeard@feddit.online 7 points 4 days ago* (last edited 4 days ago) (1 children)

Snow Crash is a Sci-Fi book from the early 90s. It coined the term metaverse. It takes place in a post American collapse setting, where corporations have taken over. There's a lot of interesting points in the book, probably as interesting today as the day it was wrote.

But what stuck with me, and helped form my understanding of society and helped me build my career in tech was his observations on franchises. He posits that franchise are basically a living organism, who's DNA is written in binders. These binders cover every eventuality. They explain process, procedure, and expected results so that the humans in each franchise can keep the organism alive.

It was kinda a throw away set dressing just setting up the world at the beginning of the book, but it is the part that had real meaning to me.

[–] W98BSoD@lemmy.dbzer0.com 1 points 3 days ago* (last edited 3 days ago) (1 children)

Was that the protagonist who said that?

[–] greybeard@feddit.online 2 points 3 days ago (1 children)

Nope, the narrator, which I don't remember well, might have been the inner monologue of the hero protagonist.

[–] W98BSoD@lemmy.dbzer0.com 1 points 3 days ago (1 children)

The main character in Neal Stephenson's 1992 science fiction novel Snow Crash is named Hiro Protagonist.

ThatsTheJoke.gif

[–] greybeard@feddit.online 1 points 3 days ago (1 children)

Yes, that's why I expanded on what you said and spelled out hero protagonist.

[–] W98BSoD@lemmy.dbzer0.com 1 points 3 days ago

Ok, I was the one whooshed.