Random Thoughts on "Diamond Age"

Let me first admit that in order to gain a workable knowledge of The Diamond Age’s plot, I did have to skip large chunks of reading, and so I haven’t been able to completely connect everything. I truly enjoy the book, and will re-read more thoroughly when I have time, but I am an exceptionally slow reader, and I have other classes, too, you know. As another disclaimer, when you asked us to just write what we were thinking, you did so at your own risk. I don’t think there’s anything too bad; I’m just abdicating responsibility just in case.

Armies of little girls. It had to happen. Unfortunately, no teddy bears with skull guns, but maybe that’s just as well.

Now for thoughts on the Primer. Lots of them. First, I started thinking about the whole book-within-a-book thing, which took me outside Stephenson’s story to look at the book as a whole a bit more critically. Obviously, Stephenson has a slightly-too-grandiose view of himself to make a book without some perceived profound message, but I still can’t bring myself to believe that he thinks The Diamond Age is a tome of infinitely malleable wisdom and knowledge. Which brings us, of course, to:

The Bible. Thank god (pun intended) for stories whose roots are lost in history and are therefore subject to whatever interpretation the current body of power wishes to imbue it with. My senior prediction in high school was that I would found a new political party based on a platform of cynicism, as a random aside. Now, the idea of an electronic bible is fraught with meaning as it is (what with worshipping technology, giving science a metaphorical meaning that by definition as an objective pursuit it’s not supposed to have, blah blah blah). But that would make Stephenson god, as the creator of the author of this new bible, and that simultaneously makes me chuckle and makes me not want to give the idea too much credence, so I’m going to move on.

The Primer obviously has a much more profound effect on Nell than it has on Elizabeth or Fiona (or the hordes of Christians, I mean… small Chinese girls, for that matter). There are two obvious explanations for this. First, as far as I can tell, Nell’s Primer is the only one with a live* human being at the other end of it. I know the Chinese version is synthesized, and I couldn’t tell with the other girls’, but I’m making an assumption. The second explanation is that Nell is the one who actually needs to use the more down-and-dirty street sense the Primer has to offer. For the others, it’s just a particularly addictive ractive/boot camp/whatever.

*The idea of ractors kind of irks me. It seems to be a logical extension of a lot of the cinematic technology used today with movies like “The Lord of the Rings” and “Beowulf.” It just struck me as ironic how those stories, with their background and setting, are the ones that most heavily use modern technology, but that’s beside the point. Anyway, it makes sense when you want to create a non-human character with more organic motions (as with Gollum), or want to create a universal aesthetic when everything BUT the people is computer generated (as with Beowulf, even though this is a pretty bad example of…everything). It also makes sense when you want to do real-time theatre on a global scale, or want to make cosmetic changes that makeup and costumes can’t accomplish. You know, the more I talk about it, the more it makes sense logistically and culturally, but as an actor it still just bugs me, ok? *grumble*

It also kind of amuses me what Hackworth’s idea of “subversive” is. The Primer teaches Nell martial arts, viral programming, how to start a fire, to name a few. What she does with this knowledge is another thing entirely, but it still makes me chuckle to see Hackworth teaching someone to be naughty. The programming is a result of his own profession, but much of the other information could be found in a boy scout’s handbook.

Also, Rob was right, the Drummers are freaky. The whole wetware thing is once again reminiscent of the Borg and the Matrix and everything else. I do think it’s clever how sex was repurposed, even though it gives rise to a slew of dirty geek jokes. (“Oh, baby, I’m going to import some data through your USB slot. Yeah, you are universal service, aren’t you?”)

Oh, and before I forget. What the hell. Just…what the hell.