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wintermute47 's review for:
I freely admit that this book rubbed me the wrong way from the very beginning, and it never got back in my good graces after that.
The first comment I have to make is that Neal Stephenson is a successful author who also takes money from Jeff Bezos' Blue Origin company. He lives (presumably by choice) in Seattle, which is a really lovely city with great public infrastructure. He probably does not spend much time worrying about where his next meal is coming from, whether he'll have a place to live next month, or if the water coming out of his tap is full of toxic lead. So for this person to complain about how our country doesn't build moon rockets or nuclear reactors any more, when this country ALSO fails to provide basic amenities for many of its citizens, it honestly comes off as a bit self-centered and tone deaf.
In explaining the concept behind the Hieroglyph project, Stephenson talks about how modern science fiction fails to provide an image of the future we wish to live it: it's too dystopic, without the grand vision of the future that golden age sci-fi provided. In talking about this, Stephenson does not acknowledge all the ways in which that rosy vision of tomorrow turned out to be a load of horsefeathers. He doesn't mention the way the Apollo program was a public relations stunt with limited potential for sustainability; he doesn't talk about the nuclear waste piling up because nobody came up with a plan for long-term disposal; there's no mention of the ways our tall buildings and enormous dams wrecked the environment. There's not even a moment's thought spared to the way the benefits of modernity have landed mainly in the laps of rich, white westerners. I dunno, Neal, maybe some of these things explain why the utopian sci-fi of yesteryear fell out of fashion?
Apart from that (perhaps unreasonable) complaint, I also have to say it's just a really uneven collection. At least two of the 'stories' are more like descriptive essays, lacking in any real characters or plot. Cory Doctorow's entry is a full-fledged novella, and given my feelings on Doctorow's writing, that's not a point in favor.
And surprisingly, despite that stated goal of the anthology, most of the stories are actually pretty dystopic! Several portray a world suffering terrible environmental degradation in which the best technology can do is slow down the pace of decline; another has the federal government murdering a 'dronepunk' activist who wants to build an internet free of government control; another imagines prospective immigrants to the US living in a panopticon society where the most minor social failing could lead to deportation. This is the brighter future we're meant to dream of?
I would love to see what modern, optimistic sci-fi looks like in the early days of the 21st century. This book is not it.
The first comment I have to make is that Neal Stephenson is a successful author who also takes money from Jeff Bezos' Blue Origin company. He lives (presumably by choice) in Seattle, which is a really lovely city with great public infrastructure. He probably does not spend much time worrying about where his next meal is coming from, whether he'll have a place to live next month, or if the water coming out of his tap is full of toxic lead. So for this person to complain about how our country doesn't build moon rockets or nuclear reactors any more, when this country ALSO fails to provide basic amenities for many of its citizens, it honestly comes off as a bit self-centered and tone deaf.
In explaining the concept behind the Hieroglyph project, Stephenson talks about how modern science fiction fails to provide an image of the future we wish to live it: it's too dystopic, without the grand vision of the future that golden age sci-fi provided. In talking about this, Stephenson does not acknowledge all the ways in which that rosy vision of tomorrow turned out to be a load of horsefeathers. He doesn't mention the way the Apollo program was a public relations stunt with limited potential for sustainability; he doesn't talk about the nuclear waste piling up because nobody came up with a plan for long-term disposal; there's no mention of the ways our tall buildings and enormous dams wrecked the environment. There's not even a moment's thought spared to the way the benefits of modernity have landed mainly in the laps of rich, white westerners. I dunno, Neal, maybe some of these things explain why the utopian sci-fi of yesteryear fell out of fashion?
Apart from that (perhaps unreasonable) complaint, I also have to say it's just a really uneven collection. At least two of the 'stories' are more like descriptive essays, lacking in any real characters or plot. Cory Doctorow's entry is a full-fledged novella, and given my feelings on Doctorow's writing, that's not a point in favor.
And surprisingly, despite that stated goal of the anthology, most of the stories are actually pretty dystopic! Several portray a world suffering terrible environmental degradation in which the best technology can do is slow down the pace of decline; another has the federal government murdering a 'dronepunk' activist who wants to build an internet free of government control; another imagines prospective immigrants to the US living in a panopticon society where the most minor social failing could lead to deportation. This is the brighter future we're meant to dream of?
I would love to see what modern, optimistic sci-fi looks like in the early days of the 21st century. This book is not it.