

Stephenson's "Spew": Social Media in 1993 coming true today? - joezydeco
http://www.wired.com/wired/archive/2.10/spew_pr.html

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joezydeco
The more and more I see articles like this
([http://www.trendpreneur.com/online/social-media-
online/socia...](http://www.trendpreneur.com/online/social-media-
online/social-media-monitoring-is-the-future/)) and how trying to filter
through the Twitter/Facebook noise is the future...the more I think of this
story.

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chasingsparks
I coincidentally reread _In the Beginning was the Command Line_ three days
ago. Neal Stephenson is an awesome geek.

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cakeface
I did too. The second time reading it seemed so much _longer_.

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kbob
Wow, Stephenson's writing style has changed drastically in the last 16 years.

"... where demographics, entertainment, consumption habits, and credit history
all intersect to define a weird imaginary universe that is every bit as
twisted and convoluted as those balloon animals that so eerily squelch and
shudder from the hands of feckless loitering clowns in the touristy districts
of our great cities."

Compared to that, Anathem reads like it was written by a monk. (-:

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Alex63
But isn't that partly because Spew is written in the first person, unlike
Anathem? Spew slightly predates The Diamond Age, and the style of TDA is
closer to Anathem.

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ubernostrum
Anathem is written in the first person as well.

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Alex63
Ugh. You are right. Should have opened my copy before I shot my mouth off. But
the point is that style of Spew is appropriate to that narrator in that
environment.

