Subject:
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Re: The Nam-shub of Enki (was Re: One of my issues with the god of the old testament)
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Newsgroups:
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lugnet.off-topic.debate
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Date:
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Fri, 16 Nov 2001 16:26:25 GMT
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Viewed:
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530 times
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I just thought it was a neat story with a groovy idea is all...
If you want to read motivations or morals into a book, there's always the
bible. I'm sure it even talks about the evils of a hirarchical government in
there -somewhere- ;0)
"richard marchetti" <blueofnoon@aol.com> wrote in message
news:GMunx4.D0I@lugnet.com...
> In lugnet.off-topic.debate, Adam Wood writes:
> > You really like 'Snow Crash' by Neal Stephenson? If you haven't read it, • you
> > should. The entire book is about Nam-Shubs and 'neurolinguistic hacking'.
> > Very cyber..
>
> I read Stephenson's novel last year, and while I liked it, I don't think • he
> ever gets any more interesting than his obvious sources: Sumerian • mythology,
> and William Burroughs. And I guess I fault Stephenson, and many other
> Cyberpunk authors, for not weighing in more heavily with Burroughs' more
> interesting project -- the fight for freedom (more realistically against
> multinational corporations than against goverments, although both are
> implicated). Instead, they weigh in more heavily on stealing his • techniques
> of pulling off the cover and looking under the boards of reality. But
> looking and giggling is different than looking and doing something about • it.
>
> In a strange way, and esp. because I live in the United States, I remain
> unconvinced that computer geeks aren't some version of Burroughs' "Ugly
> American" figure. Despite some early image-shaping efforts on the part of
> the "Cyberpunks" and their ilk, your average computer geek is rushing us
> towards a REALLY scary Database Nation/Rollerball future -- and All Hail • Our
> Corporate Sponsors! I'll allow that Stephenson himself might have been
> having a private joke when his "Hiro" dons the appearance of a "Gargoyle,"
> covered in technology in the final parts of the novel -- but I'm not sure
> there wasn't a genuine technological glee underlying the • characterization --
> confusing love of technology with erotism.
>
> Control of *information* is very much the point, and sadly no comicbook
> Hiros will magickally appear to stop the schemes of the "Ugly American."
> Frankly, most such hackers learn just enough dangerous code to enter into
> the data security industry as consultants and full-time sys admins. Where
> are the warriors from within? Where are the "Wild Boys" of the new age of
> information?
>
> Collecting paychecks, of course. Just like Oppenheimer when he built the • bomb.
>
> There is something key that is lost on most Americans: Freedom is NOT • free,
> and you shouldn't actively work for the enemy even when the pay is good. • Not
> even when it looks cool, ala Mondo 2000.
>
> And you see, the problem is that most people WILL read Stephenson and NOT
> William Burroughs. More's the pity...
>
> For that matter, they could do worse than read Sumerian mythology.
>
> -- Hop-Frog
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