The Great Simeleon Caper by Neal Stephenson

[a***@yahoo.com]

Yesterday I went to the library and came back with The Big Book of Cyberpunk (Edited by Jared Shurin) and read the above story
It mentions the Metaverse
It has "Crypto Credits"
It has some kind of AI that when asked to do a tax form comes up with a recipe instead
This is from 1995
I had no idea anybody was using the terms "Metaverse" and anything close to cryptocurrency. I guess the concepts have been around for awhile (as well as an error prone AI).
Prophetic? Or am I just out of it?

[[e-mail]]

Post by a***@yahoo.com
Yesterday I went to the library and came back with The Big Book of Cyberpunk (Edited by Jared Shurin) and read the above story
It mentions the Metaverse
It has "Crypto Credits"
It has some kind of AI that when asked to do a tax form comes up with a recipe instead
This is from 1995
I had no idea anybody was using the terms "Metaverse" and anything close to cryptocurrency. I guess the concepts have been around for awhile (as well as an error prone AI).
Prophetic? Or am I just out of it?

Cryptocurrency meant something different then. While it was digital, anonymous,
and used cryptography, it did not use a blockchain. It did not catch on.

The first mention of a 'metaverse' like thing (without that name) that I recall is in Vinge's
'True Names' in 1981.

Pt

[Robert Carnegie]

Post by ***@gmail.com

Post by a***@yahoo.com
Yesterday I went to the library and came back with The Big Book of Cyberpunk (Edited by Jared Shurin) and read the above story
It mentions the Metaverse
It has "Crypto Credits"
It has some kind of AI that when asked to do a tax form comes up with a recipe instead
This is from 1995
I had no idea anybody was using the terms "Metaverse" and anything close to cryptocurrency. I guess the concepts have been around for awhile (as well as an error prone AI).
Prophetic? Or am I just out of it?

Cryptocurrency meant something different then. While it was digital, anonymous,
and used cryptography, it did not use a blockchain. It did not catch on.
The first mention of a 'metaverse' like thing (without that name) that I recall is in Vinge's
'True Names' in 1981.

A Doctor Who story,
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Deadly_Assassin>
was on TV in 1976, and in print in 1977.
It introduces "The Matrix" computer which
stores dead Time Lords' memories. It isn't
used every day, but the Doctor has a virtual
reality experience in it - which nearly
kills him.

[Robert Carnegie]

Post by Robert Carnegie

Post by ***@gmail.com

Post by a***@yahoo.com
Yesterday I went to the library and came back with The Big Book of
Cyberpunk (Edited by Jared Shurin) and read the above story
It mentions the Metaverse
It has "Crypto Credits"
It has some kind of AI that when asked to do a tax form comes up with a recipe instead
This is from 1995
I had no idea anybody was using the terms "Metaverse" and anything
close to cryptocurrency. I guess the concepts have been around for
awhile (as well as an error prone AI).
Prophetic? Or am I just out of it?

Cryptocurrency meant something different then. While it was digital, anonymous,
and used cryptography, it did not use a blockchain. It did not catch on.
The first mention of a 'metaverse' like thing (without that name) that
I recall is in Vinge's
'True Names' in 1981.

A Doctor Who story,
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Deadly_Assassin>
was on TV in 1976, and in print in 1977.
It introduces "The Matrix" computer which
stores dead Time Lords' memories.  It isn't
used every day, but the Doctor has a virtual
reality experience in it - which nearly
kills him.

...perhaps I should mention also the
recently returned "Celestial Toymaker"
<https://tardis.fandom.com/wiki/The_Celestial_Toymaker_(TV_story)>
in 1966, and also in 1968
<https://tardis.fandom.com/wiki/The_Mind_Robber_(TV_story)>
These seem to be physical visits to
extremely flexible artificial spaces.

For that matter, so is "Cross Purposes" (1891).
<https://www.online-literature.com/george-macdonald/3537/>

But that's Fairyland - and very much a
dream land. Such as Alice Liddell
explores, indeed. Though here, it does
actually involve fairies, of sorts.

[D]

I think the the metaverse has been around in many incarnations through sci
fi for a long time.

Crypto currency I can't think of any good examples.

I liked Neal Stephenson in his early days when the books were about 400
pages or so.

Then he left the sci fi/punk genre and became less interesting. I wish he
would turn back to the style, length and topics of his early days, but I
guess artists evolve.

Post by a***@yahoo.com
Yesterday I went to the library and came back with The Big Book of Cyberpunk (Edited by Jared Shurin) and read the above story
It mentions the Metaverse
It has "Crypto Credits"
It has some kind of AI that when asked to do a tax form comes up with a recipe instead
This is from 1995
I had no idea anybody was using the terms "Metaverse" and anything close to cryptocurrency. I guess the concepts have been around for awhile (as well as an error prone AI).
Prophetic? Or am I just out of it?

[[e-mail]]

Post by D
I think the the metaverse has been around in many incarnations through sci
fi for a long time.
Crypto currency I can't think of any good examples.
I liked Neal Stephenson in his early days when the books were about 400
pages or so.
Then he left the sci fi/punk genre and became less interesting. I wish he
would turn back to the style, length and topics of his early days, but I
guess artists evolve.

The earliest cryptocurrency I'm aware of is David Chaum's Digicash, based
on the Blind Signature protocols he invented in 1983.

As for Stephenson, after the Baroque cycle was done, Anathem was decent,
but only SF towards the end, while SevenEves was pure SF.

However, the latter, while chock full of cool ideas, kept crashing my WSOD
to the ground. For example, the opening event of the book has the Moon
blow up, but how and why is never revealed (plus the subsequent orbital
mechanics makes no sense).

Pt

[Scott Dorsey]

Post by ***@gmail.com
However, the latter, while chock full of cool ideas, kept crashing my WSOD
to the ground. For example, the opening event of the book has the Moon=20
blow up, but how and why is never revealed (plus the subsequent orbital
mechanics makes no sense).

No doubt Alexander Abian (Abian!!!) can explain.
--scott

[Quadibloc]

Post by Scott Dorsey
No doubt Alexander Abian (Abian!!!) can explain.

Could have explained, were he still with us.

John Savard

[Quadibloc]

Post by ***@gmail.com
For example, the opening event of the book has the Moon
blow up, but how and why is never revealed (plus the subsequent orbital
mechanics makes no sense).

Oh, come on; it can't be worse than Space: 1999.

But then, the comic book Space Family Robinson violated physics the same
way - the space station in which Tim and Tam Robinson lived with their
parents Craig and June, their terrier Clancy and their parrot Yakker was
hurtling through normal space in a physical manner... that somehow took
them to a new solar system every three months (it was a quarterly comic
book, rather than a weekly television series) - and I didn't mind.

John Savard

[Lynn McGuire]

Post by ***@gmail.com

Post by D
I think the the metaverse has been around in many incarnations through sci
fi for a long time.
Crypto currency I can't think of any good examples.
I liked Neal Stephenson in his early days when the books were about 400
pages or so.
Then he left the sci fi/punk genre and became less interesting. I wish he
would turn back to the style, length and topics of his early days, but I
guess artists evolve.

The earliest cryptocurrency I'm aware of is David Chaum's Digicash, based
on the Blind Signature protocols he invented in 1983.
As for Stephenson, after the Baroque cycle was done, Anathem was decent,
but only SF towards the end, while SevenEves was pure SF.
However, the latter, while chock full of cool ideas, kept crashing my WSOD
to the ground. For example, the opening event of the book has the Moon
blow up, but how and why is never revealed (plus the subsequent orbital
mechanics makes no sense).
Pt

I think it was a wandering black hole that blew up the moon. No, it was
probably aliens. No, it was a Russian conspiracy.

Lynn

[Dimensional Traveler]

Post by ***@gmail.com

Post by D
I think the the metaverse has been around in many incarnations through sci
fi for a long time.
Crypto currency I can't think of any good examples.
I liked Neal Stephenson in his early days when the books were about 400
pages or so.
Then he left the sci fi/punk genre and became less interesting. I wish he
would turn back to the style, length and topics of his early days, but I
guess artists evolve.

The earliest cryptocurrency I'm aware of is David Chaum's Digicash, based
on the Blind Signature protocols he invented in 1983.
As for Stephenson, after the Baroque cycle was done, Anathem was decent,
but only SF towards the end, while SevenEves was pure SF.
However, the latter, while chock full of cool ideas, kept crashing my WSOD
to the ground. For example, the opening event of the book has the Moon
blow up, but how and why is never revealed (plus the subsequent orbital
mechanics makes no sense).
Pt

I think it was a wandering black hole that blew up the moon.  No, it was
probably aliens.  No, it was a Russian conspiracy.

A Russian conspiracy with aliens to use a black hole to blow up the moon!

[[e-mail]]

Post by Dimensional Traveler

Post by Lynn McGuire

Post by ***@gmail.com

Post by D
I think the the metaverse has been around in many incarnations through sci
fi for a long time.
Crypto currency I can't think of any good examples.
I liked Neal Stephenson in his early days when the books were about 400
pages or so.
Then he left the sci fi/punk genre and became less interesting. I wish he
would turn back to the style, length and topics of his early days, but I
guess artists evolve.

The earliest cryptocurrency I'm aware of is David Chaum's Digicash, based
on the Blind Signature protocols he invented in 1983.
As for Stephenson, after the Baroque cycle was done, Anathem was decent,
but only SF towards the end, while SevenEves was pure SF.
However, the latter, while chock full of cool ideas, kept crashing my WSOD
to the ground. For example, the opening event of the book has the Moon
blow up, but how and why is never revealed (plus the subsequent orbital
mechanics makes no sense).
Pt

I think it was a wandering black hole that blew up the moon. No, it was
probably aliens. No, it was a Russian conspiracy.

A Russian conspiracy with aliens to use a black hole to blow up the moon!

In the book, Russia is borked along with the rest of the world. Seems unlikely.
It bugged me that there wasn't even a handwave to explain the even, not even
'a wizard did it'.

That was just the first of many things which killed my WSOD, including a
5000 year old shovel still being in use.

pt

[Jay E. Morris]

Post by ***@gmail.com
That was just the first of many things which killed my WSOD, including a
5000 year old shovel still being in use.

Perhaps it was the shovel of Theseus?

[[e-mail]]

Post by Jay E. Morris

Post by ***@gmail.com
That was just the first of many things which killed my WSOD, including a
5000 year old shovel still being in use.

Perhaps it was the shovel of Theseus?

Seeing as this 5000 year old artifact still had the original Sears Roebuck
Craftsman label on the wooden handle, no. It's not a carefully preserved
relic either; its in use.

Pt

[Jay E. Morris]

Post by ***@gmail.com

Post by Jay E. Morris

Post by ***@gmail.com
That was just the first of many things which killed my WSOD, including a
5000 year old shovel still being in use.

Perhaps it was the shovel of Theseus?

Seeing as this 5000 year old artifact still had the original Sears Roebuck
Craftsman label on the wooden handle, no. It's not a carefully preserved
relic either; its in use.
Pt

Oh, well, if it's a Sears Roebuck Craftsman that's totally believable.

[D]

Post by ***@gmail.com

Post by D
I think the the metaverse has been around in many incarnations through sci
fi for a long time.
Crypto currency I can't think of any good examples.
I liked Neal Stephenson in his early days when the books were about 400
pages or so.
Then he left the sci fi/punk genre and became less interesting. I wish he
would turn back to the style, length and topics of his early days, but I
guess artists evolve.

The earliest cryptocurrency I'm aware of is David Chaum's Digicash, based
on the Blind Signature protocols he invented in 1983.
As for Stephenson, after the Baroque cycle was done, Anathem was decent,
but only SF towards the end, while SevenEves was pure SF.
However, the latter, while chock full of cool ideas, kept crashing my WSOD
to the ground. For example, the opening event of the book has the Moon
blow up, but how and why is never revealed (plus the subsequent orbital
mechanics makes no sense).

True, SevenEves was decent! I've come to the conclusion that with the
more modern Stephenson, I only focus on the dialogue and I can skip a
lot of the text in between. That way I get a good story, quick
development, while not having boring descriptions in between. Just like
Game of thrones.

My favourite science fiction is the golden age. A science fiction book
doesn't have to be more than 200-300 pages. ;)

[Lynn McGuire]

Post by D

Post by ***@gmail.com

Post by D
I think the the metaverse has been around in many incarnations through sci
fi for a long time.
Crypto currency I can't think of any good examples.
I liked Neal Stephenson in his early days when the books were about 400
pages or so.
Then he left the sci fi/punk genre and became less interesting. I wish he
would turn back to the style, length and topics of his early days, but I
guess artists evolve.

The earliest cryptocurrency I'm aware of is David Chaum's Digicash, based
on the Blind Signature protocols he invented in 1983.
As for Stephenson, after the Baroque cycle was done, Anathem was decent,
but only SF towards the end, while SevenEves was pure SF.
However, the latter, while chock full of cool ideas, kept crashing my WSOD
to the ground. For example, the opening event of the book has the Moon
blow up, but how and why is never revealed (plus the subsequent orbital
mechanics makes no sense).

True, SevenEves was decent! I've come to the conclusion that with the
more modern Stephenson, I only focus on the dialogue and I can skip a
lot of the text in between. That way I get a good story, quick
development, while not having boring descriptions in between. Just like
Game of thrones.
My favourite science fiction is the golden age. A science fiction book
doesn't have to be more than 200-300 pages. ;)

Stephenson should have broken Seveneves into three books, a trilogy. He
already split it into three parts.

Lynn

[D]

Post by Lynn McGuire

Post by D

Post by ***@gmail.com

Post by D
I think the the metaverse has been around in many incarnations through sci
fi for a long time.
Crypto currency I can't think of any good examples.
I liked Neal Stephenson in his early days when the books were about 400
pages or so.
Then he left the sci fi/punk genre and became less interesting. I wish he
would turn back to the style, length and topics of his early days, but I
guess artists evolve.

The earliest cryptocurrency I'm aware of is David Chaum's Digicash, based
on the Blind Signature protocols he invented in 1983.
As for Stephenson, after the Baroque cycle was done, Anathem was decent,
but only SF towards the end, while SevenEves was pure SF.
However, the latter, while chock full of cool ideas, kept crashing my WSOD
to the ground. For example, the opening event of the book has the Moon
blow up, but how and why is never revealed (plus the subsequent orbital
mechanics makes no sense).

True, SevenEves was decent! I've come to the conclusion that with the
more modern Stephenson, I only focus on the dialogue and I can skip a
lot of the text in between. That way I get a good story, quick
development, while not having boring descriptions in between. Just like
Game of thrones.
My favourite science fiction is the golden age. A science fiction book
doesn't have to be more than 200-300 pages. ;)

Stephenson should have broken Seveneves into three books, a trilogy. He
already split it into three parts.

Agreed! Would have made it a much more pleasant read. But yes, I guess if
you compress all of the foundation into one book it will become a
huge "modern" science fiction book.

Best regards,
Daniel

[David Duffy]

Post by a***@yahoo.com
Yesterday I went to the library and came back with The Big Book of Cyberpunk (Edited by Jared Shurin) and read the above story
It mentions the Metaverse
It has "Crypto Credits"
It has some kind of AI that when asked to do a tax form comes up with a recipe instead
This is from 1995
I had no idea anybody was using the terms "Metaverse" and anything close to cryptocurrency. I guess the concepts have been around for awhile (as well as an error prone AI).
Prophetic? Or am I just out of it?

"Metaverse" was coined by Stephenson in his novel _Snow Crash_ 1992.
In that book, "hyperinflation was created by the government overprinting
money due to loss of tax revenue, as people increasingly began to use
electronic currency, which they exchanged in untaxable encrypted online
transactions" - so he can't be blamed for the blockchain frenzy ;)