Episode · a16z Podcast · 2022-11-22
Erik Torenberg & Neal Stephenson: books mentioned on a16z Podcast (Nov 2022)
Neal Stephenson on The Future of the Metaverse
When Neal Stephenson coined “the metaverse” three decades ago, his book Snow Crash was found on the shelves of “science fiction”.
Erik Torenberg discussed Snow Crash by Neal Stephenson. Neal Stephenson recommended Twilight of Democracy by Anne Applebaum, and discussed Hieroglyph by Ed Finn and others, Termination Shock by Neal Stephenson, and The Constitution of Knowledge by Jonathan Rauch.
Books mentioned, in the order they came up
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Snow Crash
Snow Crash by Neal Stephenson is a seminal cyberpunk science fiction novel that famously anticipated the rise of virtual reality, the metaverse, and modern digital culture.
Discussed“that term is actually 30 years old originally coined by Neil Stevenson in his book snow crash”
Where to get it
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Hieroglyph
Discussed“we actually set up a project to create a science fiction Anthology called hieroglyph that was came out in I think 2013 2014”
Where to get it
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Termination Shock
Termination Shock by Neal Stephenson is a near-future science fiction novel exploring the drastic consequences of rogue geoengineering and global climate change.
Discussed“we started talking about this laminate one just a few months after I published a novel termination shock which is all about global climate change so it would seem weird for me to publish that novel and then a few months later announce”
Where to get it
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Twilight of Democracy
Twilight of Democracy by Anne Applebaum is a non-fiction book that explores the seductive lure of authoritarianism and documents personal experiences with growing political polarization.
Recommended“I was just talking the other day to Ann Applebaum who's written the book called The Twilight of democracy uh that's on these themes uh really great book describing her personal experience with growing polarization”
Where to get it
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The Constitution of Knowledge
The Constitution of Knowledge by Jonathan Rauch is a defense of truth and institutional fact-checking in an era marked by polarization and misinformation.
Discussed“and uh and we met and I met when we were helping Jonathan rauk launch his book The the constitution of knowledge which is also about this so there's all kinds of really smart uh very well informed people thinking about this”
Where to get it
Other mentions in this episode (2) — ad reads, self-promotion and passing references, never counted
“It was originally coined by Neal Stephenson in his book, 'Snow Crash'.”
“Doom came out the year after snow crash was published and it's kind of almost hard to remember a time when there weren't games like Doom”