| Snow Crash was written by Neal Stephenson and published in 1992. The novel touches upon the topics of technology, information, computer science, and philosophy. The main character, appropriately named Hiro Protagonist delivers pizza for Uncle Enzo's Cosa Nostra Pizza Inc., but in the Metaverse (Virtual Reality Network) he's a katana wielding warrior. Hiro gets involved with the enigma of a new computer virus that's infecting hackers everywhere. He navigates the neon-lit streets with a mission of locating and neutralizing a new villain who is trying to bring forth the Infocalypse. Neal Stephenson paints a vivid world filled with astonishing multifaceted characters, diverse city states and uncanny descriptions of future technology and global networking. For instance a Google Earth-like system was described in great detail with remarkably similar functionality to that common piece of software we use to find directions, discover new places and enjoy high resolution aerial images. Snow Crash also addresses the issues of linguistics, history, religion as well as politics, which are tremendously interesting and compelling, however not as suited to my direction in this particular project. For the purposes of my industrial design thesis I had focusedon the development of the technology that was described in the novel. Neal Stephenson provides rather detailed function and use scenarios of these systems in the book. I chose to focus on certain items described in greater detail since they would hold a great amount of viewer interest in either a feature film or a video game, while maintaining a style and visual aspects a modern consumer of entertainment expects. "When the Deliverator puts the hammer down, shit happens. You want to talk contact patches? Your car's tires have tiny contact patches, talk to the asphalt in four places the size of your tongue. The Deliverator's car has big sticky tires with contact patches the size of a fat lady's thigh" Neal Stephenson. "Snow Crash." 1992. This excerpt talks about a pizza delivery vehicle operated by the main character. Vivid descriptions like this one made my job as a designer relatively easy since not only did I get the general aesthetic direction but also some indication of the emotion that the product evokes. |
