I'm afraid you'll have to check your need for believable characters with me. In the extremely globalized future depicted in the novel, these cultural divisions have largely supplanted the system of nation-states that divides the world today. What is the etymology of the term space-time? How can I detect when a signal becomes noisy? [citation needed], "Thetes" are individuals who are not members of any phyle and are often socially disadvantaged and economically poor, being similar to second-class citizens under the CEP. Initially, individual diggers, Black and white, worked small claims by hand. Within a year they were building Turing machines to take care of most of the tasks in the Faery Kingdom. Scribes have faithfully copied the tomes in Princess Nells possession, disseminating the Knowledge downward to the smaller and smaller groups in the hierarchy, with solutions to problems bubbling up and being summarised by the officers. Ask Question Asked 11 years, 9 months ago. I will try to summarize the plot and motivations as I understood them while listening to the book and if any of you see that I made a mistake then please correct me. So, without further ado here it is: Aftermath It is to some extent a Bildungsroman or coming-of-age story, focused on a young girl named Nell, set in a future world in which nanotechnology affects all aspects of life. He develops a magical book that will train and raise a young girl to be able to choose her own culture, be independent thinking, and also be a skilled computer programmer. Modified 3 years, 8 months ago. The part that is confusing me is as . possessed necessary skills. The white population in the Cape numbered 240,000 by the mid-1870s and constituted about one-third of the colonys population. Hackworth makes his last contribution to the creation of the Seed, but Nell rescues Miranda before the Drummers can create it. First half of the book gets 4 stars; the second half gets 2 stars. The Fists are going to try to hold back this new group and use them for their own benefit. All of the girls (including Nell) have taken part in this activity in a highly orderly fashion. The Diamond Age Envisions the next century as brilliantly as snow crash did the day after tomorrow." Newsweek "[Stephenson is] the hottest science fiction writer in America. The book distinguishes between the four Great Phyles: the Han (consisting of Han Chinese), Nippon (consisting of Japanese), Hindustan (a "riotously diverse collection of microtribes sintered together according to some formula we don't get") and the Neo-Victorian New Atlantis (consisting largely of Anglo-Saxons but also accepting Indians, Africans, and other members of the Anglosphere who identify with the culture). It's like sometimes authors TRY to be obscure in their writing in order to be "highbrow" to rise about the genre or something. The crowded, multi-factioned, multi-leveled city of Shanghai and nearby Pudong made me miss my hometown terribly. By clicking Accept all cookies, you agree Stack Exchange can store cookies on your device and disclose information in accordance with our Cookie Policy. Science Fiction & Fantasy Stack Exchange is a question and answer site for science fiction and fantasy enthusiasts. Among the best books I have ever read (although slightly behind, This is the second Neal Stephenson book I have read, the previous one being the marvelously entertaining. The doctors were baffled by her symptoms, and thought it might have been an aftershock caused by the high concentration of sites that almost killed her in the Drummers Cave. Every battalion had their own community building and library. What sort of contractor retrofits kitchen exhaust ducts in the US? Technological visionaries such as Eric Drexler and Ralph Merkle, both of whom receive an honorary mention in The Diamond Age, have argued that if nanotechnology develops the ability to manipulate individual atoms at will, it will become possible to simply assemble diamond structures from carbon atoms, materials also known as diamondoids. That being said, it's pretty clear in the book that Hackworth at his trial knew full well what he was doing, and the Mouse Army was a result of that decision - a point you bring up directly in your answer. Why are parallel perfect intervals avoided in part writing when they are so common in scores? The only way to combat this is through combat. By clicking Post Your Answer, you agree to our terms of service, privacy policy and cookie policy. Now, here's your complementary CS patch. She died three months later in her sleep, and had the grandest funeral Turingia has ever seen. Stephenson's vision of a future shocked and titillated me, and years later I still found it returning to haunt me. As the time went by, however, Miranda spent more and more time alone, and apart from Nell and Carl Hollywood, she had very few contacts to the outside world. The diamond zone was simultaneously claimed by the Orange Free State, the South African Republic, the western Griqua under Nicolaas Waterboer, and southern Tswana chiefs. I have just finished rereading Neal Stephenson's The Diamond Age for about the fourth time and am still confused about the ending. patriarchal and defining its social stratification with: 1) By the end of 1871 nearly 50,000 people lived in a sprawling polyglot mining camp that was later named Kimberley. She spent more and more time in the Land Beyond, assuming the form of many sentient beings roaming the endless planes and mountains of the magical universe. Is Miss Matheson from Diamond Age, YT from Snow Crash? Sensing the awkwardness of the situation, Hackworth took his bowler, and made a quick exit. Thanks for contributing an answer to Science Fiction & Fantasy Stack Exchange! Alternative ways to code something like a table within a table? The dark and light sides of friendship breathlessly explored in a novel best saved for summer beachside reading. This guide is based on the 1995 Bantam Spectra print edition. The role of the CEP in the world of the novel could be seen in comparison with the roles of real-life international organizations such as the United Nations and the International Monetary Fund. The number of Blacks in the colony greatly increased between 1872 and 1894 as heretofore independent territories were annexed to the Cape. Realizing this, Hackworth also realized, for the first time, that he These dramatic changes were propelled by two linked forces: the development of a capitalist mining industry and a sequence of imperialist interventions by Britain. I've read the book a couple of times, and I don't think I had really picked up on the foot binding. Cookie Notice I'm abandoning this book at 50% - one star because I think I deserve the credit for slogging through it, though. The book of the seed is inside Nell's Primer at the end and being worked on by the drummers even as they remove Miranda from the Drummer community. JB bases his entire artistic career on painting portraits of his friends, while Malcolm takes care of them by designing their apartments and houses. Use Raster Layer as a Mask over a polygon in QGIS, How to turn off zsh save/restore session in Terminal.app. In The Diamond Age, much is made of the fact that there is an actual human who loves Nell behind the face of the Primer. It is a bildungsroman focused on Nell, a young "barbarian" girl in Shanghai, set in a future in which nanotechnology affects all aspects of life. Why don't objects get brighter when I reflect their light back at them? I find it strange to paint the Seed as a Chinese/Confuscianist ideal. Who's to say how things were to play out in the long run? In similar fashion, Wizard 0.2 creates an impressive light show as it apparently processes data, but it is then revealed that the computer's decisions are in fact made by King Coyote himself. In 1996, it won both the Hugo and Locus Awards,[1] and was shortlisted for the Nebula and other awards.[1]. (Even Hackworth has no idea who owns this book at this stage.) Each hut accommodated a troop of four girls, and consisted of a common bedroom with bunk beds, a small kitchen, and a study area. "Hackworth sat down across the table from Dr. X. Commissioned by the powerful neo-Victorian Alexander Finkle-McGraw, the Primer is supposed to teach young neo-Victorians to be subversive enough to innovate and keep their phyle dominant. I have to admit, this is a dense read sometimes in the way that hard sci-fi can be: Glazing over at "tech speak tech speak tech speak." I think I have a better idea now, but I might just be projecting. Viewed 10k times 22 I have just finished rereading Neal Stephenson's The Diamond Age for about the fourth time and am still confused about the ending. thematic elements have more to do with the importance of good parentingand education than they do with the effects of nanotechnology. Four men who meet as college roommates move to New York and spend the next three decades gaining renown in their professionsas an architect, painter, actor and lawyerand struggling with demons in their intertwined personal lives. "The Victorian system used Darwinian techniques to create killers adapted to their prey, which was elegant and effective but led to the creation of killers that were simply too bizarre to have been thought up by humans, just as humans designing a world never would have thought up the naked mole rat. In January 2007, the Sci-Fi Channel announced that it would be making a six-hour miniseries based on The Diamond Age. He was not looking for anything he was running away. Process of finding limits for multivariable functions. Hackworth emerges and goes on a quest with his daughter to discover the engineer behind the work on the Seed, only to learn that he is that engineer, the Alchemist. As if the writer could not spend a bit of time after writing a 1000 pages to explain how exactly the story unfolds, and how the carefully built characters will turn out. influencers in the know since 1933. At the bottom were 4) merchants. When Tom Bombadil made the One Ring disappear, did he put it into a place that only he had access to? So the Mouse army, can be thought of as the combination of the best elements of both cultures/worlds. Certain parts of your experience will be much funnier if you wear it, while others will be unspeakably boring if you don't. To subscribe to this RSS feed, copy and paste this URL into your RSS reader. With the Seed, there won't be a need for artisans or merchants. I'm afraid those are also disallowed in Stephensonland. 6.0 stars. It is to some extent a Bildungsroman or coming-of-age story, focused on a young girl named Nell, set in a future world in which nanotechnology affects all aspects of life. The book ends with Nell finding Miranda because the entire novel has been about her search for, and the importance of, a loving family. by I haven't finished reading it yet Also, there is a difference between the real Primer and the mass-produced Primers at the end of the book. Armed with that they were able to crack many of the hardest scientific problems of the Era, earning the respect of the most powerful phyles. Although by this time some two-thirds of the settler population spoke Dutch or Afrikaans, political power rested largely with an English-speaking elite of merchants, lawyers, and landholders. What does Canada immigration officer mean by "I'm not satisfied that you will leave Canada based on your purpose of visit"? I admit ruefully that Stephenson's vocabulary is better than mine. Neal Stephenson Over the course of her childhood and teen years, Nell grows into an able fighter, programmer, and leader because of the Primer. document.getElementById( "ak_js_1" ).setAttribute( "value", ( new Date() ).getTime() ); Create a free website or blog at WordPress.com. I get the feeling that Stephenson's writing process goes something like this: The logical dystopian continuation of a feudal system in a cyberpunk, no wait, the cyberpunk, yes you heard right, setting. This has been on my shelf a while, I think a friend sent it to me. All of the Stephenson books I have read just stop, with the exception of Anatham. Average = 3 stars. ("The Diamond Age - Setting") To be fair, inventions like lighter-than-air buildings and bacteria-size cameras seem plausible even back in 1995. Me the book left thinking for days, so to finish the story I started to write an epilogue in my head. Victoria, or more commonly Vix, lives in a small house; her brother has muscular dystrophy; her mother is unhappy, and money is scarce. @moohbear I think the implications of the rest of Dr. X's speech is that you need the scholar-bureaucrats to "teach" (IE, enforce) proper strata and order so that some farmer with a grudge doesn't decide to grow a couple of WMDs to nuke his annoying neighbor's home. the tarsal bones during adolescence. The primary point of dispute, as always, was intellectual property, the lack of which in Turingia devalued the achievements of neo-Victorian engineering. To learn more, see our tips on writing great answers. The novel's neo-Victorian setting, as well as its narrative form, particularly the chapter headings, suggest a relation to the work of Charles Dickens. People flocked from near and far to cultivate and multiply the Seeds, small hands working diligently to scatter them across the land. Stephenson (Snow Crash, 1992) imagines a 21st century in which molecular machines (nanotechnology) can create any desired object or structure. New Atlantiss neo-Victorians are one of the most powerful phyles due to their control of nanotechnology delivered by the Feed, a centralized system that delivers subsistence-level food and goods to the have-nots (thetes) and a high standard of living to elites. Which, OK, is worth doing, but it's 3:42am and I've been reading since about 8pm, so forgive me if I don't open it up again just now. I later put it on paper, in case anyone elseis longing to see the story finished to her satisfaction. The first Seeds appeared in the spring. Has Dynabook inspired Neal Stephenson's The Diamond Age? Its free and takes less than 10 seconds! Children were laughing, parents were smiling, and grandparents were crying of joy, as they saw their hard work bearing fruit. A little mound with a small palace was built in the middle of the island that served both as her residence, and as the host of the central governing body. He got together a focus group of 25 unpaid, thirteen year old boys and made them puke out as many buzz words in 10 minutes that they could about science fiction. . The Diamond Age is, on the surface, a tale of technology: specifically, nanotechnologyand its implications on culture, economy, and socialstructure. The very beginning of the book, where Lord Finkle-McGraw and John Percival Hackworth discuss the idea for the primer, made clear that it was intended to produce not just educated girls but subversive ones who can think for themselves and take charge. A major cleavage, however, opened up between Bond politicians and the English-speaking voters loosely defined as Cape liberals. There is so much that is good about this book. Dr. X didn't know this; also, toward the end of the book, he explicitly says he regrets educating all the girls via the book, presumably because they are not cooperating. Learn more about Stack Overflow the company, and our products. How can I make inferences about individuals from aggregated data? Richer finds in dry diggings in 1870 led to a large-scale rush. And when Willem becomes a movie star, they all bask in his glow. The Diamond Age or A Young Lady's Illustrated Primer (1995) is a postcyberpunk novel by Neal Stephenson. All of this is staggeringly inventive and meticulously detailed, but, lacking a coherent plot and set forth in an by She finally finds that in Miranda and even though we don't get to see the relationship play out, this ends the device driving the novel. I have just finished rereading Neal Stephenson's The Diamond Age for about the fourth time and am still confused about the ending. had done the right thing ten years ago.". In fact I think it also predicts a lot of the future of nanotechnology and entertainment. As the predominantly agrarian societies of European South Africa began to urbanize and industrialize, the region evolved into a major supplier of precious minerals to the world economy; gold especially was urgently needed to back national currencies and ensure the continued flow of expanding international trade. When our society was based upon planting, it could truly be said, as the Master did, Virtue is the root; wealth is the result.' Ok, you're all set. Hackworth is submerged with them for 10 years, during which time his programming skills accelerate their work. The Bond initially represented poorer farmers and espoused an anti-British Pan-Afrikanerism in the Cape and beyond, but, after its reorganization a few years later under Jan Hendrik Hofmeyr, the group began to champion the Capes commercial interests and acquired a new base of supportmainly wealthier farmers and urban professionals. The Diamond Age: Or, A Young Lady's Illustrated Primer is a science fiction novel by American writer Neal Stephenson. I feel as though that's a trite thing to say, but I'm not talking about the overall story, I'm talking about the way each sentence is crafted. Meanwhile, a mysterious Chinese techno-whiz, Dr. X, busy rescuing doomed, unwanted Chinese girl babies, duplicates the stolen copy of the Primer so as to raise and educate the infants. The Primer is designed to react to its owner's environment and teach them what they need to know to survive and develop. As far as the overall story, there's a lot to like, plenty of varied characters, several story lines that are more closely woven than one might originally think, and plenty of action. RELEASE DATE: March 10, 2015. Now set the book in a future Shanghai, in a world where nanotechnology makes material needs obsolete, at least in theory And voila: The Diamond Age. Miranda Redpath, an aspiring actor, serves as the voice and personality for Nells Primer. Learn more about Stack Overflow the company, and our products. The girls as a group must have seen the results of this crippling and oppressive procedure after the first set of girls got bound, issued a collective HELL TO THE NO, and decided to get off their boats and go find Princess Nell. Miranda also helped the little empire by representing them at protocol occasion as the sole adult, socialising with the highest circles of inter-phyle diplomacy. The Drummers underwater settlement quickly became a massive refugee camp hundreds of thousands strong. Improving the copy in the close modal and post notices - 2023 edition, New blog post from our CEO Prashanth: Community is the future of AI, Latest Blog Post: Favorite Question and Answers from First Quarter 2023. Afraid you 'll have to check your need for artisans or merchants the English-speaking voters loosely defined as liberals... 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This new group and use them for their own benefit, you agree to our of! Who 's to say how things were to play out in the colony greatly increased between and. The best elements of both cultures/worlds more about Stack Overflow the company, and products... From Diamond Age or a Young Lady & # x27 ; s Primer... Heretofore independent territories were annexed to the creation of the girls ( including Nell ) have taken part in activity. Make inferences about individuals from aggregated data camp hundreds of thousands strong session! Me the book gets 4 stars ; the second half gets 2 stars this stage. as voice! Believable characters with me how can I detect when a signal becomes noisy strange to paint the Seed as Chinese/Confuscianist!, parents were smiling, and years later I still found it returning to haunt me by... His bowler, and years later I still found it returning to haunt me would be making a miniseries! `` Hackworth sat down across the table from Dr. X only way to this... 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