Reader Response #4 - Raven

After finishing Snow Crash and looking back on it and the characters involved I am drawn in by a certain character. Surprisingly the character I found to be the most dynamic and interesting throughout the book was Raven.
The beginning of the book portrays him as a horrible, man killing human being. He his mysterious in every way as well. When he is first introduced in the book you can't figure out who he's working for, how he's killing everyone, and why everyone is so interested in him. Everyone says to avoid him at all costs.
Nearing the end of the book however you see a whole different side to Raven. It starts when Y.T. and Raven are "dating". You find out his background and see more of a human side to Raven rather than just an image of a murder. You find out he is a Aleut. He is very angry about the Russians and the American nuking his town. When he grew up he began working on oil rigs where he was the typical bad boy. On night while having way too much to drink while floating around in the water , Raven floats away and lands on Kosiak Island. The Russian Orthodox church found him, took him and and cleaned him up and that is how he became a part of the Raft. This allows you to see what he has been through that has brought him to where he's at in his life now. It adds more of a humanistic character to Raven.
As the book goes on Raven becomes more and more interesting to me. You find out more as time goes on in the book. Finally near the end it is revealed that it was Hiro's dad and Raven's dad that escaped together. This brought more anger to his character and you can see the pain that Raven deals with when it comes to America and them killing his father.
All around I found his whole story and developing character to be the most interesting in the book. Usually I am person that find the protagonist the most intriguing, but Hiro did not effect me at all.
I'm glad I read the book now I have finished it. It was a book I would have never sat down and read on my own, and it allowed me to experience something I normally wouldn't.

Metaverse? Not so far away?

Reading this book made me think how far away this kind of life in the Metaverse is in our lives today. At first I thought it wouldn't become reality for at least a couple of years. After watching tv the other night I'm not so sure we have that long before this is a reality to us all.
I was watching a ridiculous show called The Hills. Really all it is a bunch of little rich girls who go out and have fun, but have more drama then anyone could handle. Really don't know why I watch it, but oh well. Anyhow, at the end of the show they advertised for this thing they called the virtual hills. I would say it's sort of like SIMS. You make a character based off what you want to look like and are able to go out, talk to, and be a part of the life of the hills girls. So , basically you can act as though you are their friend and do everything with them over this virtual world. My eyes lit up. There it was, the "metaverse" coming to life before my eyes. Unreal! It really surprised me. They even show glimpses of the characters and they look real life as well as the settings and places they were at. Judging by this I think my first opinions of when this could really happen is a little off. It may be here sooner then any of us can believe.

Neovox

I have heard of the Neovox's online "paper" before this course. One of my roommates wrote for the paper freshman and sophomore year. I did not know that anyone that wanted, could write on it. I have thought about what is best for me to write about for the article. I tried to come up with what I feel most strongly about and really cared to research more about the pros and cons of it. I think I have decided to write about online organizations that keep people in contact. AKA...MYspace, facebook, blogs, games you name it...it's out there. I use some of these things without knowing a lot about them when I joined, so what better time ti figure it all out.

who would have thought?

So the more I get into this book, Snow Crash, the more I surprisingly start to like it. I'm not huge into Sci-Fiction novels. In fact I try to avoid them. I have probably only read two or three and they weren't appealing to me, so I tend not to buy them. At first I was just lost in this book because of confusion, now I'm lost in it, as in I am enjoying it a lot. I even had a dream about it at one point. Kinda creepy. This book has opened my eyes to a whole new world that may one day become a reality to me. I'm not all that into video games and second life nonsense on the internet. Stephenson almost makes it sound appealing though. I feel as though this book is easier to relate to than Smart Mobs. It's a more interesting and informing way of introducing people to the "future". It does bring out a lot of negatives in the future however. I don't really understand why we can't focus on the positive aspects. It might make feel a little better about the future we are entering into.
The only part I can't seem to get a grasp on yet is what this "Mafia" is all about. At first I thought Enzo just wanted Y.T. in a sexual way, but the more I read it doesn't seem like that. I'm curious to find out why her? I guess I can only continue reading to see. Until next time...

Reader Response #3

"He is not seeing real people of course. This is all a part of the moving illustration by his computer according to specifications coming down the fiber-optic cable. The people are pieces of sftware called avators"-Stephenson

This is a paragraph in Snow Crash about the Metaverse. This is a virtual community that Hiro is a part of. My impression is that people join to meet new people and be a part of another world in which they can be who ever they wish. As quoted by Nelson:
"Your avator can look however you want it to, up to the limitations of your equipment. If you're ugly you can make your avator beautiful. If you've just gotten out of bed your avator can being still wearing beautiful clothes and professionally applied makeup."

People can use this virtual world to become someone they are not in reality. They can change their height, their eye color and even their breast size. Do these people do it for simply something to do or do these people do it so they can be someone their not? Who knows? It does allow people to become someone they are not if they do choose to. No one would ever find out who was lying because you only know these people based on their avators personality. So , really this virtual world is made up of people who are the same as reality and others who are posers.

Even your social standing in the virtual world can be different than reality. Take Hiro, for example, he lives in a not so nice place and delievers pizza for a living. However in the virtual world he is seen as high class and respected and even allowed into a prestige club like the Black Sun. Would he be allowed into a private club in reality I would highly doubt it.

I have mixed feelings about the virtual world. In seems appealing if someone like Hiro can jump and be considered rich and respected compared to his life is reality. I think it allows people to join a community in which they can become physically and socially ideal in their minds. Whether that can hinder or help someone's real self image, I don't know.It's a little to early to really know what's going on in the book, but it is obvious that this virtual world is playing a huge role in Hiro's life and it looks to only get more intense.

first thought of Snow Crash

I started reading Snow Crash this morning. The first few pages I found really confusing. Then as you read along it all starts to make sense and I didn't put it down for like 2 hours. Surprising.
A new vocabulary word was introduced to me so far: Metaverse. To be it seems like an escape for people from reality into a fantasy world. You can be someone your not, change how you look, and become part of a whole new "world" . It's seems to be that this "Metaverse" is a false reality of people's realy life and more of a fantasy.
This girl named Y.T (Yours Truly) is strange. This whole poon thing and being able to attach to cars is crazy. She seems a little out there. She goes from helping out Hiro to being arrested and taken to "The Clink" in a matter of no time.
Well, just wanted to write down my initial few thoughts of the book so I can compare that to my feelings at the end.

Reader response #2 virtual communities

Upoc is talked about in Chapter seven of Smart Mobs. It is a mobile service located on Broadway in Manhattan. It is a mobile service that was made to keep people in contact with friends, and family via text messaging. You can join communities of your choice that have common interests. For example on the Upoc website you can join groups such as “American Idol Fanatics” and “The Dog Park”. There are positive and negative sides to this “mobile community”
A positive side is shown in Chapter 7 of Smart Mobs. As taken from Rheingold the following paragraph shows how this “community of people” is used positively during the 9/11 attacks.
Upoc employee Alex Levine sent a group SMS message to three dozen other employees immediately after he saw the second plane crash: “Do not go to work. Stand by for more directions”. Then he messaged nine employees already at work, telling them to evacuate. Although wire line telephone, cellular telephone, and email were all down , Upoc employees discovered that their text messaging service, based out of a server safely in New Jersey, stayed up and enabled them to regroup.
Without these communities of text messaging lives my have been taken because they had no idea what was going on right next to them. Being able to use text messaging like this and keeping in contact with what is going on around you, is great! Using this to meet up or tell your friends the latest news is all ok and I personally encourage it and do it myself. It allows people to keep in contact with friends and allows them to help them out. However, it can also become a hassle and create a negative social clique.

As shown in Smart mobs these communities keeping in contact via text messaging can also be a problem. As stated in Chapter 7 by Andrew Pimental…
“There are virtual cliques, groups of friends, enemies, grudges, gangs, fights, and double agents with multiple handles who spy on groups to make sure nobody is badmouthing then or their clique.”
This is terrible. When it reaches the extent that people are spying on other people, forming gangs and what not it can really affect others in the virtual community. It’s sad that people can take positive things, such as Upoc and use them in a negative manner.
I know there are positives and negatives to every situation, even in these virtual communities. I think people really need to think about how they are using their “friends” in their community and make sure they are not negatively affecting others. It’s a risky thing to join in my opinion. People can join groups just to join groups; there are a lot of creeps out there. You need to be careful, but I also think it’s a good way to meet others that share common interests. I guess you never know till you try it, and just hope it turns out ok.

reflection on Smart Mobs

I just finished Smart Mobs and I have no idea what I thought of the book as a whole. I'll be honest every time I sat down to read it, it felt like work. Reading it around a chapter at a time was boring. I only got into like two chapters and thought to myself while I was reading that it was interesting. However, now that I look back on the book as a whole I don't feel badly towards it at all.

I actually believe that it opened my eyes to our future of technology. I would have never sat down to read a book like that or taken the time to think about how technology effects humans, their interaction, and our future. Having read this I feel as though I at least have taken the time to learn some stuff. If I hadn't read it I don't feel as though I would pay attention to many technologies that will become reality in our lives.

The book had many positives and negatives that allowed you personally to weight how you feel about technologies such as the Internet and mobile phones. I talk on the phone and text many times throughout the day. I couldn't imagine not having one. I have a long distance relationship while at school and not being able to talk to my boyfriend every day would really effect our relationship and my day in general. On the negative side I spend to much time on it and do find myself ignoring others because I'm so into what I'm doing on a little device. I believe it enhances social networks, but takes away from personal face to face connections. As for the Internet it's an ever changing technology. Businesses are always trying to come up with the fastest Internet at an expensive cost. But can you live without it this day an age? Being in college I don't feel like I could not have the Internet. It's a part of my everyday life.
All in all this book pointed out our futures and has made people think about what this will really bring about, how we are going to deal with it, and if we are going to participate in it. What we do now, as Rheingold says, and what we know will affect our futures.

technology to come

I thought about my life and how technology has affected it. I am able to do some much more than my parents and my grandparents. Growing up in a generation that was able to be around these technologies from a young age on, is such an advantage. Our society is based off cellphones and the Internet. An older person many times struggles to keep up and understand technologies many of us take for granted. I don't know how many times my mother or grandmother have contacted me about a question dealing with computers. To think my mother went to college without a computer. You could not make it through college now a days without one. That seems unreal. I feel as though I understand many of the new technologies around us now, but who knows what the future has in store for us.
I have never taken the time to really think about the future of technology. This book has put it into prospective for me. Reading about many of the new things in this book makes me feel like certain technologies I am good at are sure to fade away soon enough. Then I'm in a position like my parents, cramming to learn about some bigger and better thing before I fall behind the rest of society. I mean I had a hard enough time with this class to begin which is minuet compared to other things. I just hope all these new technologies will really benefit the people and not become a hassle to keep up with.