Snow Crash established Stephenson as a major science fiction writer of the 1990s. The book appeared on Time magazine's list of 100 all-time best English-language novels written since 1923.[14] Some critics have considered it a parody of cyberpunk[15][16] and mentioned its satiric or absurdist humor.[17][18]
In his book The Shape of the Signifier: 1967 to the End of History, Walter Benn Michaels targets Stephenson's view that "languages are codes" rather than a grouping of letters and sounds to be interpreted. Michaels contends that this basic idea of language as code is central to the construct of Snow Crash ("... a good deal of Snow Crash's plot depends upon eliding the distinction between hackers and their computers, as if—indeed, in the novel, just because—looking at code will do to the hacker what receiving it will do to the computer"[19]: 68 ), but at the same time, trivializes the role of meaning in linguistic works.
The body that is infected by a virus does not become infected because it understands the virus any more than the body that does not become infected misunderstands the virus. So a world in which everything—from bitmaps to blood—can be understood as a "form of speech" is also a world in which nothing actually is understood, a world in which what a speech act does is disconnected from what it means.[19]: 69
Rorty's Achieving Our Country summarizes the content of Snow Crash,[20] using it as an example of modern culture that "express the loss of what he [Rorty] calls 'national hope'... the problem with Snow Crash is not that it isn't true—after all, it's a story—but that it isn't inspirational".[19]: 74 This lack of inspiration is offset by something else Snow Crash and other works like it offer:
These books produce in their readers the 'state of soul' that Rorty calls 'knowingness', which he glosses as a 'preference for knowledge over hope' (37)";[19]: 74 this preference for knowledge "contribute[s] to a more fundamental failure to appreciate the value of inspiration—and hence of literature—itself".[19]: 74
Influence on the World Wide Web and computing
While Habitat, the 1986 virtual environment, applied the Sanskrit term avatar to online virtual bodies before Stephenson, the success of Snow Crash popularized the term[21] to the extent that avatar is now the accepted term for this concept in computer games and on the World Wide Web.[22]
The novel's Central Intelligence Corporation—the result of a merger between the Library of Congress and Central Intelligence Agency—operates a wiki-like private knowledge base known as the Library. However, unlike Wikimedia, contributors to the Library (stringers) are paid if their contributions are used, making the Library more of an information marketplace than a public knowledge repository.
Many virtual globe programs, including NASA World Wind and Google Earth, bear a resemblance to the "Earth" software developed by the CIC in Snow Crash. One Google Earth co-founder claimed that Google Earth was modeled after Snow Crash, while another co-founder said that it was inspired by Powers of Ten.[23] Stephenson later referenced this in another of his novels, Reamde.[24]
Stephenson's concept of the Metaverse has enjoyed continued popularity and influence in high-tech circles (especially Silicon Valley) ever since the publication of Snow Crash.[25][26] As a result, Stephenson has become "a sought-after futurist" and has worked as a futurist for Blue Origin and Magic Leap.[26]
Software developer Michael Abrash was inspired by Snow Crash's Metaverse and its networked 3D world. He left Microsoft for Id Software to write something in that direction, the result being Quake.[27] The story for the 3DO game Immercenary was also heavily influenced by Snow Crash.[28] A direct video-game adaptation of Snow Crash was in development in 1996,[29] but it was never released.
The online virtual worlds Active Worlds and Second Life were both directly inspired by the Metaverse in Snow Crash.[30]
Former Microsoft Chief Technology Officer J Allard and former Xbox Live Development Manager Boyd Multerer claimed to have been heavily inspired by Snow Crash in the development of Xbox Live, and that it was a mandatory read for the Xbox development team.[31]
Possible film or television adaptation
The novel was optioned shortly after its publication and subsequent success, although to date, it has never progressed past pre-production.[32][33][34][35][36] Canadian science fiction director Vincenzo Natali in particular has argued against a two-hour feature film adaptation because of a perceived lack of fit with the form; since the novel is "tonally all over the place", he feels that a mini-series would be a more suitable format for the material.[37]
In late 1996, it was announced that writer-director Jeffrey Nachmanoff would adapt the novel for The Kennedy/Marshall Company and Touchstone Pictures. Marco Brambilla was attached to direct the film.[38] In June 2012, it was announced that English director Joe Cornish, following his 2011 debut film Attack the Block, had been signed as director of a future film adaptation for Paramount Pictures.[39] In 2013, Stephenson described Cornish's script as "amazing", but also warned that there was no guarantee that a film would be made.[40] In July 2016, producer Frank Marshall said that filming could start in 2017.[41]
In August 2017, Amazon Studios announced that it was co-producing an hour-long science fiction drama television show based on Snow Crash with Paramount. The announcement stated that the television show would be executive produced by Cornish and the Kennedy/Marshall Company's Frank Marshall.[42] In December 2019, it was announced that HBO Max had acquired the series with Paramount continuing to produce and Cornish remaining executive producer.[43] HBO Max passed on the project in June 2021, and it reverted to Paramount and Kennedy/Marshall.[44]
