Editing The Shockwave Rider (section)

==Plot introduction==
The novel shows a [[dystopia]]n early 21st-century America dominated by computer networks. The hero, Nick Haflinger, is a runaway from Tarnover, a government program intended to find, educate and indoctrinate highly gifted children to further the interests of the state in a future where quantitative analysis backed by the tacit threat of coercion has replaced overt military and economic power as the deciding factor in international competition. In parallel with this, the government has become a {{lang|la|de facto}} [[oligarchy]] that is effectively an offshoot of [[organised crime]].

Nick's talent extends to programming the network using only a [[Dual-tone multi-frequency|touch-tone]] telephone. One of his handlers at Tarnover explains that this is like a classical pianist being able to play entire [[sonata]]s and concertos from memory. However, Nick also has some personality flaws, amounting almost to a [[Suicide|deathwish]]. These become manifest in exhibitions of his abilities, revealing his identity to his pursuers.

The background to the story includes a massive earthquake laying waste to the [[San Francisco Bay Area]] in California. Millions die and millions more are left to live on government handouts. The subsequent economic depression, coupled with the rootlessness enabled by access to online data and strong social pressure to be flexible (the results of corporations wanting highly mobile workforces without strong local ties), results in a fragmentation of society along religious, ethnic, and a variety of class markers, what Toffler called "[[Subculture|subcult]]s", including what would in 2010 be described as [[gang]]s.  The equitable distribution of data access and data privacy is a prominent theme in the book; characters who have access to information which is nominally secret enjoy demonstrable economic advantages over others lacking access to such data. In the novel, [[data privacy]] is reserved for [[Corporation|corporations]] and powerful individuals, who may then conceal wrongdoing; by contrast, normal citizens do not enjoy significant privacy.{{citation needed|date=August 2016}}

The world described in the book is dystopian, with [[laissez-faire]] economics portrayed as leading to disaster{{Citation needed|date=January 2014}} as greed trumps long-term planning. The educational system is dysfunctional, with teachers unable to perform their jobs due to strictures. The only functional educational system seen in the book is portrayed as an enclave, the tightly controlled Tarnover school. Communities are either walled enclaves of privilege or largely lawless areas entirely lacking protection from corrupt civil authorities. Infrastructure has been allowed to crumble, and characters who reside within "paid avoidance zones" receive compensation from the government in lieu of actual services.