Editing Snow Crash (section)

==Background==
Stephenson originally planned ''Snow Crash'' as a computer-generated graphic novel in collaboration with artist Tony Sheeder.<ref>{{cite book |editor-last = Lewis |editor-first = Jonathan P.  |year = 2006 |title = Tomorrow Through the Past: Neal Stephenson and the Project of Global Modernization |publisher = Cambridge Scholars Press |pages = xvi |isbn = 1-84718-061-2 |url = https://books.google.com/books?id=fqwLBwAAQBAJ&dq=%22tony+sheeder%22+%22snow+crash%22&pg=PR16 |access-date = 2021-06-03}}</ref> In the author's acknowledgments Stephenson recalls:

{{blockquote|it became clear that the only way to make the Mac do the things we needed was to write a lot of custom image-processing software. I have probably spent more hours coding during the production of this work than I did actually writing it, even though it eventually turned away from the original graphic concept...<ref name="Stephenson_Page_440">{{cite book |last1=Stephenson |first1=Neal |title=Snow Crash |date=1992 |publisher=Bantam Books |location=New York |isbn=9780553898194 |page=440 |edition=1993 paperback}} This quote is cited to the 1993 paperback edition because the acknowledgments are not included in the 2003 paperback edition available through Google Books.  The 2003 paperback edition also has different pagination from the 1993 paperback edition, with a smaller paper size and page layout resulting in increased pages.</ref>}}

===Ideas and ideologies===
The books themes include [[history]], [[linguistics]], [[anthropology]], [[archaeology]], [[religion]], [[computer science]], [[politics]], [[cryptography]], [[memetics]], and [[philosophy]].<ref name="penguin">{{Cite web |date=2022-01-13 |title=Snow Crash by Neal Stephenson - Penguin Books Australia |url=https://www.penguin.com.au/books/snow-crash-9780241953181 |access-date=2022-01-13 |website= |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220113222749/https://www.penguin.com.au/books/snow-crash-9780241953181 |archive-date=13 January 2022 |url-status=dead}}</ref>

''Snow Crash'' takes place under [[anarcho-capitalism]], a theme Stephenson carries over to his next novel ''[[The Diamond Age]]''. As described in both novels and the short story "[[The Great Simoleon Caper]]" (1995), [[hyperinflation]] has sapped the value of the US&nbsp;dollar to the extent that [[Orders of magnitude (numbers)#1012|trillion]]-dollar bills are nearly disregarded, and the [[Orders of magnitude (numbers)#1015|quadrillion]]-dollar note is the standard "small" bill.<ref name="snow-crash" />{{rp|p=241}} This hyperinflation was created by the government overprinting money due to loss of tax revenue, as people increasingly began to use [[electronic currency]], which they exchanged in untaxable [[Cryptocurrency|encrypted online transactions]]. For physical transactions, most people resort to alternative currencies such as the yen or "Kongbucks" (the official currency of Mr.&nbsp;Lee's Greater Hong Kong). Hyperinflation has also negatively affected much of the world, resulting in waves of desperate refugees from Asia who cross the Pacific in rickety ships hoping to arrive in North America.

The ''[[Metaverse]]'', a phrase coined by Stephenson as a successor to the Internet, constitutes Stephenson's early 1990s vision of how a [[virtual reality]]–based Internet might evolve shortly. Resembling a [[massively multiplayer online game]] (MMO). The Metaverse is populated by user-controlled [[Avatar (computing)|avatars]], as well as system [[Daemon (computer software)|daemons]]. Although there are public-access Metaverse [[Computer terminal|terminals]] in ''Reality'', using them carries a social stigma among Metaverse [[denization|denizens]], in part because of the poor visual representations of themselves as low-quality [[Avatar (virtual reality)|avatars]]. Status in the Metaverse is a function of two things: access to restricted areas such as the Black Sun, an exclusive Metaverse club, and the sophistication of one's avatar.