Fall or, Dodge in Hell
by Neal Stephenson
Rating: 4.0 / 5 · Read · Finished 2022-02-09
A billionaire dies and scans his brain into virtual reality, which becomes the afterlife as more and more people follow suit.
Similar to Seveneves, it’s an entire book as backstory to another entire book. Or maybe three levels. It’s a cool technique with lots of payoff at the end but my lived experience was a boring middle part reading myths I didn’t care about. The myths are a mix of Christian, Greek, Norse and Lord of the Rings.
There are some fun and topical side stories near the beginning. What does misinformation online look like taken to the extreme. What does political polarization look like taken to the extreme.
There are a network of metaphors, all around building up reality. Consciousness turns senses into reality. Creation stories tell of gods turning chaos into the world. Designing a video game or writing a book is the process of synthesizing a coherent alternative reality. Truthers and conspiracy theorists connect facts into an alternative reality. Social media and the news emphasize some facts over others to build a narrative. Certain characters transcend their reality, like Neo in The Matrix. Near the end it’s hinted that reality is a simulation. Living together is only possible if we have a shared reality.
Interesting idea: Suckiness is built in to reality so it makes sense. “It has to suck this badly,” said Corvus, “in order for everything to make sense… Because if it didn’t, the whole thing would split open and fall to pieces in an instant.” This could apply to any of the network of metaphors.
I love this book because I’m fascinated by questions of subjective experience. While reading, I learned names for things I knew about but didn’t have names for: Qualia, and philosophical zombies. Analysts interpret what’s going on in the simulation, but only the simulated get to experience it. The reader gets to see every event through both lenses.
But the middle is so dang boring. Most of it is only there to be referenced later. I hope you skim over it.